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When News Goes Mobile: Changes in the

Gatekeeping Function Seen Through the Cell

Phone Content of Japanese Newspapers

Marcio Labes Fukuda

096115

Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies

The University of Tokyo

Advisor: Kaori Hayashi

Associate advisor: Hideyuki Tanaka

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Socio-Information and Communication Studies

January 14th, 2011

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the members of the III and GSII for their support over

the past few years. Especially my always patient advisor and sub-advisor, whose

dedication and work are a source of inspiration. Also both my sempai, Alex

Hambleton, for proofreading, and Kawol Chung, who was my tutor in my early

years at the University of Tokyo.

I am also grateful to the digital department staff at Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi

Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun, who generously gave me their time to answer

my questions, and to the PR sections, for arranging some of the interviews.

Moreover, government of Japan / MEXT gave financial assistance, without which

this experience would not have been possible.

Finally, I could not forget my family and friends, most of them living half a

world away, but whose support I have felt despite the distance. Contrary to

all the excitement that studying abroad may bring in the beginning, in reality

most of the time is about routine, and could not be any different. However, as

preliminary as this thesis might be, I know pursuing it has made me grow, and

this is the result of the countless days I sometimes worried were meaningless. To

the few new friends I met over the past few years who tolerated me when I was

in a bad mood, gave some good memories, but, most of all, became part of my

routine, thank you all for always being there for me.

Abstract

Japan is a pioneer in the diffusion of internet access through mobile phones,

thanks to the success of services like NTT DOCOMO i-mode, which began in

1999. Since then, Japanese newspaper companies have been launching news

websites and applications for mobile phones as part of their digital media strategy,

gathering attention even from abroad. However, after a decade, these initiatives

have not constitute a meaningful source of profits. Moreover, they are expected to

face a decline as increasingly popular smartphones offer an alternative to i-mode

and similar services.

Studies into the Japanese dailies’ experiences on mobile phones are rare. This

research contributes to filling this void by examining and clarifying the processes

that have led these services to where they are today. In order to accomplish this,

case studies were conducted on three national Japanese newspapers companies:

those that publish the Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun.

During the inquiry, the factors that have forged these initiatives and the distance

between expectations related to digital media and what is actually offered were

focused upon, based on the socio-constructivist approach found in similar works

on online newsmaking in Europe and the US. By doing so, this thesis has been

able to offer an outline of the effects of innovation on the mass media’s role in

gatekeeping.

Findings reveal that the adoption of a new platform is accompanied by an in-

crease in factors and agents that influence mass media journalism. In the case

of mobile phones, this can be seen in the fact that mobile phone companies have

driven newspapers to enter the business of websites for mobile platforms by of-

fering technological solutions and business orientation, sometimes even on what

type of content to produce. This suggests the importance of a focus on external

agents that, through platform ownership, boost the innovation processes in mass

media companies and ultimately affect what these media outlets offer on a new

medium. Besides the carriers, other factors that also shape mobile content pro-

duced by newspaper companies are: 1) traditional work routines, including those

of offline newsrooms; 2) organization culture; 3) technology; 4) partnerships; and

5) profitability.

Accordingly, the websites and applications for mobile phones developed by Japanese

newspapers during the last decade were the possible result of negotiations among

the elements mentioned above, some of which may even be non-existent or play a

minor role in the production of print media or even PC websites. Moreover, some

newspaper companies both in and out of Japan are following similar logic as they

explore new business chances, such as applications for smartphones. This move

suggests that the increase in factors and actors that shape mass media journalism

found in the present research may cease to be a peculiarity of the i-mode system

and the Japanese context and may constitute a focal point for further studies on

journalism.

Keywords: online news, Japanese newspapers, mobile phones, i-mode

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Resumo

O Japao foi pioneiro na difusao de acesso a internet atraves de aparelhos celulares

gracas ao sucesso de servicos como o i-mode, da operadora NTT DOCOMO,

iniciado em 1999. Desde entao, as companhias que publicam jornais no paıs tem

lancado sites de notıcias e aplicativos para telefones moveis como parte de suas

estrategias para mıdia digital e recebido atencao mesmo no exterior. Porem,

depois de uma decada, essas iniciativas nao resultaram em uma fonte de lucros

significativa. Alem disso, espera-se um declınio ja que smartphones estao se

tornando populares e oferecem uma alternativa aos atuais modelos de conexao a

internet via i-mode e similares.

Estudos sobre as experiencias dos diarios japoneses nesta mıdia sao raros. A

presente pesquisa contribui para o preenchimento de tal lacuna ao esclarecer os

processos que levaram esses servicos a serem o que sao hoje. Para cumprir tal

tarefa, estudos de caso foram conduzidos em tres companhias que editam jornais

de circulacao nacional: as responsaveis pelo Asahi Shimbun, pelo Mainichi Shim-

bun e pelo Yomiuri Shimbun. Durante a pesquisa, foram focados os fatores que

forjaram essas iniciativas, bem como as diferencas entre expectativas relativas a

mıdia digital e o que e oferecido na pratica, tendo como base as abordagens socio-

construtivistas encontradas em trabalhos similares sobre a producao de notıcias

para a web na Europa e nos Estados Unidos. Ao fazer isso, essa dissertacao ofe-

rece um esboco dos efeitos da inovacao tecnologica sobre a funcao de gatekeeping

dos meios de comunicacao de massa.

Os resultados revelam que a adocao de uma nova plataforma e acompanhada por

um aumento no numero de fatores e agentes que influenciam o jornalismo dos

meios de comunicacao de massa. No caso dos telefones celulares, as operadoras

levaram as empresas jornalısticas a entrar no setor de sites para plataformas

moveis ao oferecer tecnologia e orientacao sobre negocios, as vezes ate sobre qual

tipo de conteudo a ser produzido. Isto demonstra a importancia de um foco

em agentes externos proprietarios da plataforma impulsionando processos de i-

novacao nas empresas de mıdia e, consequentemente, afetando o que elas oferecem

nesse novo meio. Alem das companhias de telefonia celular, outros fatores que

tambem moldam o conteudo para celulares produzido por companhias que editam

jornais sao: 1) rotinas de trabalho tradicionais, incluindo aquelas das redacoes

dos jornais impressos; 2) cultura organizacional; 3) tecnologia; 4) parcerias com

outras empresas; e 5) lucratividade.

Portanto, os sites e aplicativos para telefones celulares desenvolvidos por esses

jornais japoneses na ultima decada foram o resultado possıvel de negociacoes

entre os elementos acima, alguns deles inexistentes ou com um papel menor na

producao de jornais ou mesmo de paginas na internet visualizadas em computa-

dores. Alem disso, algumas empresas jornalısticas dentro e fora do Japao tem

reproduzido logica similar ao explorarem novas oportunidades de negocios, como

o setor de aplicativos para smartphones. Tais iniciativas sugerem que o aumento

verificado por esta pesquisa no numero de fatores e agentes que influenciam o

jornalismo dos meios de comunicacao de massa pode deixar de ser uma peculiari-

dade do sistema i-mode ou do contexto japones e constituir um foco para futuras

pesquisas em jornalismo.

Palavras-chave: notıcias online, jornais japoneses, telefones celulares, i-mode

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Theoretical background 6

2.1 Research approaches to online news production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1.1 Gatekeeping theory and technological changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1.1.1 A theory overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1.1.2 Levels of analysis in gatekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.1.1.3 Gatekeeping in the digital age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.1.2 The socio-constructivist approach to online journalism . . . . . . . . 22

2.1.2.1 The social construction of news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

2.1.2.2 Constructivist views on media technology . . . . . . . . . . 30

2.1.2.3 The third wave of studies on online newsrooms . . . . . . . 35

2.1.2.4 The socio-constructivist approach and mobile content . . . . 41

2.2 Mobile phones in media and business studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

2.2.1 The i-mode process of innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

2.2.2 Mobile phones as a medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

2.2.3 Online journalism and mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

3 Methodological discussion 59

3.1 Research design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

ix

CONTENTS

4 Results and analyses 69

4.1 Japanese newspaper sector and digital platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4.1.1 The internet seen by the news industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

4.1.2 Mobile phones from newspaper companies’ perspective . . . . . . . . 80

4.2 Digital content production in the studied cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

4.2.1 The adoption of mobile phones as a platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

4.2.1.1 Keitai websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

4.2.1.2 Keitai and smartphone applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

4.3 Factors affecting the gatekeeping of content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

4.3.1 The role of work routines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

4.3.2 The role of organization culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

4.3.3 The technological factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

4.3.4 The role of mobile phone carriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

4.3.5 The role of partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

4.3.6 The profitability factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

5 Concluding remarks 115

5.1 Limitations and future research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

6 References 121

6.1 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

6.2 Research documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Appendix 160

x

List of Figures

2.1 Gatekeeping between organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.2 Gatekeeping within an organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.3 Gatekeeping on the individual level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4.1 Newspaper companies producing digital content in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . 71

4.2 Genres of top headlines in four mobile news services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

5.1 Gatekeeping in the “mobile news worlds”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

xi

Chapter 1

Introduction

The establishment of a successful model of internet connection through mobile phones in

Japan has created an image of the nation as a “mobile global power” in the early 2000s.

Though a minor player in this sector, Japanese newspaper industry initiatives as content

producers on this platform have attracted the attention of foreign counterparts. At the time,

the market for news distribution on portable handsets was limited mostly to businessmen

in other advanced industrial countries. On the other hand, Japan has had a popular mobile

internet model and news websites with a broader audience since 1999. Furthermore, while

media outlets were struggling to find a business model for online news, Japanese users were

willing to pay for it on mobile phones.

This research started as an attempt to understand how this became possible in Japan

and what it meant for online newsmaking. In the face of the absence of similar research,

such inquiry entailed the risk of staying limited to technological optimism or discussions of

the crisis in “mass media journalism”1 that are both abundant in present times. During

the literature review, however, the importance of localizing these cases in their spatial and

1Hayashi [2002, p. 27] introduces this category as part of her defense towards the refinement of journalismand mass media concepts as related but independent ones. That is, there are parts of mass media that arenot journalism, as well as parts of journalism that are not shouldered by mass media. The cases studied inthis thesis are part of mass media journalism. Therefore, references to journalism point to this category, ifno further explanation is given.

1

temporal contexts in order to avoid deterministic perspectives became clear. This does not

mean the discourses that pervade mass media industry and its professionals were ignored.

Instead, they constituted a research source on the interpretations of technology by these

actors. Comparisons between these interpretations and the actual daily work routines and

resulting products have proven to be an effective way to observe the negotiations that take

place in the social process of adopting a new platform.

Newsmaking for mobile phones is part of the digital media strategy of these companies.

Therefore, it constitutes a corner of the most conspicuous recent case of innovation in the

newspaper industry:1 the adoption of online platforms to distribute content. This topic

and the use of innovation as a keyword have caused some perplexity among interviewees

sometimes. If one is looking for “innovation”, newspapers were the wrong place to look, they

insisted. These remarks are the fruit of a misunderstanding the researcher failed to clarify

at that time. The success of these initiatives as innovative cases are not the focus of this

research. Moreover, the very criteria of what constitutes a successful innovation for mass

media companies still demands further elaboration. These organizations convey both aspects

of capitalistic enterprises and that of constituents of the press as a social institution. These

sometimes conflictive characters require from the researcher to be prepared to find cases in

which new products and gains in efficiency have not resulted in improvements in the carrying

out of their social function.

The interest of this study is both the accomplishments and frustrations experienced

during the decade of history of mobile content production have represented to newsmaking

in these companies. Among all processes involved in the tailoring of content, the gatekeeping

function on online platforms, here understood as not merely the selection of news pieces,

and the establishment of work routines suited to it were observed in order to understand1In the classic definition of Schumpeter [1934, in Bouwman et al., 2008, p. 10], innovation is described as

having five different forms: new products, new methods of production, new sources of supply, exploration ofnew markets, and new ways to organize business. Rogers [1995, p. 11], from a different perspective, groupsunder this concept ideas, practices, or objects that are perceived as new by an individual or other unit ofadoption.

2

transformations unleashed by the adoption of a new medium. In this sense, the fact that, even

though initiatives of major national newspapers, they are at the margin of these companies’

business is an advantage. “The ‘periphery’ is where changes have more chance to happen,

and from where what the future will be like can be seen, no matter if they are successful

cases or failures.” [Hatanaka, 2008, p. 165] To extract any future prediction from the present

analysis would be presumptuous. However, some focal points for further scrutiny are believed

to have been offered.

These focal points were found while testing one hypothesis extracted from previous re-

searches on online newsmaking. Studies conducted in the US and Europe in the 2000s have

demonstrated that the estate of online newsmaking is far behind the promises of multime-

dia and interactive content with intense use of the possibilities offered by hypertext. Even

though professionals believed these points were internet ideals, material constraints varying

from lack of resources to the influence of traditional work routines impeded their implemen-

tation. That is, factors and actors non-existent or with a minor role in offline newsroom

activities were shaping online news. This research hypothesis is that a similar logic can be

found behind the production of content for mobile phones by Japanese newspapers. However,

new aspects are believed to exist, since the present process develops in a different context

and on a different medium. Three groups of research questions were formulated considering

the remarks above:

1. What are the symbolisms attached to mobile phones and mobile internet by the

Japanese newspaper industry? How have they evolved in the last decade?

2. These symbolic aspects are wrought within social-material contexts during the process

of adoption of a new medium. What are the actual services offered on mobile phones

by these companies that resulted from these negotiations? Which new routines have

been established to support them?

3. A comparison of the symbolisms surrounding a technology and its actual use may reveal

3

gaps. Are there any gaps in the use of mobile phones to distribute news in Japan?

Which factors and agents explain why certain aspects were implemented while others

not?

The search for answers to these questions is reported in the next four chapters. In the

literature review, the concepts and theoretical frameworks mentioned above were scrutinized

in two sections. That is, the gatekeeping function of mass media and the socio-constructivist

approaches to online newsmaking. A third section about research into mobile phones in Japan

was added to supplement discussions on adaptations required while applying the hypothesis

in the context of the present research object. In the second chapter, first the methodological

strategies adopted by previous socio-constructivist researches on online newsmaking are dis-

cussed. Then, the restraints found while conducting the field work and the research design

resulting from the alternatives adopted to bypass such limitations are explained.

The analysis of the data collected is done in the third chapter, which is divided into three

sections. First, the views on the internet and mobile phones as platforms for news present

in the Japanese newspaper sector and among its professionals are discussed. In the second

part, some of the actual services offered by the companies targeted in this study and the

moves that have led them to unfold the way they have are described. In the final part, the

mechanisms behind these developments are explored. In the concluding remarks chapter,

the answer to the research questions posed above are summarized and a discussion on the

limits of these findings is offered.

Lastly, some notes on nomenclature. Generally said, mobile internet may include wireless

internet connections of any kind accessed from a variety of gadgets, such as notebooks or

tablets with Wireless LAN [WiFi] or broadband wireless [WiMAX] connections. In contrast,

the “mobile phone IP connection service” [keitai denwa IP setsuzoku service], the official

term employed by Japanese mobile telecoms for the overwhelming low-band mobile internet

service available for domestic mobile phone devices [both mobile phones and PHS1] is a very

1Personal Handy-Phones use Multi-Channel Access Radio System technology, the same employed in

4

specific type of the former, as discussed in the section 2.2. Moreover, the sector recently

has seen a fast dissemination of imported mobile handsets, mainly smartphones that provide

access the internet, but not through the same services offered by Japanese models. Therefore,

in this thesis, the term “mobile internet” used in the Japanese context refers to both types

of connections, namely mobile phone IP connection services and access via smartphones,

but excludes WiMAX. However, since the smartphone phenomenon is recent, when used

in a past context, one may infer that the term “mobile phone” is referring mostly to the

original Japanese style mobile phone IP connection service. When more clarity is necessary,

the term keitai internet—from the Japanese neologism for mobile phones resulting from the

contraction of keitai denwa [portable phone]—is employed.

Moreover, the data collection was done mainly with Japanese sources. In their transcrip-

tion to English, all Japanese names have been given in the first name - family name order.

Romanization of Japanese words follows the revised Hepburn system. Authors’ names follow

this system unless otherwise specified by the author. Foreign words incorporated to Japanese

have been written in their original form. Translations of titles of books and other materi-

als published in languages other than English are given in their original language. English

titles are offered only when devised by the publisher. All translations of publications and

interviews in Japanese are the author’s own.

cordless telephones, to offer mobile communications. By November 2011, Willcom, the only carrier offeringthis system in Japan by the time being, had 3,691,300 subscribers [Telecommunication Carriers Association,TCA, www.tca.or.jp, accessed in Dec., 2010]. In this thesis, Japanese mobile phones references include PHSwhen no further specification is offered.

5

www.tca.or.jp

Chapter 2

Theoretical background

2.1 Research approaches to online news production

The analysis of the content for mobile phones produced by Japanese newspapers, as presented

in this research, is subsidized by the gatekeeping model in mass communication studies and

the socio-constructionist approach to online newsmaking.

One of the gatekeeping model strengths—its initial simplicity—has led to its gradual

undervaluation in academia. Recent developments, however, have been made so it could

cope with the sophistication of mass communication and its interactions in the social fabric.

These improvements, as well as the technological factor in gatekeeping are the topics covered

in the first part of this section.

This enhanced version, as will be shown, includes analyses on routine and organiza-

tional levels. These are the very ground explored by other newsmaking research: the social

construction of news. This perspective and the constructivist views on technology and inno-

vation scholarship, in turn, constitute the two pillars of the socio-constructivist perspective

to online news production. These mainstays and the application of the resulting approach

from their merge are discussed in the second part of this section.

6


2.1.1 Gatekeeping theory and technological changes

2.1.1.1 A theory overview

Gatekeeping, as a representative image of one of the roles of journalists, has kept its strength

for over 60 years despite its limitations. In journalism studies, gatekeeping is defined as “the

processes by which countless messages are reduced to the few we are offered” [Shoemaker,

1996, p. 79], and is “the center of the media’s role in modern public life” [Shoemaker & Vos,

2009, p. 1]. It determines not only which message will be transmitted, but also its content,

nature, and target audience. An editor’s single decision seems trivial, however, it is just

the first level of a multilayered process. The importance of a theory to describe it rests on

the fact that gatekeeping ultimately influences which representations and discourses will be

available to the public. That is, people’s “cognitive maps” [Ranney, 1983, p. 6].

