media crisis and its structural causes
TRANSCRIPT
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Mark Eisenegger / Kurt Imhof / Linards Udris
Conference: Re-Inventing Journalism
Winterthur, February 5, 2015
The limits of re-inventing journalism: structural causes of the crisis of information journalism
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Starting point
• Crisis of information journalism (e.g. in terms of financial and human resources)
• Main question:
• Is it reasonable to hope for information journalism to «re-invent» itself on its own?
• Which structural conditions limit the self-healing potential of information journalism?
• Which «external» measures (media policy) are needed to help information journalism overcome the crisis?
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Outline
• Answering these questions by presenting selected findings from the project «Yearbook Quality of the Media – Schweiz Suisse Svizzera»
• Since 2010, this research project has been capturing the fundamental change dynamics in the Swiss media system
• 1. Quality of media coverage in information media (media types from press, radio, television, online news sites)
• 2. Structural conditions for the quality of media coverage:
• Media use
• Revenue of information journalism
• Ownerhip structure and media concentration
• Business models
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Quality of media coverage
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Quality indicators
Main indicators
• Share of hard news (politics, economy, culture) vs. soft news (sports, human interest)
• Share of macro/meso framing (society/organizations) vs. micro framing (individuals/private affairs)
• Share of contextualizing news items (e.g. news analysis) vs. episodic news reporting («breaking news»)
• Share of cognitive-rationalistic reporting vs. moralistic-emotional reporting
Quality indicators are calculated, resulting in a statistical quality score (0: minimum / 10: maximum)
Additional indicators in the «Yearbook Quality of the Media»
• Diversity of topics (media agendas)
• Diversity of actors (e.g. political parties)
• Share of content produced by editorial staff (vs. news agency reports and PR articles)
• Source transparency
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News coverage: Differences among media types, sinking quality
• Media types (e.g. subscription papers vs. cost-free papers) more important predictor for quality than media channel (e.g. press in general)
• Downwards trend in almost all media types
• mainly because of sinking contextualization
• and then because of shrinking hardnews
Structural crisis (sinking resources) leads media to produce less background information (context) and to offer soft news which is easier and cheaper to produce
Random sampling in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 (front-page and lead articles and news items)
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Structural conditions
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Media use: Increasing use of low-quality media at the expense of high-quality media
• Media of low quality, which offer mainly soft news, enjoy increasing use and advantage in the advertising market
• Media of high quality experience audience loss and sinking subscription and advertising revenue
Media of low quality
Media of high quality
Index of media reach (2010: 100 for both types)
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Media use: Soft news dominate media use in social media
• Low-quality outlets with most attention in social media
• For most outlets, soft news articles generate more attention than hard news
If news organizations want to generate reactions and viral discussions in social media, they have to offer infotainment and soft news
The more information journalism strives after attention in the social networks, the more important soft news becomes in the media arena
100 news articles with most attention in social media in 2013 (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, comments on news site)Source: themenpuls.ch; coding: fög/UZH
Soft news
Hard news
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• Cost-free papers focusing on soft news benefit from disproportionally high advertising revenue
• Almost one in three Swiss francs generated in the press advertising market goes to 4 cost-free papers (Ø 7.2%), while 41 subscription papers share the rest (Ø 1.7%).
41 subscription papers
4 cost-free papers
Press market: gross advertising revenueSource: Mediafocus
Advertising revenue: low-quality press outlets benefit
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Advertising revenue: TV programs focusing on soft news and entertainment benefit
• In the (growing) advertising market, foreign private broadcasters like RTL or M6 benefit the most
• Among Swiss private broadcasters, entertainment programs (e.g. 3+) generate much more revenue than regional private broadcasters with (some) public service obligation
Private (foreign broadcasters with Swiss advertising windows)
Public (SRG SSR)
Private (Swiss)
TV market: gross advertising revenueSource: Mediafocus
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• Most advertising revenue goes to non-media actors that do not produce substantial information (e.g. Google)
• Online information media (e.g. nzz.ch, tages-anzeiger.ch) generate only very little revenue
• Slight growth for news sites does not compensate for revenue loss in the press
Advertising revenue: Online revenues go to organizations that do not produce substantial information
Gross advertising revenue of news sites (display ads; estimate: 50% of all display ads go to news sites) and other providers (search engine ads, category ads like real estate, etc.) in Mio. CHFSource: Mediafocus
14.04.2023
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Concentration: Media concentration and weakening of editorial staff
• Growing media concentration
• German-speaking Switzerland: more than a dozen publishing houses have disappeared or lost their independence since 2001
• Media concentration goes in tandem with consolidation of newspapers (Kopfblattsystem)
• «more of the same» because of shared content
• Weakening of editorial staff (merger, lay-offs, «brain drain»)
Cooperation «Bund» and «Tages-Anzeiger»% shared articles in each section3 full issues in 2013
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Business models: Media organizations tend to focus more and more on non-media business fields
• Media organizations react to this crisis with investments in:
• A) low-quality journalism (attractive to advertisers)
• B) activities that have nothing do with information journalism (e.g. online directories)
• Online tools generate revenue but usually are not meant to subsidize information journalism
Extract from the business report of Tamedia 2013
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Business models: Journalistic norms eroding
• Information media react to financial difficulties with «native advertising», which blurs the distinction between journalism and advertisement/PR
When journalistic norms of professionalism erode, journalism erodes from within
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Business models: Decisions to (not) invest in hard news
• Example of private regional broadcasters: financial resources alone do not explain quality of news coverage
Quality culture anchored in business model is important: media organizations have to be willing to produce high-quality journalism
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Conclusions
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Conclusions (1)
• In the current crisis, «re-invention» so far has only meant an ever-increasing importance of entertainment at the expense of high-quality media
• Serious doubt that information journalism of high quality can «re-invent» and «heal» itself on its own
• Possible «external» help (media policy) – for instance:
• Financial aid for editorial departments that specialize on information journalism
• Implementation of an «advertising tax», as more money has been flowing to non-media providers (Google, Facebook), in order to support information journalism
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Conclusions (2)
• …
• Strengthening media education (e.g. secondary schools) which shows that information journalism is essential for democratic societies and that information journalism has to be paid for
• Supporting independent organizations and actors that deal with media criticism and that intervene when journalistic norms are violated (e.g. in the context of «native advertising»)
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Thank you for your attention!
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Contacts:
fög – Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society
University of Zurich
Andreasstrasse 15
CH-8050 Zürich, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 44 635 21 11
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