Lewin [1947, in Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 11] first used gatekeeping as a metaphor for

someone in charge of letting items pass or not through“gates”in channels. He elaborated on it

while attempting to explain how to spread social changes, with a focus on food habits. Later,

he suggested its use in other fields, including communication and journalism [Shoemaker &

Vos, 2009, p. 15].

In the study of news, gatekeeping has served to illustrate the function of selecting which

facts to be turned public. The focus has been on the factors that determine editors’ and

reporters’ coverage. The analysis of the work of a middle-aged wire editor at a small Mid-

western newspaper allowed White [1950=1997], for example, to point out how newspaper

output is conditioned to the gatekeeper’s own set of experiences, attitudes, and expectations

[ibid, p. 71]. A closer glance, however, shows that ideological motives amounted to only 18

out of 423 cases, and reasons varying from lack of space to dull writing had more weight

in his decisions. Further research with 16 wire editors found the same reduced weight of

subjectivity in editors’ judgement [Gieber, 1964, in Berkowitz, 1997, p. 9]. The burden of

production goals, bureaucracy, and relations between coworkers explained a greater part of

7


choices.

The gatekeeping model bears both strength and inconsistencies; it is a metaphor still in

use but an outmoded academic concept for some. The image of gatekeepers as mere news

selectors has led authors, such as Fishman [1980] and Berkowitz [1997], to delimitate the

concerns related to gatekeeping within a “selectivity of news” perspective [Fishman, 1980,

p. 13, emphasis in original]. According to them, most researches assume that facts and

events exist independently of the way they are handled by newsworkers. This metaphor

“leaves ‘information’ sociologically untouched, a pristine material that comes to the gate

already prepared” [Berkowitz, 1997, p. 9]. Hence, the depiction of reality could only reflect

or distort what is outside newsrooms.

In opposition to that, they argue that a focus on the “creation of news” is necessary. One

possible answer to this has been the socio-constructivist perspective on newsmaking, that

attaches a greater importance to work routines and methods utilized by journalists [as will

be discussed later]. However, this segregation between the creation and selection phases is

artificial. Professional rituals and procedures deployed are two of the very factors that would

determine the position and format of the gates which information must go through before

becoming public.

The gatekeeping concept has survived in part because it has been wrought within broader

social contexts into something complex enough to cover multiple stages and levels of jour-

nalistic activities. Still in a very early stage, Gieber [1964] and Westley & MacLean [1957]

switched from White’s [1950=1997] focus on editors as individuals to a media organization

perspective. The whole group of professionals was then seen as one single gatekeeper, and

more weight was put on organizational constraints. Further studies have also pointed out

the role of external agents, such as the public relations industry in service of interest groups

[Gandy, 1982].

The individual perspective, though, has not been abandoned. International news, for

example, passes through multiple individual gatekeepers and can be replaced or merged as

8


it makes its way through [McNelly, 1959]. From the same perspective, Bass [1969] focused

on individuals’ functions to argue that news gatherers [writers, reporters, local editors] and

news processors [editors, copyreaders, translators] were key agents in gatekeeping. Chib-

nall [1977=2003] defended that the first group was even more important since fundamental

decisions are already made by the time a story reaches the second group.1

During these further developments, researchers have come to some agreement on the

basic elements of the gatekeeping process within mass communication besides gatekeepers.

First, there are events and inputs. The latter are messages about the former that come to

the attention of the communication organization. For that to happen, information must be

captured by entrance channels. Sigal [1973, p. 120] classifies them as: routine, e.g., public

records and non-spontaneous events; informal, e.g., dopes from journalists, media outlets,

or off-the-record sources; and enterprise, e.g., spontaneous events and items resultant of

journalists’ investigation or critical thinking. These entrances are the very first place where

gatekeeping occurs. There is no intrinsic value in occurrences and the location of information

collectors does not follow a natural logic. Channels, on the other hand, are composed of

sections [e.g., event participants, reporters, editors, etc], with a gate in front of each one. The

success of events in passing from section to section depends on both gatekeepers’ judgement of

their newsworthiness, which in turn is reflected on the strategic positioning of these entrances.

The inputs which end up being transmitted are finally considered outputs, i.e., the news items

prepared and transmitted.

One key idea is that of forces. Allocated in front or behind gates, they can help or

prevent an event passing through them. Negative ones surround an occurrence scheduled for

after the deadline, for example. A strong perceived newsworthiness, on the other hand, can

nullify this effect and lead to a time limit postponement. Issues regarding forces are yet to

be tackled, since the element is far from being fully elaborated [Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p.

28]. The polarity, for example, may not be constant. The positive forces in a story perceived

1All researches mentioned in this paragraph, except Chibnall’s, in Shoemaker & Vos [2009, pp. 16–19].

9


as news can lose their efficacy if the event is seen as “old” during the process. They also vary

in strength and are conflictive. Studies have envisioned those before the gate influencing

others behind the gate, but not the other way. However, a news story already transmitted

affects the newsworthiness of a similar story still outside the gate. The action of forces also

occurs in the entire gatekeeping process, and not only in the selection stage. A story may

get into the channels even when negative forces are attached to it, but their influence will

then be seen in given size and display.

Figure 2.1: Gatekeeping between organizations [Source: Shoemaker & Vos [2009, pp. 113]]

Shoemaker [1997, p. 57] suggests that “all communication workers are gatekeepers to

some degree, for gatekeeping is an integral part of the overall process of selecting and pro-

ducing messages.” Hence, she updates the model to include several channels of information

entries in the communication organization, each one of them accompanied by staff members

operating in the initial selection and shaping of these inputs [fig. 2.1]. The flow contin-

ues with other boundary-role gatekeepers in charge of another round of sift and assembling

before finally transmitting the messages that survived the process to the public or another

communication organization [fig. 2.2]. Internal gatekeepers may exert an in-between role in

complex organizations.

10


Figure 2.2: Gatekeeping within an organization [Source: Shoemaker & Vos [2009, pp. 114]]

Figure 2.3: Gatekeeping on the individual level [Source: Shoemaker & Vos [2009, pp. 115]]

11


Multiple forces are exerted by many agents to define what will become news and in

which format. The model envisions feedback loops of selection criteria and forces arrows

coming from receivers. On an individual level, gatekeepers are also subjected to psychological

processes and individual characteristics, and their action is embedded in life experiences

[fig. 2.3]. This logic is also found on within-organizational and inter-organizational levels.

Communication routines and organizational characteristics in the first case and social system

ideology and culture in the second case are the layers in which the processes are embedded.

As the bidirectional arrows between gatekeepers suggest, forces action happens in a two-way

manner. Though not represented in the images, this correlation can be said to exist regarding

receivers’ feedback and social system, as messages also have the power to gradually affect

the agents that influence them.

2.1.1.2 Levels of analysis in gatekeeping

As aforementioned, gatekeeping allows analyses on different levels. Shoemaker & Vos [2009]

focus on five of them: 1) the individual; 2) the communication routines; 3) the organiza-

tional; 4) the social institution; and 5) the social system levels . The one first explored by

early studies—the individual level—accounts for effects of people’s characteristics, knowl-

edge, attitudes, and behaviors. Communication routines level directs attention to practices

that are emblematic of the field, rather than something personal or organizational. The

latter, on the other hand, studies characteristics that differ from one communication organi-

zation to another. The social institution level locates media organizations within a broader

social context to analyze outside forces, such as advertisers, audiences, and governments.

Last, the social system one looks into influences coming from political, economic, cultural

and ideological factors. In this research, only the second, third, and fourth levels will be

analyzed due to research design limitations [see next chapter]. In the next paragraphs, they

are described in detail.

The communication routines level

12


By routines in newsmaking, the present study means the“patterned, routinized, repeated

practices and forms that media workers use to do their jobs” [Shoemaker & Reese, 1996, p.

100]. Studies have found uniformity in the selection of news across gatekeepers, which

suggests that characteristics of individuals may play a minor role in the process [Cassidy,

2007; Gieber, 1964; Shoemaker et al., 2001]. This phenomenon is more frequent in the most

prominent stories [Sasser & Russell, 1972] and categories of news, rather than in specific news

items [Hirsch & Miller, 1977; Stempel, 1985]. As these findings indicate, personal influences

are still present in the process. Actually, they are the very ground from where routines

sprout.

Shoemaker & Reese [1996] add three other sources of routines: 1) journalists’ orientation

to the consuming audience; 2) external sources of news; and 3) organizational culture and

context in which news items are produced. Media company professionals have access to

audience market researches. Moreover, new technologies have potentialized the feedback from

the public. But still, journalists tend to rely much more on their perception of what audiences

want from news when establishing routines, including news values. These assumptions come

from typifications of the public that, on the other hand, originate from interactions with

coworkers and each professional’s circle [Sumpter, 2000].

In regards to the second source of routines, it is long known, for example, that media

vehicles depend on official sources. To the extent that a series of routines are employed to

guarantee that entrance channels follow them. Organizations exert “a structure upon time

and space to enable themselves to accomplish the work of any one day and to plan across

days” [Tuchman, 1978, p. 41]. The shared norm of pursuing objectivity leads professionals to

stick to strategic steps, such as hearing conflicting sides, supporting arguments with “facts”

or quotes of sources deemed legitimate, and ordering information in an inverted pyramid

structure.1

Work flows, group hierarchies, manuals of ethics and style, and the transmission platform

1A news item format that rank pieces of information by arranging them according to judgements of theirimportance in a decreasing order.

13


are also organizational elements that generate standard practices. News values, typifications,

and frames are negotiated with these elements in correlation as they are socialized among

gatekeepers, both formally and tacitly. News values, for example, not only orient profes-

sionals towards their image of the audience, but also aid in accomplishing an “organizational

imperative” of transforming events into news [Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 57]. Sometimes,

they can even subvert production logics: strong newsworthiness is a reason to extra editions

or breaking news insertions on TV.

Typifications also avail professionals to automatize part of their judgements. These in-

struments transform the idiosyncratic quotidian occurrences into raw materials that can be

subjected to routine processing and dissemination by exerting order upon them and reducing

the variability of the glut of events. “They also channel the newsworkers perceptions of the

everyday world by imposing a frame upon strips of daily life” [Tuchman, 1978, p. 58]. In

a similar manner, frames, i.e., “patterns of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of

selection, emphasis, and exclusion, by which symbol-handlers routinely organize discourse”

[Gitlin, 1980, p. 7], also assist journalists in reducing time and mental costs to process infor-

mation and accomplish organizational demands. This whole set of routines ultimately serve

production efficiency by accelerating work, minimizing risks and creating an interchangeable

workforce.

The organizational level

Routines are placed inside organizations. However, whereas the former is shared across

organizational boundaries, analyses on the organizational level focus on the peculiarities in-

side each organization. An organization is “a bounded, adaptive, open, social system that

exists in an environment, interacts with elements of it, and engages in the transformation of

inputs into outputs having effects on its environment and feedback effects on itself” [Adams,

1980, in Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 62]. Albeit shared journalistic routines, not all news-

rooms work the same way. The size and nature of the media outlet, its positioning in the

media system as central or peripheral, ownership, management, goals, staff, and organization

14


culture are some of the factors that explain these differences.

The position occupied by the gatekeepers inside organizations affects their power to

select events. Some researches have pointed out publishers as the greatest single active

forces within organizations [Chomsky, 2007; Donohew, 1967, in Shoemaker & Vos, 2009,

p. 64]. Lower-ranked gatekeepers, such as reporters, may try to second-guess editors’ and

publishers’ judgment to increase the chances of his or her story being transmitted [Tuchman,

1972]. The hierarchy among gatekeepers vary according to management styles, that may be

more authoritarian or democratic. Administration, on the other hand, hinges on company

size and also ownership, which includes state, public, corporate, and chain models, among

others. Management also reflects organizational goals and culture, that, depending on the

nature of the media outlet, may be more or less market-driven and focused on the elite or

popular publics, in national or local scale. The composition of newsrooms as a social group

also plays a role in gatekeeping. Variations in age, gender, ethnicity, and employment status,

among other points, may explain some of the choices.

Shoemaker & Vos [2009, pp. 68–73] list three approaches to gatekeeping research on an

organizational level: 1) organizational boundary roles; 2) organizational socialization; and

3) the groupthinking phenomenon. The first focus on the activities that take place among

individuals in the organization and people outside. Those in boundary roles and in charge of

filtering inputs and outputs are also gatekeepers. This approach looks at their transactions

with the external world. The authors argue that, differently from the assumptions of routines

level analyses, patterns of selection propagate from sources to receivers, this perspective

allows researchers to see the extent to which the former [e.g., wire services or public relations]

follows rules congruent with their perceptions of what the latter wishes.

The center of interest of the second approach is how professionals learn the norms and

values of an organization. Observation and experience play a key role for journalists in the

internalization of editorial policies and avoidance of criticism or libel suits [Breed, 1955].

This “context of shared values” [Sigal, 1973, p. 3] may be organization-specific or transcend

15


them into a routines level of analysis, as it is the case of the “strategic rituals of objectivity”

[Tuchman, 1972].

The groupthinking phenomenon considers the modes of thinking that media workers

engage within cohesive groups. It “refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality

testing, and moral judgment that results from ingroup pressures” [Janis, 1983, p. 9], with

mechanisms resembling those of group polarization in enclave deliberations.1 Symptoms

of groupthink include overestimations of group’s power or morality; closed-mindedness; and

pressures towards uniformity. However, the occurrence of groupthinking depends on whether

journalists form a cohesive group insulated against alternative sources of information, which

might be the case of when few routines exist to guide decision making. “In these unexpected

situations, such as a highly newsworthy event, journalists may be most subject to groupthink

and may thereby provide a view of reality based on incorrect assumptions.” [Shoemaker &

Vos, 2009, p. 73]

The social institution level

Communication organizations exist within a social system alongside other social orga-

nizations. Gatekeeping is therefore not isolated against influences external to the media

vehicle.

For-profit media outlets act within markets, through which audiences have a window

to exert pressures on content selection by controlling the demand. Studies differ on the

extent they defend the public could bring to bear such influence. Aforementioned studies

that point out that a stronger influence of journalists’ perceived image of publics, rather

than real audiences, suggest its power needs to be relativized [Sumpter, 2000]. Gatekeeping

models on the organizational level, on the other hand, predict the existence of feedbacks from

receivers influencing gatekeepers in boundary roles. On an individual level, a minority of

introjective journalists would be more prone to capture values and feelings from the audience

1Group polarization refers to the predictable tendency of like-minded people participating in iteratedmeetings with no contact with opposing views to move towards a more extreme point in the directionindicated by the members’ pre-deliberation inclinations [Sunstein, 2002].

16


[Gieber, 1963, p. 9, in Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 79].

Mass media is also vulnerable to advertisers, since they face a“dual-product marketplace”

[Napoli, 2003, p. 4]: content is sold to audiences, but audiences’ attention is also sold to

advertisers. Because of their bigger economic power and knowledge of professional routines

and patterns of coverage, the latter has substantially more power to influence gatekeeping

[Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, pp. 80–81]. Direct pressure is only exceptionally exerted, e.g.,

boycotts. Gatekeepers, however, make decisions conscious of how much damage a sponsor

withdrawal could cause. In order to appeal to them, some media outlets also do not focus

on diverse audiences, but target markets, such as classes with high purchase power or young

people. This leads to the risk of coverage being “a portrayal of the world that is more the

ideal vision of the corporate establishment sponsoring them than a reflection of competing

visions of various publics” [Turow, 1997, p. 3]. With the trend of media organizations being

absorbed by conglomerates, the very boundaries between media companies and advertisers

are getting blurred [Bagdikian, 2004, in Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 83].

Market is also the field for competition with other media vehicles. Diverse players are

believed to lead to more differentiation than monopolies. Some media markets tend to

subvert this logic nonetheless, with major media keeping cartel-like relationships with only

marginal differences among them. A relationship that, leaves “all of them alive and well”—

but a majority “with artificially narrow choices in their media.” [ibid, p. 7, in Shoemaker

& Vos, 2009, p. 77] Effects of intense competition, on the other hand, may range from

sensationalism to diversity and investigative reportages. Other media outlets may be also an

organizational force affecting gatekeeping by extra-market means: some functions as sources

[news wire services] or agenda-setters [communication organizations of the developed world

or national ones towards peripheral or regional vehicles, respectively]. Market influences

also come from shareholders and sources. Media corporations listed in stock markets are

subjected to their moods [McManus, 1994], which result in gatekeeping being more profit-

oriented.

17


Regarding sources, the purchase of information is exceptional in most media systems.

However, they are the suppliers of information. Obtaining it may entail acceptance of their

interest agendas in exchange. Public relations potentialize these negotiations.

Like any other source of information or advertiser, when occupying these roles, govern-

ments use tactics similar to the ones described above to affect media coverage. The means of

administrative, legislative, and judicial authorities to influence gatekeepers differ when they

exercise their power as policy makers and appliers. Laws establish what constitutes a libel,

a copyright infringement, journalists’ professional confidentiality, and procedures to disclose

secret information. Licensing policies and regulations, on the other hand, rule ownership in

broadcasting. The fact that some nations assign such power to independent commissions is

a sign of how conflictive this relation is.

2.1.1.3 Gatekeeping in the digital age

Historical changes—technological innovation included—do not seem to radically invalidate

the gatekeeping model and its five levels of analysis. However, they do affect players, forces,

and the interaction among them, since new tools are available for gatekeepers, which make

of their function an evolving process. This is in accordance with the idea of journalistic

fields based on Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, which is “concerned with how macrostructures

are linked to organizational routines and journalistic practices, and emphasizes the dynamic

nature of power” [Benson & Neveu, 2005, p. 9].

Improvements in technology have been one of the foci of gatekeeping studies. The change

from an all-capital-letter teleprinter wire to teletypesetter by Associated Press [AP ] in the

US during the 1950s has led to a decrease of local news in several Wisconsin newspapers;

the convenience of the new service has made editors use more of the AP stories [Cutlip,

1954]. The major technological innovation in journalism in the recent years—the emergence

of digital devices connected to online networks as a platform for news distribution—is seen

as the momentum for a paradigm shift in gatekeeping processes. “Unlike the print newspa-

18


per, the Web is not a finite, concrete media form; instead, its form is simultaneously fluid

and global and supremely individualistic” [Singer, 2001, p. 78]. The recognition of such

characteristics by online editors, she defends, may be one of the reasons behind the gradual

abandonment of the traditional gatekeeping responsibility of offering not only what readers

want to know, but also what they need to know. Though being a conceptually problematic

top-down decision-making, the complete interruption of this self-proclaimed normative func-

tion is seen as the potential origin of a Daily Me media environment, in which audiences

would only have contact with content suited to their preferences [ibid].

Optimistic visions, however, identify moves towards a democratization of the gatekeeper

role. During a scandal investigation by a local newspaper in Northwestern US, the active

presence of audiences has originated both self-reflective coverage and information consump-

tion, resulting from deliberations between journalists and the public [Robinson, 2009]. Cases

as this one have led to a frisson related to online media and participatory journalism. This

excitement, in turn, has made studies to proclaim that the gatekeepers’ role is being chal-

lenged [Bowman & Willis, 2003; Williams & Carpini, 2004] or transformed into that of

“gatewatchers” [Bruns, 2005; Singer, 2006] and that gates are coming down [Gillmor, 2006;

Levinson, 1999].

Others remain skeptical, however, as they realize that not all media outlets explore the

possibilities offered by the new media environment for they are shadowed by previous rou-

tines, a point further developed in section 2.1.2. Previous practices are imported as media

organizations utilize new technologies [Cassidy, 2006]. Mass media’s dependence on official

sources is a long-known fact. However, hypotheses over a potential decrease of it due to the

possibility, thanks to technological advances, of easier coverage of spontaneous events have

proven wrong. “When an unpredicted, nonscripted, spontaneous event is covered in the news,

the one predictable component of coverage is the presence of official sources” [Livingston &

Bennett, 2003, p. 376].

Expectations over audiences’ participation have also had to be minimized. It has been

19


mostly restricted to feedback and comments, with journalists keeping their decision-making

power untouched [Domingo et al., 2008]. Furthermore, human and automatic filters may also

act as a traditional gatekeeper to let only messages that fulfill certain standards pass. The

greater tolerance regarding anonymity is a big visible change. However, it has contributed

to the corrosion of previous ethical principles, such as transparency and accountability [Enli,

2007]. This reality is not restricted to online news. Prior studies on broadcasting news

[Abbott & Brassfield, 1989; Berkowitz, 1990] have suggested, alongside changes, that there

have been resemblances between the gatekeeping processes in print and electronic media.

These examples show how negotiations between continuities and changes are a constant

in mass media history, a point that dialogues with Pierre Bourdieu’s and Niklas Luhmann’s

views. They are consistent, for instance, with the autonomy of the journalistic field as

predicted by Bourdieu’s field theory. For him, history not only generates dynamism, but

also compelling routines. That is, the strategies adopted by news gatekeepers, just like

those of any other agent engaged in cultural production, are shaped by “the space of the

possibilities bequeathed by previous struggles, a space which tends to give direction to the

search for solutions and, consequently, influences the present and future of production”1

[Benson & Neveu, 2005, p. 95].

On the other hand, from Luhmann’s system theory perspective, changes that do not

menace the very essence of mass media as an autopoietic social system deserve a skeptical

look. As long as it remains an autonomous system due to its specialized ability of routinely

processing the code “information/non-information” in its “news report” program [Hayashi,

2002, p. 100], one may infer that only changes that do fit this process could be adopted. The

question then is whether technological innovations have the potential of successfully disrupt

this code and unleash mutations in the system.

Albeit what the answer might be, gatekeeping theory concepts and its multileveled orga-

1“[. . . ] les strategies des agents et des institutions qui sont engages dans les luttes litteraires ou artistiques[. . . ] dependent de l’etat de la problematique legitime, c’est-a-dire de l’espace des possibilites leguees par lesluttes anteriures qui tend a orienter la recherche des solutions et, par consequent, le present et l’avenir de laproduction.” [Bourdieu, 1992, p. 290]

20


nization are suited to capture both transformations and continuities. However, they require

one to catch up with the evolving tools, channels and agents. In face of multimedia, gatekeep-

ing is also put into practice whenever professionals confront the additional task of deciding

which format to use to transmit information. Interactivity, on the other hand, has offered

the possibility of audience channels to emerge as a new path through which information

may be once again selected. This is seen in experiences such as “most mailed lists” on

news websites and other forms of social filtering, customizations with the use of cookies,

and User-Generated Content [UGC]. Search engines use computer codes to organize news

items collected from other sites. Other codes place online advertisement side by side with

related content, in what, by previous journalistic norms of separation between editorial and

commercial areas, may be seen as conflictive. Governments are still groping for forms of

regulation in the digital environment. New instruments and methods may be necessary to

collect and analyze information from these volatile channels and the dynamic variables that

affect it.

As its constant evolutions show, gatekeeping theory, specially when embedded on a more

socially based approach, is adaptive enough to provide a framework to analyze newsmaking

processes on a new platform [mobile phones] and in a different context [Japanese mass

media system]. Journalists’ assessment of audiences may differ with different media and may

generate new routines designed to capture items that would grab their attention. Conscious

of these changes in the workflow, sources may also draw new strategies to potentialize the

forces that push their information into the gates. On a communication organization level,

group hierarchies also may vary, with online newsrooms inside traditional mass media outlets

more or less independent of their offline counterparts, therefore, creating their own new

newsworthiness standards, among other routines, or adapting pre-existent ones. Japanese

communication organization culture may have its weight in explaining the shaping of the

content they produce. So does staff composition and the way they socialize this culture.

Though Shoemaker & Vos [2009] discuss a “social institution” level, it is important to

21


remember that empirical research can only be conducted with organizations, since the former

is the abstraction of the common features and social functions of the latter [McQuail, 2000;

Rossi-Landi & Williams, 1981, in Domingo, 2006, p. 171]. However, their remarks apply

to an inter-organizational level, focused on forces external to the media vehicle. As will be

shown in subsection 2.2.1, beside those aforementioned, such as audiences and advertisers,

mobile phone carriers—the controllers of the platform—are expected to play a key role as

an external force in the creation of routines in the gatekeeping of mobile phone content

produced by Japanese newspapers. By creation, this thesis means that there are no inherent

practices suited for online media, but that they are socially constructed processes. The

next subsection offers an overview on how this idea has been developed in online journalism

studies.

2.1.2 The socio-constructivist approach to online journalism

It has been more than 15 years since the release of the first graphic web browser and the

consequent popularization of the World Wide Web in the developed world. As a platform

for journalistic content, the internet is still a matter of great expectations, but hopes have

been pointed almost entirely to initiatives born outside traditional media companies, such as

blogs and Social Network Services [SNS] used by free journalists or citizens with journalistic

purposes. Newspapers, radio and TV companies—the so-called old media—, on the other

hand, are said to have failed in being innovative enough to follow the advents of digital

media. This may mislead people to think that the current scenario has always been just this

way instead of the result of struggle and conflict within media companies.

Online attempts from traditional mass media industry have been one of its biggest bets

to extend content production, and consequent business, beyond their main platforms since

the 1990s, and this is not least true to newspaper companies. By then, the feeling that online

operations could bring new air to newsrooms was shared by journalists and media pundits.

The following are some of the “promises” of the internet to journalism and its evolving forms:

22


1. Hypertext refers to “the extension of an existing text into other areas and other do-

mains” [Burnett & Marshall, 2003, pp. 83–4, in Oblak, 2005, p. 94] in an intertextual,

hybrid, and non-linear fashion. Deuze [2006, p. 70] inserts this trend within the idea of

“bricolage”, as an updated element of the postmodern Western creative practices based

on recycling available artifacts. In online journalism, this concept has been initially

translated as the use of hyperlinks to connect fragmented pieces in order to contextual-

ize them and increase transparency by directly linking to information sources. “When

online journalists acknowledge their sources and offer internal or external hyperlinks

to a vast array of materials, documents, related stories, archival content, and other

sites, they attribute an active bricoleur-identity to their users as they give people a

chance to find their own way through the information at hand.” [ibid] Initiatives to

turn databases and APIs public1 are founded on both this hyperlink culture and the

interactive feature of the internet [see below].

2. The practice of multimedia in journalism has two broad definitions. First, as the use

of two or more media formats to present a news story, often on the web [“webver-

gence”]. Secondly, as the dissemination of a news story through different media in an

horizontal integration of platforms [Deuze, 2004, p. 140]. An efficient way to attain

multimedia newsrooms was thought to be that of media convergence. In mass media

context, the term refers to the creation of content for more than one medium [“cross-

platform journalism”], but its actual form may range from cross-promoting stories to

a planned integrated coverage that makes use of each medium strength [Dailey et al.,

2005]. Frequently, such convergence has been translated into merging offline and on-

line operations or partnerships with other media companies [Singer, 2008, p. 158] with

both editorial and management [cost cutbacks] purposes. The initial hype, though, has

1Newspaper companies, such as The New York Times and The Guardian, have gradually opened theAPIs [application programming interfaces] of their databases. By disclosing the codes, users can access theirdata and build applications with them. This move is closely related to the companies’ strategy regardingUser-Generated Content [UGC].

23


faced a retreat, with companies focusing on webvergence to the detriment of alliances

[Thornton & Keith, 2009].

3. One way to construe interactivity in a media context is a continuum between commu-

nication among users and technology [medium interactivity] and interpersonal commu-

nication [human interactivity] [Chung, 2008, p. 660]. Deuze [2003, p. 214] classifies

interactive features on websites as navigational [e.g., links and menus]; adaptive [e.g.,

customizations]; and functional [e.g., feedback comments, polls, “send to a friend” func-

tions, message boards, chats, etc.]. The ultimate form of web interactivity appears to

be what is wrapped in terms such as collaborative or User-Generated Content [UGC],

which in the journalistic context is also called participatory or citizen journalism. The

transition from users to producers of information can happen to different extents and

on different levels. Comment columns in a weblog post, for example, can be merely a

controlled entrance for feedback regarding a finalized product or a tool to gather, sub-

mit, and edit information in an open process [Bruns, 2005]. The integrated use of SNS

features for sharing or commenting the content is also a strategy to boost interactivity.

The optimism regarding how the web would revolutionize journalism persisted until until

the industry was hit by the blast of the dot-com bubble in 2000. The turn made the gap

tangible between the assets provided by new technologies and newsrooms that have ignored

or implemented them with a much slower pace that expected [Steensen, 2009, p. 821]. After

proving to be something quite distant from all promises of revolution in journalism and of a

new profit source, traditional mass media companies’ digital operations have become a reason

for frustration within the industry and skepticism or sarcasm among new media gurus.

These changes in the perspectives related to online newsmaking have been reflected in

academic research. Three overlapping and coexisting waves can be identified in these studies

[Domingo, 2006, p. 137]:

1. The normative and prospective wave has focused on offering ideal models for online

24


news based on a deterministic view of technologies. From this perspective, hypertext,

multimedia, and interaction, among other features seen as the ethos of the internet,

promised a massive and essential transformation in journalism [Allan, 2006; Kawamoto,

2003; Pavlik, 2001].

2. A second wave is constituted of empirical research based on the theoretical assumptions

of the first wave. Some have successfully identified the gap between expectations and

actual products. However, their deterministic framework and methodology based on

content analyses or quantitative surveys have only allowed researchers to see it as an

underdeveloped stage of an inevitable and still unripe change [Deuze, 1999, 2001; Li,

2006].

3. In the third wave, the deterministic view has given space to a socio-constructivist ap-

proach to technological change in empirical studies. Innovation, then, loses its deter-

ministic character and is seen as a process. Ideals related to new media are understood

as few of the many factors that interact within specific contexts to result in the evolving

practice of online journalism. Research, therefore, must open its foci to capture these

other factors, such as professional routines and organizational structures [Boczkowski,

2005; Paterson & Domingo, 2008].

The weight put on each wave varied through time from the first to the third one, and,

notwithstanding the lack of subsidies to affirm that the last wave is now central, the dot-

com crash may have helped to relativize deterministic approaches resulting from the initial

technological fascination.

After more than ten years since the popularization of mobile internet in Japan, the

content produced for it by mass media companies is an experience relatively mature enough

to constitute the corpus of research based on the socio-constructivist approach and freed

of deterministic ideals related to mobile media. One can argue whether these products

are the vanguard of an evolution line initiated with the online news websites, a point to be

25


discussed in this thesis. However, even if the conclusion is that they have had an independent

development, tracing parallels between these experiences and the findings of previous online

newsmaking research can contribute to deepen a historical perspective on this theme.

In this subsection, first an overview of the two mainstays of the third wave of studies

is given: the socio-constructivist or socio-organizational approach to newsmaking and the

constructivist perspectives towards technological innovation scholarships. Then, the main

findings of these researches are summarized. Finally, the last part of this subsection discusses

how they provide subsidies for a research on mobile content offered by mass media companies

in Japan.

2.1.2.1 The social construction of news

Sociological approaches towards news production can be found as early as in the works of,

for examples, Weber [1921=1991], with his argument for the social standing of journalists as

political persons; and Park [1922, 1923], with his investigation on minority press and defense

of news as a form of knowledge. However, it was the gatekeeping scholarship discussed previ-

ously1 that first offered a socio-organizational perspective on newsmaking, as soon as Gieber

[1964] refuted the previous weight put on journalists’ individual decision power and saw them

as a cohesive group subjugated by professional standards [Schudson, 2000, p. 177]. Since

then, the socio-constructivist perspective has been gradually losing its functionalist basis

and establishing its place in mass communication studies, caught between often antagonistic

political-economic and cultural views.

It is common to find research referring to both the social construction of news and the

ethnography of newsroom scholarships as synonyms. Here, nonetheless, they are treated as

independent things: the former as a theoretical framework; and the latter as a methodolog-

ical approach. The use of both terms to point to the same object, however, is understand-

able, since historically they have been closely related. Many socio-organizational studies

1See subsection 2.1.1.

26


on newsmaking have shared an ethnographic method suited to empirically observe produc-

tion processes and professional roles. They have ended up extracting grounded theories of

journalistic routines and that is what will be reviewed in the next paragraphs. A complete

differentiation of both terms, nonetheless, will be offered only in the methodology chapter,

alongside an explanation of why without making use of ethnographic methods, this research

claims to be in line with the socio-organizational approach.

A shared trait among studies is that they depart from the social constructivist perspec-

tive towards society, with inspirations ranging from traditional phenomenology1 to symbolic

interactionism and ethnomethodology2 in order to state that news is a socially produced

representation of the world. In other words, “[. . . ] news, like all public documents, is a con-

structed reality possessing its own internal validity” [Tuchman, 1976, p. 97]. News values,

a social construction per se, help categorize what is noticeable. They are reflected in the

strategies elaborated to successfully capture occurrences that fit them, such as the assign-

ment of reporters to certain thematic or spatial news beats, which reproduces a bureaucratic

view of the world [Fishman, 1980, p. 28]. These conventions and repeated procedures, in

turn, originate professional routines3 in accordance with the labor divisions in the assem-

bly line that manufactures news. Thus, distortions in journalistic coverages are not just a

matter of individual subjectivity or organizational interests. There is an inevitable bias—a

frame—crystalized in the very core of the newsmaking processes in mass media, in which

occurrences have to fit in order to be news.

To comprehend such framings in the moment they are being applied, a wave of researchers

1As a philosophical school, phenomenology has attempted to restore the “humanistic understandings ofconsciousness as a lived and interpreted whole”, in a reaction to positivism and“psychologism”[Jensen, 2002b,p. 22]. In the social sciences, this current of thought has legitimized minority moves towards interpretivestudies of social life.

2These methods have questioned tacit agreements on which social consensus depends. They have ex-posed how rules governing personal interaction are continually recreated and reaffirmed in everyday socialencounters through behavior and the communication and interpretation of symbols [symbolic interaction-ism] [Jankowski & Wester, 1991, p. 52; Hartley, 2002, p. 224]. Ethnomethodology, a scholarship thatshares its foothold with symbolic interactionism, attributes social structures to “ordinary” people [“ethnos”].Accordingly, a close observation of them clarifies their role as the architects of it [Jensen, 2002b, p. 56].

3The term entered the field of journalism studies through the original work of Tuchman [1972], whoborrowed it from the sociology of work. For a definition of routines, see p. 12.

27


entered US and British newsrooms in the 1970s. These studies, mostly ethnographies un-

dertaken by sociologists and political scientists, have focused on how the institutionalized

biases are related to professional assumptions, the nature of communication organizations,

their position in the market, and the social-cultural context in which they are inserted [Al-

theide, 1976; Epstein, 1974; Fishman, 1980; Gans, 1979; Golding & Elliott, 1979; Schlesinger,

1979; Sigal, 1973; Tuchman, 1978]. In sum, their findings show five general distortions in

the news produced by contemporary mass media in these countries: 1) news is centered in

events, actions, and people; 2) news is typically negative; 3) news is the product of strategic

practices of professionals in pursuit of their standard of objectivity; 4) as a result, news is

focused on the technical and mechanical side of occurrences rather than the ideologies and

politics behind them; 5) which, among other things, leads to a dependence on official sources

[Schudson, 2003, pp. 48–55].

One may speculate that these distortions apply to other democracies with relatively few

variations. However, the main point is that this approach offers a map of the processes

that make news the way it exists in each society and the factors that rule such procedures.

Even if their conclusions cannot be directly exported to other mass media systems, their

perspective is applicable. In other words, journalistic conventions and the characteristics of

the organization in which they are executed, as well as the whole environment that both

are part of, may vary according to the medium, the society, and time. However, one can

still expect professionals drawing strategies from this milieu that will ultimately help explain

news in such contexts, including when newsmaking migrates to digital platforms.

By theorizing on newsmaking routines, the socio-constructivist approach to news offers

a guideline of what to look into when studying online news production. However, this

perspective has its limitations. A comparison between the body of findings of classical studies

and the results of an investigation on the newsmaking for the web would probably identify

both changes and inheritances. However, most of the studies with the socio-organizational

perspective are bereft of a historical perspective and fail at analyzing changes [Schudson,

28


2000, p. 194], including those caused by the introduction of technologies. Though something

to keep in mind, the existence of such lacuna is comprehensible, since the entry of scholars

into newsrooms in the 1970s and 1980s was an attempt to extract general rules on how news

is shaped, and not to discuss transformations in this process [Domingo, 2008b, p. 18].

That does not mean that the technological factor was ignored by them. Researchers have

recognized the “medium considerations” professionals do when choosing stories [Gans, 1979,

p. 157]. In her critique on how journalists classify occurrences [hard, soft, spot, developing,

and continuing], Tuchman [1973] proposes an alternative based on how it happens and what

it requires from the communication organization. Among the variables to observe in her new

categorization, such as if the event was scheduled or if its dissemination was urgent, she lists

the effects of the technology of news work on the news piece. This point is resumed later,

when she states that different news technologies each have their own varying time rhythms

and, thus, affect newsworkers’ perception of stories. “As might be expected from the finding

that technology influences the organization of work [. . . ], as well as my argument that time

rhythms influence typification, a television station’s allocation of resources differs from that

of a newspaper.” [Tuchman, 1978, p. 53] Furthermore, this is an open process, and therefore,

when, from to time, “[. . . ] the protocols of writing the news change, it is relevant for research

to ask how this discursive change relates to possible changes in professional routines and in

the political economy of news.” [Tuchman, 2002, p. 87]

Gans, however, minimizes the effects of such differences, alleging that “stories which

different news media select are sufficiently similar to suggest that technology is not a deter-

mining factor.” [1979, p. 80] Such conclusion may come from his misleading idea that the

packaging of news and news itself are separate issues [ibid, p. 157]. He himself shows why

such differentiation is inappropriate when points that improvements in print technology and

the consequent use of colored pictures, for example, have made the availability of impressive

images a stronger reason for an occurrence to be deemed newsworthy [ibid]. His diagnosis

on the homogeneity of news despite the medium has been constantly reverified, even in an

29


era of digital platforms, as it will be discussed later. But then, the question is why it is so.

To answer this query, studies on online newsmaking have complemented the socio-construc-

tivist approach with a historical perspective on how technologies have been socially shaped

and adopted. The building of such “intellectual bridges” [Boczkowski & Lievrouw, 2008, p.

4] was a natural step, since, as shown, the constructivist view on journalism implicitly bears

such links. As a social phenomenon, newsmaking is affected by, among other social factors,

the technological developments of the society in which is inserted [Domingo, 2008b, p. 18].

It is not, however, a matter of fate, as it can be seen in Schudson’s [1978, p. 35] remark on

one of the major transformations in US newspaper history:

The modern mass-circulation newspaper would be unimaginable without the

technical developments of early nineteenth century. They obviously facilitated

the rise of the penny press. But they do not explain it. Technological change was

not autonomous and itself begs explanation. And while it made mass circulation

newspapers possible, it did not make them necessary or inevitable.

The following paragraphs explore the theories on negotiations between social agents and

technological innovations that have constituted the other pillar of the socio-constructivist

approach to online news making.

2.1.2.2 Constructivist views on media technology

In the late twentieth century, communication historians, innovation sociologists, and an-

thropologists of technology have looked for a better theoretical alternative to technological

determinism. They have identified a mismatch between the necessary impact of technology

upon society and the results of empirical studies. The nature of these developments did not

seem so monolithic, and the direction of changes, not so predetermined. Instead, they have

recognized the production and adoption of technologies, including media, as the product of

struggles happening within a certain social context. Creators negotiate their intentions with

30


social actors and forces. Adopters, on the other hand, redefine the result of such negotia-

tions while adjusting themselves to the requirements of its usage. Alternative perspectives

to technological determinism, which have sprouted from the observation of these processes

and that have later subsidize discussions on the adoption of digital media as a platform for

news, are given below.

The Social Shaping of Technology [SST] perspective attempts to explain why the same

technologies can end up being developed in different ways in different social environments.

Studies of this group come from areas such as the sociology of scientific knowledge, the soci-

ology of industrial organizations, technology policies studies, and the evolutionary approach

within the economics of technological change [Williams & Edge, 1992, p. 32]. They defend

that inventions are flexible enough [Pinch & Bijker, 1989, p. 40] to receive varying interpre-

tations by relevant social groups struggling to impose their own solutions. That is, suppli-

ers, consumers, resources, and technical expertise represent “sociotechnical constituencies”

[Molina, 1989, in Williams & Edge, 1992, p. 38] that underpin the design and implementa-

tion of technologies. The outcome of collisions among them is a hegemonic interpretation

that reduces the initial ambiguity in a non-linear process of closure or stabilization.

Anthropology of technology [Lemonnier, 1993] attributes differences in usages to differ-

ences in the symbolic context of each social group. Through technological choices [ibid, pp.

6–9], actors select utilities and draw working routines and roles conforming to them. In this

process, much more than a rationalization of the features of the artifact, it is its symbolic

connotations, definitions of usage, and the relations established with previous technologies

used in the concrete production process wherein the new artifact is inserted that count.

Technological features may resist social shaping and technologies may look the same. How-

ever their social implications may vary and a close observation through ethnography is able

to capture that.

The actor-network theory [Latour, 2005; Law & Callon, 2000] is an attempt of linking the

previous two perspectives. It sees elements, such as persons, institutions, and artifacts, as

31


connected actors forming a network and, by doing that, tries to relativize the linear causality

in the social influence towards technology existent in the SST approach [Lievrouw, 2006, p.

250]. Accordingly, people have many definitions of technology. But they are all limited by

the constraints imposed by material actors, since inventors inscript target users, uses, and

rules. The process of narrowing the definitions bounded by such limitations into specific ones

for specific work tasks and situations is called translation. Whereas SST usually reconstructs

historically the paths covered by an already stabilized or rejected technology, actor-network

theory focus on current developments usually with ethnographic methods. Despite critiques

that the results of research using this approach have been overstating individual and local

decisions [Williams & Edge, 1996, pp. 889–890], they do not necessarily neglect the effects

of macro-structural factors.

The historical view of communication has focused on cases of adoption as well as rejection

of media technologies and consequent transformation in the medium itself and users. This

diachronic perspective has led them to address the role of actors and social factors in these

processes. This awareness, even though useful in pointing out general trends, has not resulted

in a set of systematic methods of analysis, for all researchers have been able to identify in

many cases was unpredictability. As Williams & Williams [2003, p. 133] affirm, the evolution

of a technology is

[. . . ] a process in which real determining factors—the distribution of power

or of capital, social and physical inheritance, relations of scale and size between

groups—set limits and exert pressures, but neither wholly control nor wholly

predict the outcome of complex activity within or at these limits, and under or

against these pressures.

Winston [1998] offers some concepts extracted from his construal of the internet as an

evolving medium while attempting to systematize a model of analysis within this historical

approach. He summarizes the tensions during the consolidation and adoption of a medium

in accelerators and brakes of technological change. The former refers to “supervening social

32


necessities” that boost prototypes to become an invention and be adopted [ibid, p. 6], such

as social and economic demands or related technological developments. The latter are social

actors’ reaction to reject or delay the diffusion of a new technology. The concentration of

such negative forces constitutes what he calls “suppression of radical potential” [ibid, p. 11],

a tendency in the social fabric to slow down the appropriation of innovations so that it can

absorb it and institutions and organizations can have time time to change without losing their

main attributes and power [Domingo, 2008b, p. 22]. This inclination, on an organizational

level, also relates to the concept of “path dependence”, tailored by the new institutionalism

school [Hall & Taylor, 1996; Pierson, 2004]: the many costs to undo decisions already taken

make change difficult.

Focusing on the adoption side of communication relations and information flows, the

diffusion of innovations perspective [Rogers, 1995] also shares the social constructivist view

on technology. It analyses directions and paces at which ideas or practices spread within a

social group. Born as a specialization of communication research and sociological studies, it

has initially mixed a range of instruments from theories of personal influence and persuasion

to social structural and network analyses in sociology to emphasize interaction and social

relations in the adoption process. Later, it has gained a branch in economics that addresses

industry, market structures, economic stimulus, and barriers for diffusion [Lievrouw, 2006,

p. 250].

Diffusion of innovations is conceived of several key actors and stages. First, a change

agent is in charge of introducing an innovation in a certain social group. The success in the

spreading depends on the the social status or influence of early adopters. If they act as a

positive factor, successive waves of diffusion happen until it reaches a critical mass, the point

at which a certain number of adopters was achieved and further diffusion is self-sustaining

due to social pressures and costs towards non-adopters, and a ceiling—a saturation point.

The amount of adopters is an important factor in these waves, subsumed under the adoption

threshold concept, the number of adopters necessary to lead to a next adoption; and the

33


network externality effect, the proportional increase in the value of a network as it grows.

When the network becomes large and stable, however, its size may act as barrier for the

introduction of innovations, a phenomenon similar to what is called “embeddedness” by

actor-network theorists [Lievrouw, 2006, p. 251].

The usage stage is not independent from the creation processes as the actor-network

model addresses, and recent discussions have tried to develop this argument [Boczkowski,

2004; Lievrouw, 2006]. The decisions and events occurring previous to adoption have a strong

influence on the diffusion process [Rogers, 1995, p. 131]. Silverstone & Haddon [1996] offer a

“domestication approach” in an attempt to integrate the determinants in the first phase and

the shaping process of the second. Adoption is described as a constant process of negotia-

tions in both individual and social levels through imagination, appropriation, objectification,

incorporation, and conversion. That is, from initial perceptions of the potential usefulness

and consequent satisfaction to its later purchase and insertion of its aesthetics and functions

in users’ daily lives, with consequences in their identities and social profiles [Ling, 2004, pp.

28–30].

Lievrouw [2006, p. 258], on the other hand, summarizes the ongoing negotiations in the

shaping and diffusion stages—which he keeps separated—as a switching between the duality

determination and contingency. The first refers to the effect of specific factors at imposing

“coherence” in a certain situation to determine its development direction. The latter is the

lack of such coherence, when different directions are still available. Inspired by organization

studies, social analyses of computing within the field of information science, and research in

the domain of computer-supported cooperative work, Boczkowski [2004, p. 257] develops this

model by integrating both the creation and adoption phases in a perspective he calls “mutual

shaping”. According to him, three aspects are critical in this approach: 1) the interdepen-

dence of technological and social transformations; 2) the ongoing character of this process;

and 3) the influence of the historical context in which it unfolds. That is, the technological

development may be accompanied by societal preparations for its posterior diffusion, such

34


as lobbying legislators for a law framework suited to it or promoting organizational designs

that could easily absorb it. The partial results of these initiatives, on the other hand, af-

fect the very development stage. All of these dynamics happen within a certain historical

context—e.g., users may have a history of conservativeness towards innovation.

Boczkowski & Lievrouw [2008, p. 965] look back upon this point in an attempt to

strengthen links between science and technology studies and communication research. To

accomplish such tasks, they claim, it is necessary a dialectic, mutual shaping perspec-

tive towards the dualities determination/contingency, production/consumption, and con-

tinuity/discontinuity in the analytical “bridges” represented by the causality, process, and

consequence foci, respectively.

As was shown, different but correlated theoretical frameworks originated in a variety of

fields have been available for scholars interested in the dynamics of the development and

diffusion of innovations, including media technologies. Though aware of each other, it is

not clear if there is a tendency for convergence or even if such integration is desirable. On

the other hand, research on online news production has been mixing these views and the

instruments provided by the socio-constructivist perspective on news to different extents.

Their degree of success in the analysis of the subject and the foci they have explored are the

theme of the next paragraphs.

2.1.2.3 The third wave of studies on online newsrooms

The introduction of this social constructivist perspective to studies on online news occurred

gradually as the result of empirical experiences. Thus, there is no clear turning point, and

elements from the previous waves can be found in early studies. Brannon [1999, 2008], whose

investigation is prior to the dot-com bubble crash, conveys influences of the second wave,

of empirical research based on the theoretical assumptions of the technological determinism

perspective. Hence, her field research informs what she denominates a“theory of ‘production

determinism’”, that “accepts the inherent pressures on media output created by technology

35


but incorporates influences of job function and newsroom sociology” [Brannon, 2008, p. 100].

This trait is clear in her defense of a certain“digitally sharp mind-set”necessary to“maximize

the medium” [ibid, p. 110].

The link with the socio-constructivist approach to newsmaking, however, relativizes this

ontological position. Her empirical work prospects answers to why actual online journalism

is so distant from what was promised to be delivered by the internet. Her purpose then

was to assess the perception of obstacles to routinization and sophisticated conceptualiza-

tion of news among journalists. Also, to determine the extent that technology and other

factors influence online news and its practitioners as they apply, adopt or discard various

journalistic techniques on an evolving interactive multimedium. She does that by conducting

observations, interviews, and an online survey targeting the newsrooms in charge of the news

websites of a national newspaper, a TV station, and a public radio station in the US.

As a result, Brannon attempts to offer a profile of journalists that have worked in US

online newsrooms during the late 1990s and to list their perceptions of impediments to per-

form what was considered ideals of online news at the time. Among these factors were:

1) technological limitations of newsrooms [hardware and software] and journalists [deprived

of training]; 2) prior professional culture, such as the weight placed on immediacy, restricting

experiments online; and 3) organizational constraints, such as the centrality of print opera-

tions and the consequent undermining of online ones. These challenges were shared by the

three newsrooms, regardless of the tradition of the company.

Those normative traits present in Brannon are entirely abandoned by Boczkowski [2005].

His focus is on the practices through which people working in established media appropriate

technological developments, as well as the products that result from this process. Then,

even though he recognizes that the introduction of such instruments opens new horizons and

challenges previous routines, how online journalism or journalists shall be is not important.

“New”media is replaced by “emerging”media, the result of “merging existing social and ma-

terial infrastructures with novel technical capabilities, a process that also unfolds in relation

36


to broader contextual trends” [ibid, p. 4].

From this theoretical stance of society and technology being mutually shaped, history,

locality, and process become key perspectives to understand online journalism. That is,

there are continuities and ruptures in media development and usage. The appropriation of

a new one, in turn, unfolds differently in relation to its context. Lastly, the processual view

sheds light on the negotiations between original goals and achievements to explain the often

non-expected results.

This framework is applied in case studies conducted in the technology section of the

website of a globally known quality paper, an online feature on traveling, and a UGC expe-

rience of two different regional papers, all in the US. The findings support those of Brannon

[2008]. New ones are also added. These initiatives, he concludes, have been shaped by three

factors: 1) the relationships between print and online newsrooms inside the same company

as either close or distant; 2) the representation of publics within the consumer/producer

of information and technically savvy/unsavvy dichotomies; and 3) the character of online

newsrooms practices as either a reproduction of editorial gatekeeping or an alternative to

it . As much as the online staff is independent of their offline counterparts, as much as

they perceive consumers as digitally literate users and not passive audiences, and as much

as they pursue alternatives to established routines, greater are the effects on news as it is

“digitized”. Boczkowski [2005, pp. 185–186] addresses three potential changes: on online

platforms, news can be more user-centered; the result from an ongoing conversation rather

than a unidirectional monologue; and focused in micro-local or interest niches.

Subsequent studies have come to variations of Brannon’s and Boczkowski’s conclusions.

The effects of the autonomy of online newsrooms toward their traditional conterparts is

such a similar finding. Organizational demands to align print and online editorial policies

have trapped online professionals in the passive role of adjusting routines around the print

operations in order to efficiently reproduce its agenda [Garcıa, 2008]. This has also led to a

generalized stigma of selfdeprecation. A quantitative study has suggested that the success in

37


fusions of online and offline productions is correlated to such perceived cultural differences

[Bressers, 2006]. However, a qualitative one has shown that media convergence itself has

constituted an ideal other than an essential feature of digital times [Colson & Heinderyckx,

2008]. Many professionals tend to distrust such changes in routines and organizational

structures for their unclear or even suspect “benefits” [Quandt & Singer, 2009, 135], and

cultural shocks may be detrimental [Silcock & Keith, 2006; Singer, 2004].

Autonomy is directly linked with Boczkowski’s third point, of online journalism exper-

imenting alternative models to traditional editorial gatekeeping. Online newsrooms with

little alignment towards their offline counterparts were more prone to dare. When they were

part of or subjugated to the latter, that was not true. Weblogs, for instance, are considered

the ultimate format for journalists to rethink their roles as gatekeepers and interact with

the public. However, journalists affiliated to traditional media outlets during the early usage

of such format tended to “normalize” it, so it would fit traditional journalistic norms and

practices [Singer, 2005].

Boczkowski’s results, based on ethnographic field research and historical investigation,

reach another dimension when used to assess the innovation paths in newspaper industry.

He states that they have been marked by a ”patterned diversity” [2005, p. 176]: there

has not been just one way for online journalism to materialize, nor has the range of forms

progressively converged toward one. On the other hand, innovation has been happening

through the accumulation of small initiatives and as a pragmatic reaction to social and

technical changes. The main purpose of companies was still to protect print business and

generate short term gains. However, by weaving the socio-material infrastructure of print

with the novel possibilities associated with developments in information technology, they did

ignite transformations. In “their pursuit of permanence, undertaking innovation to stay the

same, newspapers have nonetheless ended up generating substantial change.” [ibid, p. 174]

These sociomaterial and organizational factors have been influencing who gets to tell the

story, what kind of stories are told, how they are told, and to what public they are addressed.

38


Boczkowski claims that journalism studies have been underestimating these factors. However

they are even more important for journalism studies now, since their effects become increas-

ingly tangible as the number of actors that shape news grows. That is, content for digital

platforms produced by online newsrooms is not only the product of the work that happens

there, but also of actions and decisions taken by their offline counterparts, advertising and

marketing departments, technical and design personnel, and the public. As he summarizes,

“news in the online environment may not be [. . . ] ‘what newspaper people make it’; rather,

it may be what emerges from ‘news worlds”1. [ibid, p. 184]

Domingo [2006, 2008c] departures from the premises left by Boczkowski [2005] as he

analyses news websites operated by three regional media companies in northeast Spain]: a

national and a local newspapers, a public broadcaster, and a public funded news portal.

The findings are similar to those of Brannon [1999] too, but analyzed from a post internet

bubble constructivist approach to technological innovations. Paradigms that a “digitally

sharp mind-set” should take into account, such as hypertext, multimedia and interaction,

are now treated as “utopias”2 [Domingo, 2008c, p. 115].

This does not mean that online newsrooms have discarded new formats on the inter-

net. Internet utopias are still references, but their impact is limited by social and material

contexts. One crucial factor has been the media tradition, that englobes journalistic val-

ues, routines, and product formats, which vary locally, but are standardized at large for

different platforms [ibid, p. 114]. The fact that the venture running the news portal has

been the one most open to try new things among the studied cases just proves the role of

newsroom autonomy in boosting experimentation. Investigation on the effects of such legacy

shows that it persists even when a newspaper company goes online-only [Thurman & Myl-

1For Becker [1982, p. 34], “art world consists of all the people whose activities are necessary to the produc-tion of the characteristic works which that world, and perhaps others as well, construe as art”. Boczkowski’sremark is based on this premise. This notion also dialogues with the idea of a “journalistic field” explainedin p. 18.

2Historians of technology remark that one of the definitional attitudes of Western societies is technologicalutopianism, i.e., that innovations will automatically cause radical changes. The adoption of technologies,nonetheless, is a much more complex process, and initial utopias usually do not materialize as initiallypredicted [Domingo, 2006, p. 18]. For more, see 2.1.2.2.

39


lylahti, 2009]. This point echoes the weight of work flow procedures found in the studies on

newsmaking of the 1970s: “Routines may become so ingrained that they become reified as

‘professional norms’ of ‘good journalism’, and alternative modes of news production become

almost inconceivable to practitioners.” [Molotch & Lester, 1975, p. 255]

For the others, the only alternative left was immediacy, a common path also seen in other

European countries and the US [Brannon, 2008; Paulussen, 2004; Quandt et al., 2006] that

has its side effects. It has fostered the reproduction of some traditional journalistic values

while deteriorating others, such as fact-checking [Domingo, 2006, p. 315]. Cases in which

online production is merely the transposition of print content onto the internet have been

common, a process often denominated shovelware. Another alternative in order to accom-

plish time limits has been to fine-tune news agencies stories [Paterson, 2005; Quandt, 2008],

showing how more media is not necessarily diverse media. Content analysis on Argentinean

print and online media has found a coincidence between the intensification of online up-

dates and an increase in the level of content overlap in print and online newspapers, even in

comparisons across different media outlets [Boczkowski & Santos, 2007].

Here again, the findings gain consistency when they are displaced within the frame of

the social adoption of technological solutions, particularly the concept of “suppression of

radical potential” and, one could add, “path dependence” [see p. 32]. Quite afar from initial

deterministic views of technology, it is shown that agents—journalists in these cases—have

an active role rejecting technologies or adapting them to the established rules in order to

prevent dramatic changes. On an organization level, traditional news companies, like any

other player with an established position in the market, tend to prioritize stability. “They

enjoy steady growth via incremental, predictable changes and do not generally favor radical

changes, especially those perceived to be able to generate better alternatives to existing

products”, as part of a fear-driven defensive innovation culture [Nguyen, 2008, p. 92]. In the

US, for example, formulating business plans or measurable goals regarding online operations

is not a disseminated habit among print media companies [Adams, 2008; Saksena & Hollifield,

40


2002].1

Steensen [2009] brings new questions to the constructivist perspective and grounded

approach to online journalism by pointing out two limitations in previous studies. He argues

that there has been a bias towards news content. New genres are the space for online

experimentation [ibid, p. 831], as he verifies in his ethnographical study on a Norwegian

newspaper company website. Such a tendency has been also identified in special coverages

of events, which Domingo [2008c, p. 120] calls a “routinized way to develop the internet

utopias”. The second limitation is the undervaluation of the journalists’ agency caused by

the emphasis in the socio-material structure. An integral attention to active individual

practices and group routines would allow capturing accurately how interactions between

them can influence innovation.

2.1.2.4 The socio-constructivist approach and mobile content

In conclusion, some few general interdependent factors affecting online newsmaking and

being affected by this case of innovation in mass media organizations can be extracted from

these studies [Steensen, 2009, p. 833]:

1. Newsroom autonomy explores the power relations between new media projects and

their traditional counterparts;

2. Newsroom work culture refers to the extent to which these initiatives try to reproduce

previous routines, such as traditional gatekeeping roles, or offer alternatives;

3. The role of management factor brings the attention to the existence or lack of admin-

istrative practices able to guarantee an environment for innovation;

4. The relevance of new technology points to how the efficiency and usability of hardware

and software [among the latter, the content management system [CMS] seems to play

a central role] can constraint or stimulate new practices; and

1What seems as negligence may be explained by the demand uncertainty aspect associated to contentand services products [Tanaka, 2009, p. 129].

41


5. The presence of innovative individuals, which focuses on the role of each professional

in incorporating innovation into journalistic practices.

Displayed within the “constituent material practices” of integrated cultural and economic

contexts [McFall, 2004, p. 18]—something that the organizational and inter-organizational

levels of analysis offered by the gatekeeping model helps to accomplish—, these factors may

inform a future grounded theory of these processes. However, in order to become so, further

validation tests are necessary. The application of this theoretical framework in this research

is a small contribution towards this direction. Since not all of the factors are explored in this

study due to research design restrictions, as will be explained later, the entire understanding

of this perspective helps at seeing possible limitations in the outcomes.

At the same time, this framework also has a visible flaw: it has downgraded the influence

of business models. There have been remarks on how online news websites are as market-

driven as their traditional counterparts [Cohen, 2002], a fact that is potentialized by some

technological features but ends up even curbing certain uses of internet. Online editors have

prompt responses from audience on what interest them most, as “most read” rankings show,

an information which affects their judgements. Alternately, users have been refused external

hyperlinks that could offer further information and context so that they would remain longer

in the news website.

Most of the ethnographical studies on daily work flows discussed here have listed business

logics as one factor to keep in mind when analyzing online journalism. However, they have

offered little on how this factor is inserted in management and editorial decision-making.

Online newsrooms autonomy towards traditional counterparts has been described as a con-

dition for innovativeness. Nonetheless, discussion on the extent to which the usual deprival

of such independence in mass media companies is a symptom of the fact that newspapers

and TV, and not websites, still account for a massive part of revenues have been scarce.

Perhaps this stance was appropriate until the early 2000s, when companies strategies in the

face of uncertainty was to invest in multiple fronts, including unprofitable news websites,

42


hoping something would work in their favor in the future [Boczkowski, 2005, p. 67]. Losses

were not seen as a motive for negligence towards the internet.

However, this is no longer true. Profitability is a constant word within managers and

journalists discussions. Companies have recurrently challenged deficit operations based on

advertisement models by implementing subscription models. Even though not settled, these

business models discussions themselves are originating new internet“promises”, such as“long-

tail” and internet specific models [Anderson, 2006, 2009]. Applied to news industry, niche

information from segments that once have been ignored by mass media are said to constitute

a meaningful source of revenue when seen as a whole if explored on the internet, where

distribution costs are zero [Kawachi, 2007, pp. 210–211]. Paywalls for news websites are also

seen as a move that goes against a certain “free” intrinsic tenet of the internet [Jarvis, 2009,

pp. 76–80]. These points will be added to the previous framework when applying it to the

object of this thesis.

Doubts remain, nonetheless, on the suitability of importing this framework to research

Japanese newsrooms. As far as the literature review efforts in the present study could cover,

there is an absolute lack of previous attempts to apply such approach to online newsmaking in

Japan. This is not just a symptom of one of the flaws in this type of study, which is currently

still concentrated in the Americas and Europe. It also reflects the decline in the newspaper

studies [shimbun kenkyu] that once flourished in post-war Japan [Wu, 2008, p. 12]. Despite

the rise of the changing media environment and the crisis in traditional outlets as research

topics, the interest is disperse among digital media effects on the public opinion, public sphere

or society as a whole [Endo, 2007; Hoshikawa, 2003; Mizukoshi, 2002]. This is exemplified by

Wu [2008]’s analysis on 34 articles related to all keywords “newspaper”, “online”, “news”, and

variations available in the Scholarly and Academic Information Navigator [CiNii], a database

with the content of approximately 1,000 different Japanese journals and magazines. It was

found that research has been intermittent and 20 articles were not even from the socio-

information field, but information engineering related. The 14 left comprised trade magazines

43


articles and research focused on cases abroad, mainly South Korea. No empirical study on

Japanese online newsrooms was found.

Nonetheless, although previous research to encourage the application of the socio-constructivist

approach in Japan is non-existent, the very use of it is a way to check one of the hypothesis

exposed in the introduction of this research, that there are bridges between the scenario in

Japan and abroad explorable after appropriate adjustments. Online newsrooms in Japanese

traditional media are units inside capitalistic enterprises in an advanced industrial nation

just like those analyzed by the studies discussed in this literature review. As those estab-

lished large organizations aforementioned, there seems to exist a cautious stance against risks

involved in going online [Miyao, 2002]. At the same time, these mostly centenarian Japanese

organizations and the mass media system they are part of do have peculiarities that can-

not be ignored, such as their astonishing circulation numbers and resilient reliance among

readers.1 Flexibility to correct field research and analyses directions is obviously necessary

in any research, but more than ever in this case.

Another source of doubts is the focus of the present thesis on content not for PC internet

but for mobile phones. Both are equipments that, among other functions, connect to the

web, in accordance to the “device agnostic” principle of TCP/IP communication. Recent

developments in mobile phones, as well as the diversification of portable handsets, such as

smartphones and tablets, are blurring the boundaries of these two media. However, they are

still inserted in correlated but different markets and convey different symbolic connotations.

Thus, actors and factors from this socio-material context not predicted in previous research

are expected. They are the topic discussed in the last part of this literature review.

1Harden, B. (2008) Japan’s Papers, Doomed But Going Strong. In: The Washington Post, Oct. 24.[www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102403590.html, accessed in Dec.,2010] Also Facker, M. (2010) Ink Gushes in Japan’s Media Landscape. In: The New York Times, Jun. 20.[www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/world/asia/21japan.html? r=1, accessed in Dec., 2010]

44

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102403590.html

www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/world/asia/21japan.html?_r=1

2.2 Mobile phones in media and business studies


The two parts of this sections subsidize the adaptation of previous research frameworks ap-

plied to online journalism for its use in this thesis. Some assumptions related to the internet,

the platform through which the content analyzed in previous studies has been distributed,

need to be adapted for mobile internet. The first subsection explores the development of mo-

bile internet in Japan from an industry perspective. Data and a description of the structure

of this sector are given. By doing it, the inter-organizational material conditions in which

newspapers have been producing their mobile content are delineated, including the role of

carriers on this platform.

The second part focuses on the symbolisms attached to mobile phones. As it will be

shown, the multifaceted character of this medium has linked to it previous digital media

“paradigms” and generated new ones. A comprehension of both material and symbolic con-

texts will facilitate the discussions in the next chapters on why content made available for

this platform by mass media companies has been shaped the way it has.

2.2.1 The i-mode process of innovation

By November 2011, Japan had 120 million subscribers of mobile phones, which represents a

diffusion rate of 94,7%1. Regarding total amount of users, emergent but populated economies,

such as China or India, surpass Japan. A simple division of total number of devices by

population also gives higher diffusion rates for some European countries, although this is due

to the high dissemination of pre-paid systems. What differentiates the Japanese market is the

high Average Revenue per User [ARPU]—5,425 yen in the 2008 fiscal year2 or approximately

65 US dollars by the exchange rate of the end of 2010. Moreover, the percentage of it

1Telecommunications Carriers Association [TCA, www.tca.or.jp, accessed in Dec., 2010]. The diffusionrate was calculated with the Japanese population size presented in the CIA World Fact Book [www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html].

2Kai, M. (2009) 2008 Nendo, Kokunai Keitai Denwa Jigyosha no ARPU wa Data Tsushin de OnseiARPU no Gensho o Oginaezu. In: Nikkei Market Access. Jul. 1st. [http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/COLUMN/20090630/172409/, accessed in Sep. 2010]

45

www.tca.or.jp

www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html

www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/COLUMN/20090630/172409/

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/COLUMN/20090630/172409/


represented by data communication is considered the higher in the world and is believed to

reach 50% by March, 2011.1

The recent popularity of smartphones has its stake in the continuous growing in data

transmission. However, the great part of it is due to the 95,162,200 keitai internet sub-

scribers2, which is almost 80% of the total number of mobile phones contracts. The widespread

dissemination of mobile internet in Japan has become a reality as a result of steps taken a

decade ago, when carriers predicted the oncoming of a saturated market. Behind it is the

success of i-mode, the internet access protocol and set of electronic services that the Japanese

mobile major NTT DOCOMO began offering in 1999 and which was immediately followed

by similar products of domestic competitors. Eleven years later, mobile phones compete

with PCs in Japan as feasible options to connect to the internet, with the former being the

preferred method of teenagers.3

The Japanese mobile phone carriers have kept the following six points in mind while de-

veloping keitai internet services [Kohiyama, 2005b, pp. 132–133]: 1) to simplify operations

by processing information as much as possible on the network; 2) to centralize their man-

agement in the mobile phone carriers; 3) to charge for access and content; 4) to make them

accessible from the same devices used for calls; 5) to make them accessible while moving;

and 6) to build a reliable and secure network. The peculiarities in these services design

have ultimately led researchers to state that i-mode and similars are not internet, but an

independent network created by mobile telecoms. “Keitai internet is not the insertion into

the internet of a mechanism to make it mobile. It means that a network compatible with

mobility has gained a doorway connecting it to the internet.” [ibid, p. 134]

This remark gives some hints of common explanations for the success of i-mode [Ishii,

1Data ga Onsei o Gyakuten e: Keitai Ote Yon-sha no Tsushinryo Shunyu. Nihon Keizai Shimbun.Morning ed. Jun. 19, 2010.

2Number of November, 2011 [www.tca.or.jp, accessed in Dec., 2010].3The use of PC has declined among teenagers between 2005 and 2010, from 17.8 minutes per day to

12.8 minutes. On the other hand, they had the highest usage of mobile phones among all ages, 66 minutesdaily, with little variation from five years ago [Kawamoto, H. (2010) Ju-dai, Pasokon Banare. . . Net wa Keitaide: Todai Kyojura Chosa. asahi.com. Dec. 12. www.asahi.com/national/update/1211/TKY201012110318.html, accessed in Dec. 2010].

46

www.tca.or.jp

www.asahi.com/national/update/1211/TKY201012110318.html

www.asahi.com/national/update/1211/TKY201012110318.html


2004; Mizukoshi et al., 2001]. Devices were initially simple, but versatile and functional

enough to compensate the low speed of the 2G network used by then. Their always-on con-

nection has made of i-mode a casual tool, with users easily accessing it whenever they had

free intervals, such as between activities at work, while commuting, or even at home. The

marketing strategy addressed this spontaneity and reduced expectations by presenting the

new service as an extension of previous mobile phone services, and not as “wireless inter-

net”, as foreign counterparts had done with the Wireless Application Protocol [WAP]. NTT

DOCOMO deserved credits for offering low prices for access, calculated by packet transmis-

sion rather than time used.1 Handsets themselves also had accessible prices, although this

had only been due to carriers subsidies. High call fees and SIM lock configurations were,

therefore, necessary to guarantee the recover of these initial incentives [Matsuba, 2002, pp.

47–50].

The technical conditions were set, but content had to be produced.2 Here again, the

Japanese mobile carrier is said to have successfully changed the targeted consumers and

prospected their demands. In an initial moment, businessmen were thought to be the early

adopters, and, consequently, NTT DOCOMO anticipated that productivity-oriented appli-

cations, such as stock quotations, online banking, and electronic datebooks, would be the

ideal content [Mizukoshi et al., 2001, p. 93]. The ingress in the development team of external

human resources from an internet startup and a marketing-oriented publishing house led to

a move in directions. Entertainment content for urban Japanese youth gained priority. The

change was the result of a diagnosis of some peculiarities of Japanese society markedly seen

among teenagers. They use public transportation to commute. PC and fixed-line internet

were not widespread by then as in other developed countries and, albeit electronic savvy,

1Basic fees range from 0.21 yen to 0.315 yen, with flat charges above a certain ceiling [www.nttdocomo.co.jp/charge/introduction/structure/imode/, accessed in Dec., 2010].

2Yamazaki [2006, p. 39–42] classifies mobile communication in three groups: 1) infotainment; 2) e-commerce; and 3) surveillance-control [e.g., navigation systems]. The content produced for mobile phonesby Japanese mass media clearly belongs to the first category. However, he uses “infotainment” not in thecritical sense of entertainment tainting journalism, but only because, in his classification, music and news,independently of its content, are grouped together. A Freudian slip or not, to verify how much of infotainmentthe content produced by mass media companies for mobile phones actually has is a valid inquiry.

47

www.nttdocomo.co.jp/charge/introduction/structure/imode/

www.nttdocomo.co.jp/charge/introduction/structure/imode/


teenagers were more used to their portable game and music players than computers [Ratliff,

2002, pp. 58–9].

Also regarding the content of i-mode, NTT DOCOMO guaranteed an ever evolving and

diverse series of services and applications by attracting and supporting third-part developers

rather than simply buying their production. The initial option for Compact Hyper Text

Markup Language [C-HTML]1, a subset of HTML, rather than the internationally standard

WAP, made it easier for programmers to explore the open platform. Producers can make

their content available without approval of the carriers, a segment that has seen growth later

[Sudoh & Tanaka, 2008, p. 45].2 However, only those labeled as official are listed on i-mode

top page and chargeable at a monthly flat-rate ranging from 100 to 300 yen through phone

bills. In exchange, the carrier has a 9% commission on their revenue. The most successful,

besides the overwhelming e-mail service offered by carriers themselves, were games and item

for customization [e.g., screen savers, ringtones].

Fransman [2002, pp. 239–240] asserts that this conventional wisdom on i-mode is mislead-

ing. According to him, the points described above are the results of the “i-mode innovation

system”, and not the cause of it. Instead, he summarizes the properties of this system in

four items:

1. NTT DOCOMO had an up-to-date comprehension of “consumer segment and tastes”.

That, in turn, led to the strategy of targeting young customers and providing them

“magazine-like contents accessible on-the-move”.3

2. The carrier offered “high-powered incentives for complementary content-creators”. The

micropayment and billing commission created a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

1Competitors initially took another options, including WAP. They have begun to converge later toExtensible HTML [XHTML].

2Non-official websites are called katte site, a name that conveys the idea of made without consent. Unableto use the carriers billing system, they mainly monetize through advertisement. Mobile advertisement marketreached 91.3 billion yen in 2008, a growth of 47% compared to the previous year [Dentsu Soken. (2010) JohoMedia Hakusho 2010 [A Research for Information and Media Society]. Diamond.].

3Ms. Mari Matsunaga, one of the external specialists recruited to compose i-mode developing team, hashad a previous experience as the chief-editor of Recruit, a jobs classified publication.

48


The open characteristic of the platform allowed the mobile phone operator to renew

its content by scooping successful ones from non-official producers and, as a result, to

expand the value network [Funk, 2009].

3. Technology was “in the service of evolving consumer demand”, and not the opposite.

That is, the carrier sold a new set of services designed for a massive market within 2G

constraints, and not a new set of technologies [Fransman, 2002, p. 242].

4. The Japanese telecom also knew how to appropriate the fruits of “network external-

ities, positive feedback loops, and dynamic increasing returns” made possible by the

properties above. As a communication tool, the service acquires value as users join it.

An increasing share represents an incentive for the carrier and the content producers.

As a result, NTT DOCOMO is able to profit from i-mode fees, data traffic, billing

commissions, and advertising, a sector the company began exploring later.

The buzz around i-mode that dominated the early 2000s was gradually substituted by a

pessimism years later. NTT DOCOMO had accumulated accomplishments domestically, but

failed at exporting the i-mode model. In other words, although the company established itself

as “a platform leader in Japan for wireless Web services and content, it remained a platform-

leader wannabe in the rest of the world.” [Gawer & Cusumano, 2002, p. 215] One common

explanation for this failure is the unique vertical integrated structure of Japanese mobile

sector, with carriers ordering exclusive devices from makers to resell them to consumers, a

position that gives them the power to dictate market directions [Barnes & Huff, 2003, p.

83]. This centrality has guaranteed high diffusion rates of high-tech handsets, but has also

resulted in a market evolution path isolated from the global trends [Yasumoto, 2010, p. 47].

Details of these recent developments will be omitted at this point. The key idea here

is that, as seen in this subsection, this same central role mobile communication companies

had towards makers was reproduced on i-mode regarding content providers. The success of

its subscription-based model contrasts with the enduring struggle to monetize content on

49


the internet [Kohiyama, 2005a, p. 63]. However, not just the idea that the information on

the internet should be free, but also the assumption that, as a platform, internet should

be 100% neutral has been challenged. Mobile internet services homepages1 are a walled

park within the web, and being inside it has both benefits and costs. “Content providers

are required to undergo a lengthy application process without clear rules for qualification in

order to qualify for ‘official’ status and thus access to the menu and billing services. This

gives NTT DOCOMO great power in its relationship with content providers.” [Ratliff, 2002,

p. 60] What this system has represented for the gatekeeping function of mass media when

companies accepted to be part of it is a key question in this research.

2.2.2 Mobile phones as a medium

As most technologies, mobile phones have also been one of the totems of the technological

fetishism of contemporary societies and, consequently, a series of symbolic connotations have

been associated to them. This is easily seen in the changes in their advertisement and selling

models: the technological tool rented by active businessmen was gradually substituted by a

proprietary fashion accessary for young people [Hashimoto, 2003, p. 111; Yamazaki, 2006,

pp. 27–8]. This subsection discusses such evolution and its consequences in usages and the

culture that surrounds it. It does mainly referring to the Japanese context and focused on

three points: the mobile phones relation with intimacy, time, and space.

Analyzing media from a socio-constructivist perspective bears one specific difficulty. Dif-

ferently from techno-deterministic views that make possible to assert fixed definitions of a

technology, the focus on ongoing processes between the technological and social factors turns

freezing the media’s image almost impossible. For mobile phones, this is translated in their

problematic character as a both personal and mass medium. Even before the recent diffusion

1Keitai users can jump directly to a specific website by typing the URL, using bookmarks, or readingQR codes [Quick Response or bi-dimensional codes]. The start page or “top menu”, however, needs to bechosen among the few preset options provided by the mobile phone carrier. These top pages are used by57.8% of users to search for contents [Mobile Contents Forum. (2008) K-tai Hakusho. Inpress].

50


of smartphones, most mobile handsets used in industrialized nations or by economical elites

in developing countries were more than simple phones. The increasing addition of functions

has transformed them into portable multimedia devices with internet connection.

This has been specially true in Japan, where the series of factors previously discussed

has led to an endemic evolution and widespread popularization of these gadgets, to such an

extent that the term “keitai” has become a vernacular reference for these specific Japanese

models [Okada & Matsuda, 2002, p. 15; Matsuda, 2005, p. 20]. These peculiar developments

have been once praised as a demonstration of the Japanese high-tech uniqueness, as part of

techno-nationalistic discourses [Okada & Matsuda, 2002, p. 211]. In the late 2000s, after

carriers proved to be unable to export their model, they are seen as one symptom of the

distortions in the domestic mobile phone service industry.

This increasing sophistication has been accompanied by the emergence of new usages,

including that as a platform for mass media content consumption. This move has led to

discussions on the mass media character of mobile phones [Okada, 2003], and the present

study does focus on this very aspect. This medium evolution course is in the interspace

between personal media and mass media. However, as a matter of fact, its path is closer

to the former than the latter. E-mail has been the killer-app of mobile internet services in

Japan since their beginning, even though, as a source of revenue for mobile carriers, the

other functions were seen as more important [Mizukoshi et al., 2001; Okada, 2003].

As a personal media, mobile phones correlations with intimacy is one issue discussed in

media studies [Nakamura, 2005; Yamazaki, 2006]. A survey with Japanese university students

suggested that the medium constituted the tool for the creation of a “full-time intimate

community” [Nakajima et al., 1999, p. 90], a conclusion supported by another survey result

pointing that there is bigger resistance among 15 to 29 year-old Japanese people to give out

their mobile phone numbers rather than their landline numbers [Hashimoto, 2003, p. 114].

What previously was the role of karaoke rooms and fast food shops for this social group

was now independent of space and time factors. “Perpetual contact” [Katz & Aakhus, 2002]

51


has become a reality for them1, and simultaneously consequential rearrangements of space

have made of it mosaics [Hashimoto, 2003, p. 113]. This “techno-social situation” [Ito et al.,

2005] resulting from the existence of both mobile networks and social practices that enable

users to make the most of them is in accordance with the propagated ideas of “no sense of

places” [Meyrowitz, 1986] and “non-place” communities [Gumpert, 1987, p. 178] related to

Information and Communication Technologies [ICT]. Moreover, mobile e-mail services are

also said to be the extreme point of this move of mobile phones from work tools to a personal

medium, as they constituted themselves in a “ultra-private space” [Yamazaki, 2006, p. 120]

for their users.

The appropriation of mobile phones by young people and their role in shaping the device

are frequently addressed. In Japan, keitai have inherited from pagers a whole layer of young

users and the uses they have created around the precedent medium. “Items of the youth

culture, mainly those of female high school students, have been absorbed by the device and its

services” [Okada, 2007, p. 62]. This point, actually, is a strong argument for a relativization,

in the present thesis, of views towards mobile phone internet as a merely different way of

accessing the internet. “What can be seen from the information behavior related to the

keitai internet is that it is an extension of the individual ownership and private uses of

mobile communication media by young people that have switched from pagers to mobile

phones, and not of the internet accessed through PCs.” [Matsuda, 2006, p. 217] That is,

keitai internet and their users have been mutually shaped [Mizukoshi, 2003, p. 188].

Accordingly, even though the intimate aspect of mobile phones and the interactions with

users bodies, due to their wearability, seem to be a constant; these symbolic connotations

are the fruit of negotiations with social variables, such as gender and class. Commutation in

Japanese metropolis is mainly done through public transportation. Consequently, “users are

1Katz & Aakhus [2002, p. 310] assume this “‘perpetual contact” as an “Apparatageist” which could be“broadly vocalized because universal features exist among all cultures regarding PCT” [personal communica-tion technologies]. As explicited previously [see p. 30], this thesis stance is that such attributes are only fewof many possible configurations resulting from the domestication of technological constituents by plannedand incidental social actors. Thus, they must be localized in their historic, social, and cultural context, suchas in the case of Japanese young people’s use of the gadget.

52


aware that they are highly visible in daily transit, and attach their social status or image to

the handsets” [Okazaki, 2004, p. 433]. This is notably seen among young women and their

strong affection to this medium, a point that the marketing industry is well aware of. The

use of mobile phone e-mails and, specifically, the response to e-newsletter sent through them

were found to be discrepantly high among female users with high disposable incomes [ibid, p.

449]. That is, the once so-called “parasite singles”: typically young unmarried women living

with their parents, with low living expenses and high allowances [Tolbert, 2000]. However,

earnings and marital status do not explain everything. Social status also plays a role, with

freelance, highly educated professionals, mostly male, having the most negative response to

keitai internet adoption [Okazaki, 2005, p. 139] and the most positive to PC internet news

websites [Saito et al., 2000, p. 41].

The “wherever and whenever” aspect of mobile phones, that is, the relation with space

and time of these “omnipresent information outlets” in the hands of a increasingly “nomad”

layer of society [Kohiyama, 2005b], also makes mobile phones a distinctive medium. “Keitai ’s

social value is tied to its colonization of the small and seemingly inconsequential in-between

temporalities and spaces of everyday life.” [Ito, 2005, p. 14]. However, the aforementioned

weakening of the sense of places is only one side of this question. The portability and the

consequent ubiquity of these gadgets have even led a business book to talk of a“Mobile Media

Mode [MMM]” substituting the World Wide Web [WWW] [Feather, 2001, p. 50]. “MMM

makes it possible to move within real space more efficiently and simultaneously connect to

the internet from the most suitable place. In this sense, it makes the connection between

real space and virtual space possible” [Okada & Matsuda, 2002, pp. 60–1] and overturns the

idea that the variable space does not matter when accessibility is a constant.

The media with the potential of reconnecting their users to their surroundings are grouped

in the category “locative”, a term initially coined in the media art field [Lemos, 2008, pp.

91–2]. They can be classified in four types: 1) urban electronic annotations, i.e., the use

of maps and User-Generated Content [UGC] to portrait communities; 2) mapping and geo-

53


localization; 3) location-based mobile games ; and 4) smart mobs, i.e., the use of mobile

communication to assemble people around one specific cause in public spaces. Examples of

these experiments include websites that use crowdsourcing to archive data on maps1, Social

Network Services [SNS] that group people according to their location2, art performances or

games turned possible by mobile media3, and political demonstrations in many continents.

What these attempts symbolize is the end of the antagonism between real and virtual

and the beginning of their hybridization by means of ICT. The concepts of space, place, and

territory are again open to be socially rewritten by people as part of a bottom-up process.

That is, producing and consuming information on the way means that new spacializations

are possible through the reciprocal interaction of environments and networks. “Ubiquity and

territorializations are two sides of mutually connected dialectic processes. It follows that the

more features of a ubiquitous machine keitai—the universal platform of the times—acquires,

the more omnipotent power it exhibits as a territory machine.” [Fujimoto, 2005, p. 100]

Consequently, the “sense of space” is reinforced and new uses of urban space are created.

Moreover, in this redefinition, the very limit between private and public may be renegotiated.

For its capacity to connect to the internet, mobile phones are also subjected to the

“promises” discussed in p. 22: hypertext, multimedia, interactivity, and their latter deriva-

tions. In some cases, they have even reinforced some aspects, as shows the links between

the diffusion of such multimedia handset and episodical waves of news-oriented UGC [Zuck-

erman, 2010, p. 67]. However, more than the other aspects, the potential use of sensors

embedded in mobile phones [camera, GPS, ID tags] and mobile IP services to connect the

real and the virtual has been a fertile ground for a set of “promises”, namely Location-Based

Services [LBS] and Augmented Reality [AR].

LBS use the location of mobile devices as a variable to filter information offered through

1E.g., the Yellow Arrows project [www.yellowarrow.net, accessed in Dec., 2010].2E.g., the french SNS Peuplade [www.peuplade.fr, accessed in Dec., 2010].3E.g., the art project Sonic City [www.tii.se/reform/projects/pps/soniccity/]; and the games Uncle Roy

All Around You [www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work uncleroy.html] and Pac Manhattan [www.pacmanhattan.com, all accessed in Dec., 2010].

54

www.yellowarrow.net

www.peuplade.fr

www.tii.se/reform/projects/pps/soniccity/

www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_uncleroy.html

www.pacmanhattan.com

www.pacmanhattan.com


these same devices [Junglas & Watson, 2008; Virrantaus et al., 2001]. Common ways of

capturing the handset location are ID tags that are able to emit radio frequencies [RFID],

wireless LAN networks, and GPS. Mobile devices do not necessarily mean mobile phones,

but those with GPS functions are the most disseminated platform for LBS aimed at end-

users. Services are classified in 1) systems for individual users, through which users receive

information filtered by their own location and 2) control systems, which use the location of

an object or a person other than the user of the reader device, such as services for parents to

trace their children’s location. Among those in the first group are attempts to filter mobile

news content by the users location [Chen, 2010]1. This use has also led to expectations

related to a reattachment of news to people’s daily lives [Okada, 2005] and, consequently, is

said to be advantageous for local media.

AR is also a materialization of mobile technologies as a link between the virtual and the

real. It groups technologies that turn possible to visualize overlaid geocoded information

on real-time images and, therefore, can be considered a new segment of LBS. Applications

available by the time being, such as Layar, Wikitude, Junaio, and Sekai Camera2, use mainly

mobile phones camera, screen, GPS, QR code reader, and compass functions. In the future,

these data are expected to be accessed on a variety of displays people have contact in their

daily lives, including glasses and window panes, and improvements in the technologies to

identify users location would allow increasing the precision in the information display. “Just

as the hypertext Web changed our interaction with text, emerging augmented reality tech-

nologies will reshape how we understand and behave in the physical world” and journalists

“will have the job of making sense of this new world and they will do this with a fresh palette

of digital tools.” [Liebhold, 2010]

1As a concept, NTT DOCOMO has defined mobile phones with a similar function always on as “mobilephones that read the air” [www.docomo.biz/html/member/mirai/011/].

2For more information, check www.layar.com, www.wikitude.org, www.junaio.com, and www.sekaicamera.com, respectively.

55

www.docomo.biz/html/member/mirai/011/

www.layar.com

www.wikitude.org

www.junaio.com

www.sekaicamera.com

www.sekaicamera.com


2.2.3 Online journalism and mobile phones

As one can see, new deterministic impacts related to mobile phones as a platform for journal-

istic content are expected, a move that resembles the pre-dot-com bubble burst excitement

about news websites. However, academic research linking this platform and news production

is scarce by the time being. Even though attempts to offer news through WAP have existed

previously, this hype over mobile content as a new sector to be explored by mass media

companies is recent and due to the diffusion of smartphones. Articles on this theme are al-

most restricted to trade magazines. In Japan, newspapers have been producing such content

since the launch of i-mode, and specialized publications have been following these attempts.

But online newsmaking itself is a minor theme of research, and the informative content for

mobile media is even smaller. A socio-constructionist discussion on its production is almost

non-existent, both in and out of Japan.

During this literature review, 16 peer-reviewed articles in English or Japanese have been

found discussing news and mobile phones in some way. They have diverse approaches,

that can be broadly subsumed under five categories: 1) discussions on the potential of

mobile phones attributes [high diffusion rate, mobility, and their relation with space] for

journalism [Katz & Lai, 2009; King, 2008; Zuckerman, 2010]; 2) case analyses of actual

applications of this potential, such as their use as a tool for interactivity [Enli, 2007; Erjavec &

Kovacic, 2009; Thurman &Myllylahti, 2009]; 3) reception research on news content for mobile

media [Westlund, 2008, 2010a, 2010b]; 4) business studies on mass media companies digital

strategies mentioning mobile phones as part of them [Berte & Bens, 2008; Graham & Hill,

2009]; and 5) research aimed at developing technical systems for production or distribution

of news for mobile phones [Chen, 2010; Iwakoshi et al., 2005; Omori et al., 2003, etc.].

Studies in the second group are the closest to this research proposal and, consequently,

an inspiration. However, the first two examples focus on the use of mobile phones to interact

with other medium, namely television. Both dismantle the idea of a totally open participation

of the audience as producers thanks to ICT, mobile phones in these cases, by showing how

56


filters act to make it conform to traditional standards. Enli [2007] does it by accompanying

the gatekeeping action of the professional in charge of selecting and, sometimes, creating

messages sent by mobile phones to be broadcasted on a Norwegian TV station, whereas

Erjavec & Kovacic [2009] apply discourse analysis to a denunciatory popular TV program

that uses images taken by the audience with mobile phones in East Europe.

In this sense, Thurman & Myllylahti [2009] was the only article to truly take up the

production of content for mobile phones, even though it is just one point of a bigger analysis

of transformations unleashed in newsrooms when a Finnish newspaper decided to eliminate

the print version and go online-only. They contributed to this paper by pointing out that

editors have “day parting”—the gatekeeping of content accordingly to a perceived image

of audiences daily routines, a strategy well disseminated in TV programming—as an ideal

practice for mobile informative content. “This may mean giving readers news alerts to

their mobiles first thing in the morning, something lighter to read at lunch time, something

different in the afternoon, more mobile content to read on their way home from work, and

fresh content in the evening.” [ibid, p. 702] This finding is in accordance with mobile phones

perceived attribute as being an “intimate” media attached to people’s daily lives. It also

resonates the remarks of socio-constructivist research on online newsrooms that previous

practices are brought into new contexts and, hence, new media is not just about disruption,

but also continuity.

The third category, even though not directly related to this study, is also worthy of a

comment. Westlund [2008, 2010a, 2010b] focuses on the consumption of informative content,

mostly in Sweden. According to him, though devices able to access such content were

widespread, the actual usage with this aim was limited to early adopters. They were found

to be, in the Swedish case, well-educated men, interested in technology and news, and who

would pay for the benefit of being able to access such information whenever and wherever

they wanted, even though majorly agreeing that mobile phones are not a good way to

consume it [Westlund, 2008, p. 459]. A later cross-cultural comparison with Japan found

57


that Japanese mobile phone users had a more favorable perception of the usefulness of such

content, although they were more reluctant about paying for it. His focus on reception makes

comparisons with the research on online news production discussed in the subsection 2.1.2

difficult. Moreover, his stance towards mobile phones resembles that of the second wave of

studies on online news, for which even when the data contradict promises of technological

revolution, it is just a matter of time for it to happen. “Mobiles are the future. It is not a

question whether it will be so, but when. Most likely, when will be quite soon.” [Westlund,

2010a, p. 109]

As previously exposed, the technological environment for this“future”to happen has been

available for a decade in Japan and, in many senses, is a reality. It is not clear, however, if

this is true for the mass media sector, as its achievements in this field, as well as its initial

expectations are not well documented. The methodology and research design employed by

this study to verify what promises news producers have seen in mobile phones, if they have

accomplished them and, in case they have not, the origin of such gap are the theme of next

chapter.

58

Chapter 3

Methodological discussion

The literature review chapter has spanned diverse themes: namely the gatekeeping func-

tion of mass media; socio-constructivist approaches on news, technology, and online news-

rooms; and mobile phones, from both industry and media studies perspectives. However, the

foothold of this research is in mass communication and journalism studies, more specifically

a case study on media production. This option, in turn, is reflected on its methodological

approach.

Case studies are one type of qualitative research design. Though its heterogeneity, distinct

approaches of qualitative studies share three features: meaning, naturalistic contexts, and

interpretive subject [Jensen, 2002c, p. 236]. Peoples’ actions are based on the meanings they

attribute to themselves and to what surrounds them. The perceptions of these meanings by

them in their everyday life are the focus of qualitative studies [Jankowski & Wester, 1991,

p. 45]. Therefore, not only the messages transmitted by media, but the meanings contained

in their materiality and social uses are of interest for this perspective. More specifically,

meaning and its relations with action inside media organizations. Moreover, they must be

observed from an immersion in the naturalistic context where they happen. Such demand

involves establishing a sample and negotiating with practical constraints, epistemological

questions, and ethics derived from this choice. Researchers’ role is to explain the meanings

59

in action as an interpretive subject standing from a certain historical point and academic

field.

The focus of case studies is on delimited entities, units of production of mobile content

in Japanese newspapers, in the present thesis. Their purpose is to describe the typologies

inherent to the action performed within these entities in order to suggest their implications

for the social system they are part of—mass media system in this case study. Therefore,

detailed attention needs to be given, “first to phenomena within their everyday contexts, and

second to their structural or thematic interrelations with other phenomena and contexts.”

[Jensen, 2002c, p. 239] That is, first the professional routines in the production and update

of mobile websites and applications and these products themselves were the target of this

analysis. Then, this study suggests how they relate to the forces exerted by the materialities

and symbolisms present in the organizational and inter-organizational environment they are

embedded in, i.e., newspapers companies, mass media system, and mobile communication

sector in Japan.

A case study is said not to constitute an “analysis”, but a new “synthesis”, a “reinterpre-

tation” of its object [ibid, p. 245]. In qualitative studies, key concepts and the contexts in

which they are applied remain open for redefinitions. “Accordingly, synthesis is not a single

concluding act, but a continuous activity of assessing data and articulating concepts” [ibid]

that demands systematic methods. Two analytical methods are of interest in this research.

Thematic coding [ibid, p. 247] and analytic induction [Jankowski & Wester, 1991, p. 66]

identify predefined categories by comparing recurrent meaning elements and defining them

in relation to their context. Consensual or group coding and models are helpful tools to find

such categories in empirical units. On the other hand, Glaser’s and Strauss’s original cre-

ation [1967], Grounded Theory, extracts central categories of meaning by iterative analyses

on the same or different samplings and constant comparisons. Ideally, these procedures must

lead to a “theoretical ‘saturation’—an equilibrium between empirical evidence and explana-

tory concepts” [Jensen, 2002c, p. 247]. One flaw in certain currents of grounded theory is a

60

supposed detachment of the abstract categories resulting from the repeated analyses of an

event from its context. Attempts to redress this and other imperfections, however, have led

to losses in its distinctiveness [ibid, p. 248; Jankowski & Wester, 1991, p. 68].

Some of the socio-constructivist ethnographies discussed in the literature review declare

themselves and similar works an attempt towards a grounded theory on online newsmaking

[Steensen, 2009]. The present study follows this direction by maintaining the flexible stance

needed to “let the data speak” [Lull, 1988, p. 16] defended by this analytical method.

Generation of a “theory” from hearing the data, however, requires interpretation which, in

turn, is easier done when framed by theoretical concepts and hypothesis. In general, there is

an absence of methodological discussions in the literature on the production of websites by

mass media companies, a lack this research was not truly able to contribute for its easing.

Its review, nonetheless, has provided categories to be checked on the field, such as the

“technological utopias” regarding the internet [Domingo, 2008c, p. 115] and the set of causal

correlations regarding the shaping of this medium as a platform for content distribution by

these organizations [Steensen, 2009, p. 833]. In this sense, this research does attempt to

externally validate these findings. Hopefully, the iterate exploration of this topic under the

same framework will lead to an increase of its reliability as a set of theoretical instruments.

These studies reviewed in the previous chapter have suggested that only ethnographic

methodologies derived from anthropological and sociological traditions are able to provide

a description of the online news production that goes beyond technological determinism

[Paterson, 2008, p. 2]. This belief is a natural consequence of them being generally informed

by the wave of researchers that went into newsrooms in the 1970s and an attempt to attending

calls for a “second wave” of these ethnographers [Cottle, 2000]. This is not to say that the

execution of ethnographies is an easy task in this field. Lack of access to newsrooms is

a general complain [Paterson, 2008, p. 8] experienced also in this research. Even when

it is granted, the natural workflow nowadays, substantially mediated by digital devices,

has turned face-to-face communication scarcer and professional actions less apparent [Puijk,

61

2008, p. 35]. The ambivalent role of the observer in these studies also deserves attention. In

many examples, the authors are [ex-]journalists occupying a researcher position and analyzing

[ex-]fellows. Part of them would praise such a standpoint as that of an “informed-observer”

[Brannon, 1999] or of a “practitioner-academic” [Steensen, 2009, p. 824], even though aware

of the risks brought by this position [ibid, p. 826].

However, these operational problems shadow two conceptual problems in the defense of

ethnography as the utmost method to investigate online newsmaking. First, there is no

consensus on what defines an ethnography in communication studies, a problem reinforced

by a certain abuse of the term in this field [Jankowski & Wester, 1991, p. 55]. This thesis

stance is that observational research is the central pillar of this method, but this is just one

possible definition. This ambiguity leads to the second problem. A flexible understanding of

ethnography conducted among news professionals may allow one to affirm that it is the only

appropriate method for socio-constructivist research on newsmaking. However, those who

adopt such comprehension give equal treatment to theoretical frameworks and methodologies

and state that ethnography of newsmaking, socio-constructivist approached to news and the

generic term“sociology of news” all point to the same thing [Domingo, 2008b, p. 18]. On the

other hand, to defend this superiority under a more strict definition, one that excludes those

works that do not use observational methods, is being excessively particular about it. The

socio-constructivist approach does seem to dialogue better with qualitative methodologies.

However, the lack of one particular data collection technique is not an impediment to apply

this framework.

Therefore, the present research does not claim to be an ethnography for its lack of obser-

vational research. However, as explained, such stance does not hamper it from sharing the

same the socio-constructivist framework. Moreover, this thesis does recognize the suitability

of observation for this type of study. Such opinion has led to all evidence collection being de-

signed to extract it from the same sources an ethnographical work would have attained. This

does not mean the results and discussions exposed here are the same an ethnography would

62

3.1 Research design

have turned possible. However, such effort was thought valid in order to use the theoretical

framework of socio-constructivist research on online newsrooms with few adaptations.

3.1 Research design

The object of the present thesis is the production of mobile content by mass media com-

panies in Japan. Methodological choices were taken to delimit and materialize this concept

into an empirically researchable microcosm of reality. By mobile content, this study means

that accessed through Japanese mobile internet. As explained in the literature review, this

includes data transmission through mobile phone networks for keitai and smartphones, not

tablets or notebooks. In the beginning, the object was conceived of only mobile news con-

tent, an option abandoned later as it was realized that this classification itself should be a

point for inquiry. This initial narrowing, nonetheless, has led the study presented here to

target national newspapers companies. All major mass media outlets in Japan have at least

one official mobile website. The five dailies available all over Japan, however, are not just

central in the Japanese media landscape [Freeman, 2000, p. 16; Hayashi, 2000, p. 147],

and consequently influential brands, but are also ahead regarding the variety of initiatives

to produce news for mobile phones. All the companies that publish them were contacted

during the second quarter of 2010; three accepted to collaborate: those responsible for Asahi

Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun.

An analysis of this sector and of the products available has been conducted starting

even prior to the initial contacts and has lasted during the whole process of investigation.

It included initial research on who were the main players in mobile content among media

outlets, which helped to list possible targets. After the three newspaper companies agreed

on participating in this study, a systematic search for data on their products began. Institu-

tional data was prospected from their internet websites and institutional publications. Two

products of each outlet were also chosen—the oldest and the most distinctive ones—to have

63

3.1 Research design

their templates and content further analyzed:

1. from Asahi Shimbun: a) the keitai website Asahi Nikkan Sports and b) the keitai

website version of EZ News EX 1;

2. from Mainichi Shimbun: a) the keitai website Mainichi Shimbun Sponichi and b) the

application for Android smartphones Mainichi Shimbun Android Version; and

3. from Yomiuri Shimbun: a) the keitai websites News Yomiuri Hochi and b) the Bulletin

Board System [BBS] Keitai Ote Komachi.

Besides a general study of these products features, their top headlines/posts stories were

followed twice per day, every other weekday. This data collection started on December 6th,

2010, until it totaled ten days. Access hours were between two time slots: from 11 am to

13 pm and from 17 pm to 19 pm. These are when these services reportedly have their peak

accesses. The same was done with their PC internet counterparts in the same period and

time, and their e-mail alert services, every other weekdays, during eight days. A comparison

across products and days then was undertaken in order to trace gatekeeping patterns and

update routines.

It became clear as soon as the initial contacts were done that the newspapers companies

would not allow enough access for observation field work in the newsrooms. Nonetheless,

they agreed to arrange talks with senior editorial staff. Pre-structured open questionnaires

applied in one or two sessions per each newspaper in the second half of 2010 have resulted

in approximately seven hours of interview with the following experts:

• Mr. Akiyoshi Yamane: assistant manager of Yomiuri Shimbun Department of R&D

Operations / Digital Media Bureau

• Mr. Katsura Hattori: journalist and researcher of Asahi Shimbun Institute of Journal-

ism1EZ News EX also has keitai and Android application versions.

64

3.1 Research design

• Mr. Ken’ichi Takano: vice-director of Asahi Shimbun Digital Business Center

• Ms. Kumiko Yoshioka: Asahi Shimbun Multimedia Contents Business Center / EZ

News EX editorial staff

• Mr. Masaaki Kasuya: deputy general manager of Mainichi Shimbun Digital Media

Division

One could call these companies and interviewees selection a convenience sampling. The

present research has had access only to newspapers that have accepted to collaborate and

to whom they have indicated, despite efforts to make of it a snowball sampling, in which

one source leads to the next one. That would not be a problem, since a “well-documented

convenience sample can generate both valid and reliable insight into a social setting or

event.” [Jensen, 2002c, p. 239] However, the media outlets are representative cases within

the microcosm focused. Moreover, those indicated by them as interviewees were correctly

expected to be from the middle to high hierarchy in each team and to represent to a certain

extent the institutional voice of these newspapers. They were also asked to state when they

were expressing something other than that, such as their personal opinions or something

they only perceived as a consensus among their colleagues. Thus, in the sense that both

selections reached a “[proto-]typical” or “critical case” inside the universe of mass media

companies producers of mobile content and within their online newsrooms structure, this

sampling can be also considered a theoretical one [ibid].

A multilayered sample of online newsrooms structures, however, demands access to the

whole editorial staff. To compensate this lacuna, an anonymous and voluntary survey with

25 questions available online was conducted in the third quarter of 2010. The target was

the staff in charge of mobile content in the three digital departments, including designers

and technicians, which amounts to 46 professionals. Among them, 24 have answered, which

represents an approximate response rate of 52%.1 Yet, other two steps were taken to com-

1Due to an agreement with the companies, information on which newspaper accounted for which re-sponses will not be disclosed.

65

3.1 Research design

plement the tactics described above. “Historicizing what are usually symbols of the future

helps us to understand the extent to which the past influences the present and to evalu-

ate the sources and implications of discontinuous trends.” [Boczkowski, 2005, pp. 178–9]

With this in mind, this thesis trawled through trade magazines, mainly those published

by the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association between 1995 and 2010, namely

Shimbun Kenkyu [Newspaper Research] and Shimbun Keiei [Newspaper Management]. Ar-

ticles related to digital media as a platform for newspaper content distribution in Japan

and the changes their adoption caused to these companies were selected. This period has

been marked by the rise of World Wide Web and mobile internet as new platforms to be

explored by the news industry. The interpretation of 186 articles related to at least one of

these media has brought the historical context longed for, including changes in how these

organizations perceived them and in the strategies to appropriate them drawn in the face of

such perceptions. As part of a triangulation of methods [Webb, 1966, p. 174; Denzin, 1970

in Jankowski & Wester, 1991, p. 62], the information collected was then compared to that

from the interviews and the online survey. By multiplying the sources, the present study has

attempted to reduce the ambiguities inherent to research methods dependent on language

interpretation. This has resulted in both reinforcements and relativizations of preliminary

findings and, thus, in an increase in their internal validity.

This set of methods has allowed the present study to analyze gatekeeping processes in the

routine, organizational, and inter-organizational levels. It certainly has limitations. Routines

were not directly observed, but assessed through the professionals’ perception of them. The

inter-organizational level also was evaluated unilaterally, from the newspaper companies’

perspective. A further elaboration of the effects caused by these operational constraints in

the results is given in the chapter 5. Here, the discussion sticks to the focal points provided

by the socio-constructivist perspective towards online newsmaking and the limitations that

the research design adopted has imposed on them. Domingo [2008b, pp. 26–7] defends the

analysis of digital content production by mass media companies to be done in its correlations

66

3.1 Research design

to the three contexts it is inscribed in:

1. The technological context: in the present case, this means that mobile phones are the

result of an ongoing shaping which of newspaper companies are just one [minor] actor;

2. Each company’s context: previous experiences in incorporating new technologies—e.g.,

digital printing and the internet—may have impact in the adoption of mobile phones

as a platform; and

3. Competitors: other media outlets constitute a reference in decision making.

These environments have been taken into account during field work, which, in turn, has

showed that adaptations are needed when dealing with the mobile phone sector, as will be

discussed in the next chapter.

Furthermore, the author lists seven foci for this type of research:

1. Comparing differences in the way the new technology and the symbolisms attached to

it have been translated from newsroom to newsroom;

2. Detecting relevant actors in this process, documenting the power struggles involved in

the adoption process;

3. Checking each actors position in the continuum between accelerators and brakes, and

changes in such position [see p. 32];

4. Identifying the strategies used by these actors to alter work routines;

5. Finding the moments in which definitions of the technology are settled;

6. Locating the technological choices done during this definition, with focus on both

elements resistant to social shaping and those not; and

7. Confirming whether the newsroom has reached a natural consensus over it.

67

3.1 Research design

The questionnaires applied in the field work reflect these points with different levels of

success. However, the notion of actors here is mainly restricted to social groups, artifacts,

and organizations, since the research design employed was not able to subsidize suggestions

on the individuals influence.

68

Chapter 4

Results and analyses

The writing process of qualitative research is when the final analysis happens [Jankowski &

Wester, 1991, p. 69]. Accordingly, the structure of this chapter reflects the logic traced dur-

ing the inquiry into the data collected. The first section prospects the newspaper industry’s

view on digital content production from the articles published in Japanese trade magazines.

Special attention is given to their perception of the symbolism attached to the internet and

mobile phones, as well as the factors that may boost or hamper their materialization. Also,

their relation to those shown by the research reviewed in chapter 2 is discussed. These per-

ceptions were illustrated by concrete examples of how they have been converted to products

and how their development has been impacted upon.

This process was deepened in the second section, which focuses on the three national

newspapers targeted in this thesis. First, a description of the sampled companies and their

online enterprises is offered. Then, the validity of the perceptions extracted in the first

section is tested among the sample. This was done by checking if perceptions were shared by

the professionals and their effects on actual services provided and work routines. The third

and final part then extracts patterns of factors and agents behind the accomplishments and

gaps found after comparing the findings of the previous sections.

69

4.1 Japanese newspaper sector and digital platforms


As seen in the literature review, the arrival of the internet in newsrooms and its adoption

as a platform for content distribution was accompanied by the emergence of a whole set of

technological promises or “utopias”1, initially hypertext, multimedia, and interactivity. In

the subsequent years, related practices have emerged, such as convergence and social media.

At the same time, profitability has arisen as an issue, with advocates of business models

allegedly intrinsic to the internet at odds with those who defend subscription models.2

These findings, however, have been mainly the fruit of research in Europe and the Amer-

icas. In the same chapter, it was shown that this research is backed by a social shaping of

technology perspective, other than deterministic views. These technological promises are the

result of specific contexts and constantly reworked within them. As also reviewed previously,

the mutual shaping of mobile phones and Japanese society has generated new symbolisms

concerning this platform.3 The Japanese newspaper industry is not isolated from these

trends. Companies have been attentively following what happens abroad and in the mobile

content domestic sector and trying to cope with what they see. However, their specific con-

text is also expected to alter the configurations of the symbolisms and their perception of

the material constituencies of both the internet and mobile phones. This is what is discussed

in the next paragraphs.

The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, NSK]

has been conducting surveys4 among its members annually to gauge their initiatives in new

media. According to the survey, by 2010, figures had stabilized, with a total of 87 companies

running 201 PC internet websites and 66 offering services for mobile platforms [chart 4.1].

Initiatives in new media also included online videos [48], weblogs [41], and their own Social

1See p. 22.2See p. 43.3See subsection 2.2.2 in p. 50.4“The State of the Digital and Electronic Media of Newspapers and News Agencies [Shimbun, Tsushinsha

no Denshi, Denpa Media Genkyo Chosa].

70


Network Services [SNS, 11].1 The results from 1997 and from 1999 to 2010 have been

published in NSK trade magazines.2 The titles of the articles discussing the statistics give

an idea of what the main issue was each year [table 4.1].

Figure 4.1: Newspaper companies producing digital content in Japan [Nihon ShimbunKyokai, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010a]4

This steady evolution, however, was considered slow in its early stages, sometimes by

the Japanese newspaper sector itself, and the fruit of conservative steps [Katsura et al.,

1997, p. 16; Miyatake, 1997, p. 64]. Attention was focused on the online initiatives of

foreign counterparts—mainly those in the US, a nation considered to be further developed

as an internet society in the 1990s. The disparity in the sense of crisis in the domestic

industry and abroad was frequently noticed [Miichi et al., 1995]. Reasons have ranged from

an initial delay in the popularization of the internet5 to the steady, but slow decline in print

1Results from the last poll, conducted in January 2010, among 113 newspaper companies and newsagencies affiliated to NSK, of which 87 gave valid responses [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2010a].

2The 1998 results could be found neither on Shimbun Kenkyu nor on Shimbun Keiei. Websites numberby then, nonetheless, were mentioned in the 1999 edition.

5Only 6.4% of Japanese residences had internet access by the end of 1997 [Information and Commu-nications Statistics Database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/field/tsuushin01.html, accessed in Dec. 2010]. Access was restricted to main Japanese citiesuntil the establishment of the internet provider OCN, then a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and TelephoneCorporation [NTT], in December 1996. The company is responsible for the increase in the number of accesspoints towards the country.

71

www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/field/tsuushin01.html

www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/field/tsuushin01.html


Year Title1997 “Outputs” Increase, Business Remains a Doubt1999 Expectations Over the Internet, PC Transmission Declines2000 Newspapers and Convergence2001 New Media Reach a Second Stage2002 New Attempts With Broadband2003 Video Services Expand and Gain in Variety2004 Diverse Attempts Towards the Establishment of a Business Model: Video

and Mobile Services Gain in Variety2005 Services Focused on Local Information Increase: Initiatives Includes

Community Websites and Weblogs2006 Media Business Gains in Variety: RSS and Podcasting Make Their En-

trance2007 Interactive Services Releases Accelerate: the Consumer-Generated Con-

tent Supported by Newspapers2008 Moves Towards Partnerships Spread Out on the Internet: Information

on Daily Routines by Readers Is Also Provided2009 Progress in the Reorganization of Web Departments: Looking for Busi-

ness Models2010 Moves Towards Paywalls in Full-Scale: Businesses Show Gains in Quality

Table 4.1: Titles of annual articles on newspapers new media initiatives survey [Nihon Shim-bun Kyokai, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010a]

72


circulation.1 Deterministic views on the internet revolution, however, have led many to state

that it was just a matter of time before this wave reached Japan. On the other hand, all the

following examples show is the variety of forms and impacts digital media can have according

to the context in which it is applied.

4.1.1 The internet seen by the news industry

The image of the internet as a challenge for business exceeds most of the time that of it as an

opportunity. This has a profound impact on all other perceptions of this medium. The main

reasons are the fact that users are seen as not willing to pay for information on the web, the

defeat in the battle with news aggregators for page views and advertising budgets2, and a

supposed web trade-off relation with papers. Although business models are a frequent issue,

decisions over advertisement or paid models and the weight put on the paper and on the web

are still waiting for a solution [NSK, 2006, p. 50]. Such negligence is commonly explained

by the lack of feasible perspectives and by the fact that the fall in newspaper sales is not as

severe as that in the US.3 A massive number of middle-age readers has supported the soft

decline seen in Japanese newspapers circulation. The fear comes from young generations,

who are said to be increasingly distant from print news and whom the sector sees as most

identifying with the idea of information being free.

Such perceptions have led to an ambiguous relationship between newspapers and the

internet. They recognize that is necessary to appeal to the young generations to avoid the

aging of readers. That means making use of the internet and offering the same type of

content that is considered by the news industry as attractive to youth: fragmented, but

1Japanese newspapers had a 3.2% fall in circulations between 1999 and 2008, while the same datafor their US counterparts was above 15% [Harden, B. (2008) Japan’s Papers, Doomed But Going Strong.In: The Washington Post, Oct. 24. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102403590.html, accessed in Dec., 2010].

2Yahoo! Japan News has 4.38 billion page views per month on average. asahi.com has 500 million.Figures were found in their media data reports.

3Harden, B. (2008) Japan’s Papers, Doomed But Going Strong. In: The Washington Post, Oct. 24.[www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/24/AR2008102403590.html, accessed in Dec.,2010]

73




personalized [NSK, 2006, p. 54]. On the other hand, the antagonism and mixed feelings of

impotence persist: “The young David defeated the giant warrior Goliath with a primitive

weapon—the sling—but what are the weapons of newspapers to fight against the powerful

enemy which is the internet?” [NSK, 2006, p. 58]1 The answer invariably points to the

rescue of the postulates believed to be in the origin of newspapers and immune to changes

in time—its capacity to extract and order the facts, make sense of them with independence

and responsibility, and, ultimately, support democracy.

To accomplish such a mission also online, the financial health of new media operations is

considered fundamental. Monetization has been a constant in discussions about the internet,

but newspapers have had different answers. “I have the impression that pessimism and

prudence on whether it [the internet] can establish itself as a business is deep-rooted [in

Japan]”, wrote a special reporter of the national newspaper Sankei Shimbun 15 years ago

[Masui, 1995, p. 64]. A professional from a local newspaper summarized the solutions left

for newspapers companies.

For the print version not to be substituted by the homepage, one may explore

the features of this medium and monetize it as an independent product; make of

it a complementary medium connected to the print version in order to keep or

expand the newspaper readership; or mix both aspects in a multilayered strategy.

At any rate, huge developments in the homepage would be necessary. [Takeba,

2003, p. 59]

1This mixed feeling is also found in early years in the remark of a photo editor regarding the useof pictures available on the web. “The internet was born as an antithesis of traditional mass media andforeign state-run news agencies. Its purpose is to allow individuals to distribute information and access itopenly. Therefore, for an organization that calls itself a ‘national newspaper’, it [the use of images availableon the internet] creates the ironic relation of receiving information from something that denies this veryorganization.” [Sako, 1996, p. 75] The same cautiousness was expressed by a national newspaper digitalmedia bureau chief regarding weblogs in 2004. “One year ago, a startup sounded us out about selling ourcontent to be used on their weblogs, but I immediately declined. I felt it was, how could I say, precociousor inappropriate. I am still resistant to the idea of a newspaper company that offers reliable news piecesto have them criticized with no reason.” [Ito et al., 2004, p. 20] This dread towards users discussions thatcould potentially “go up in flames” [enjo suru] [Shinohara, 2009, p. 35], as they are usually described whencontain what they consider gratuitous slander, materialized years later. The controversy known as the “WaiWai Affair” involved Mainichi Shimbun English website and a Bulletin Board System [BBS] in 2008 [Sasaki,2008].

74


Cases in which newspapers have taken the second stance are overwhelming [Tanaka, 1995,

Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 1999, p. 56; NSK, 2006, p. 315].

However, the internet challenge is not just a matter of profitability. A successful online

operation is perceived as the trigger of deep changes in the newspaper industry structure.

Contrary to many other countries, print subscriptions represent 94.7% of total sales of news-

papers in Japan.1 This is thanks to a strong distribution chain, constituted of subsidiaries or

independent firms affiliated to these networks, and supported by a resale price maintenance

policy regarding newspapers. A digital platform that could cannibalize the print version is

therefore received with resistance by these distribution companies [Murakami, 2009, p. 61],

even though quantitative surveys proved that users consider that the internet complements

newspapers, rather than substitutes them [Hashimoto, 2005; Takei, 2009].

It would also require huge transformations in newsmaking. For the special reporter

of Sankei Shimbun aforementioned, an active use of what he considered the internet’s

strengths—immediacy and close coverage of local news—was the solution, and only struc-

tural changes would lead to that. “Determination is needed to make of digital media a

new media, which includes making digital media departments into independent firms with

totally different process of editing and management of news ingredients.” [Takeba, 2003,

p. 66] Experiments towards this direction have been conducted on national and local lev-

els [Toshimitsu, 2001], but are exceptions. Most of them have been trying to balance the

adoption of internet ideals and established routines.

One clear perceived aspect of news websites is the nonexistence of deadlines [Nikaido,

2010, p. 36]. Therefore, digital platforms were an attractive idea for newspaper companies

as a “way to get closer to TV immediacy” [Takita, 2002, p. 80]. The cult of “news as it

happens” is thought to be deep rooted in journalism. However, it has been reinforced by the

PC and mobile internet. “To be available 24 hours per day is, more than merely restoring

immediacy, to shoulder a whole new set of tasks nonexistent in the past. This is not just a

1NSK [www.pressnet.or.jp/adarc/data/data04/01.html, accessed in Dec., 2010].

75


matter of changing mentalities, but of newspapers companies producing newspapers while

also acting like a news agency”, addressed the chief-editor of Mainichi Shimbun in 2000

[Sugita et al., 2000, p. 62]. The lack of human resources to support such work flows,

however, posed a clear barrier [Takita, 2002]. One possible solution was to import “day

parting” from broadcasting, that is, fractioning the distribution of news in accordance with

the perception of readers’ daily routines and offer fresh information in the periods they are

most likely look for it. Such practice was judged as effective in order to gather an audience

[Kubo, 1997, p. 73; Isobe, 2001].

Other measure was for offline newsrooms to constantly share their content with online

colleagues. But such an idea has only gained roots after a 180 degree change in managers’

resolutions. In the early years, the opposite, that is, to downgrade the news website, was

considered a wise decision. In 2000, a representative director of the economic paper Nihon

Keizai Shimbun was proud of having increased subscriptions of the print version by limiting

articles on the website to 200 characters [Sugita et al., 2000, p. 56].

Similar strategies were totally reverted in the following years, which meant the end of the

priority given to the paper edition. Sankei Shimbun was the Japanese pioneer in adopting

“web first”, that is, eliminating the preference for the print version when bringing scoops to

light, in 2007 [Saito, 2007]. The move became possible only after a complete merge of offline

and online newsrooms. At least eight other companies had integrated both newsrooms by

2009 [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2009, p. 82].

Such initiatives, however, have faced continuous opposition. Conquering offline news-

room collaboration was a challenge [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2001, p. 61]. To post first

on the web articles originally aimed for the print version has been a cause of conflict be-

tween departments. “Currently [in 1997], distribution through digital and electronic media

is considered a complement of the newspaper or a recycling of its content, and there are

restrictions on the use of news pieces after they have been sent to the copy desks, except if

it is a police case or an accident.” [Odawara, 1997, p. 32] Mindset differences have cropped

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up. “To ask [the reporters] for some breaking news in the morning did not ring a bell [among

print journalists]. ‘The deadline is in the evening’ [habit] seems to be incorporated into their

DNA.” [Shinohara, 2009, p. 37] Such reactions do not seem to be merely a rooted antipathy

regarding online operations, but an inertial resistance against changes in work routines. The

online initiative of a local newspaper with an active use of social media tools, on the other

hand, reportedly generated indifference and candid curiosity, but no conflict, since it did not

affect offline newsrooms workflows [Matsuzawa, 2005, pp. 37–8].

Not only attempts to merge operations, but convergence strategies including external

organizations also became a must in Japan. TV stations, specially, were considered the

preferential target. Cooperation with them was seen as the most natural way to gain access to

multimedia. Such conviction was influenced by one peculiarity of the Japanese media system

structure. Government-led “rationalization” policies on broadcasting in the 1950s and 1970s

resulted in each of the five national newspaper companies owning one commercial key TV

station in metropolitan areas [Freeman, 2000, pp. 154–5]. Decades later, the strengthening

of this integration on the internet was thought to be the most efficient alternative to respond

to a perceived users’ demands for multimedia. “That is why attention is focused on whether

moves towards the unification of newspapers and the TV stations they created, that is

the ‘functional unification of newspapers and broadcasters’ as part of a ‘convergence of

telecommunications and broadcasting’, will become a reality.” [NSK, 2006, p. 55]

On the other hand, no such prompt solution was found in the case of interactivity in

newsmaking. Much of the time, newspapers have actively resisted such trends. In the early

stages, newspapers had a better perspective regarding e-mail as a tool to distribute news

rather than webpages. The preference was derived from the perception that they belong to

the category of “push” platforms, just like newspapers, in the sense that it goes to the reader

and not the opposite [Katsura et al., 1997, p. 15]. At the other extreme, were websites,

grouped as a “pull” medium. For an editor of Mainichi Shimbun, the former was suited to

massive audiences, whereas the latter needed customized content to attract readers [ibid].

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“News that will be read became one evaluation point when choosing and judging the news

pieces”, stated a professional in charge of a regional newspaper website, suggesting that that

was not the case in the print version [Sakuma, 2002, p. 51].

User-Generated Content [UGC] and social media have also encountered few receptive

companies. Mainichi Shimbun started, as early as 1996, to gather“virtual correspondents”—

amateurs with interest on news—to write for its newsletter. Ten years later, a new buzz

occurred with the rise of a more user participative internet, the so-called Web 2.0 [Nihon

Shimbun Kyokai, 2007, p. 62]. Local and specialized publications have been making an

active use of social tools pushed by the belief that they are the ultimate way to reinforce

ties with local communities and gauge their needs [Kitano, 2002; Matsuzawa, 2005; Mizuno,

2007; Sato, 2007; Seimiya, 2006]. That is, for newspaper professionals, these formats, when

promoted and filtered by responsible entities, contributes to “grassroots democracy”. How-

ever, strong views on this collaborative aspect of the internet as a menace to self-professed

“strongholds of professional journalism” persist [NSK, 2006, p. 49]. The “encounter with

the unknown”, or with the known analyzed by professional journalists, is considered to be

possible only in newspapers. For those who defend this position, social media still has the po-

tential of promoting dialogue with audience. But, if judged necessary, some of these features,

such as comment columns on weblogs, can be sacrificed [Takaoka, 2006].

Hypertext has also been almost ignored by companies and professionals. The recognition

of its role in giving context and providing direct access to information sources for both print

and online news existed only in the early years [Hara, 1996; Hisada, 1996; Yoshimura, 1997].

Moreover, these usages were most of the time limited to articles and photo databases provided

by the media outlet itself [Odawara, 1997, p. 34] or partners [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 1999,

p. 54; Anzai, 2010]. These practices have disappeared with time. The display of correlated

news pieces, for example, is limited, and disclosing Application Program Interfaces [API]

is unthinkable.1 The reason is that most Japanese newspapers erase most online articles,

1See p. 22.

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mainly those which reproduce print content, after a certain period of time because they

are sold as databases. External links, on the hand, are seen as the same as giving away

the audience to competitors’ sites. Copyright is another issue. Newspaper companies are

so worried about copyright that they ended up restricting themselves regarding the use of

links [Tsubota, 2008, p. 34]. In a moment newspapers companies were not sure of where to

draw the limits in the free use of its content, including links to individual articles by third

parties, such as Google, similar uses by the newspaper staff were seen as a potential source

of contradictions [Nakada, 2006, p. 23].

The shaping of these practices regarding immediacy, multimedia, interactivity, and hy-

pertext has resulted also in an image of the ideal online journalist. For Japanese executives,

professionals in charge of online operations should inherit print journalistic standards, as well

as develop technical abilities to explore computers capacity of processing data. This way,

they would be able to make news searchable and display it in new ways [Odawara, 1997, p.

32]. Desired skills included multimedia and basic knowledge of computer languages, such

as Hypertext Markup Language [HTML] and Broadcast Markup Language [BML].1 Fur-

thermore, a whole change in mentality was deemed necessary to handle frequent updates,

multimedia, and massive flows of information. “Just like superman” [Katsura et al., 1997,

p. 24] or a “jack of all trades” [Yamashita, 2005, p. 48], summarized two professionals in

charge of online newsrooms for different newspapers. However, they were aware of limi-

tations imposed by the type of professionals they had available, i.e., educated to be print

journalists. This is where separating online departments and young professionals into inde-

pendent ventures [Toshimitsu, 2001] or partnerships with other companies [Takada, 2001, p.

58; Nobuhara, 2001] played their role in boosting innovation.

1BML is an Extensible Markup Language [XML] based language used for data transmission on theJapanese digital broadcasting system. Also regarding technical aspects, it is worth of comment the activepresence of Japanese newspapers, through NSK, in the development of a global format for distribution ofnews within the framework of the International Press Telecommunications Council [IPTC], a consortium ofnewspapers and news agencies with this aim. They have been promoting a standard XML for news, known asNewsML, since 2000. This pattern is “media neutral”, which means it manages different types of content ondifferent platforms, and of widespread usage among Japanese newspapers. The companies interest, however,has not been shared by journalists, that have mostly ignored such developments [Igari, 2001].

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Finally, the potential of the web for local news has been continuously discussed since

the early stages of its popularization. Such finding may be the result of a bias of the

publications edited by NSK, constituted of a majority of local newspapers, and thus needs

to be relativized, but not necessarily ignored. Local outlets had “thoroughgoing localism” as

a principle for their online initiatives [Kurisu, 2003]. “On the internet, gaps between global

information and regional information disappear and both coexist in equality.” [Nishiyama,

1996, p. 93]“From now on, regional newspapers will be stronger than national ones”, bragged

one director of a newspaper fromWest Japan in front of his counterparts from Tokyo [Katsura

et al., 1997, p. 15]. His argument was that the internet is not a massive medium, but a

personal one and, therefore, closely related to its user attributes. Based on this view and as

mentioned before, many local outlets have invested in web portals focused on their region,

reinforced interaction with local communities and, ultimately, exercised what they conceive

as civic journalism principles [Kaminaka, 2009; Murakami, 2000; Niinomi, 2002; Nikaido,

2010; Sato, 2000; Yamada, 2001; Yoshimura, 1997].1 However, the low dissemination of

access points in regional cities constituted an initial barrier [Ishikawa, 1996, p. 46].

4.1.2 Mobile phones from newspaper companies’ perspective

Mobile phones, in turn, are seen as the potential cure for two current problems of newspa-

pers: the establishment of a business model and the diffusion of newspaper brands among

young people [NSK, 2006, p. 336]. Furthermore, the internet promises discussed above were

potentialized by mobile phones strength—mobility—and limited by their weak points—low

processing speed and small screens. On the other hand, though a constant in cultural and

marketing studies on this medium in Japan, female users’ attachment to it has not been

1There is no ultimate definition for public or civic journalism and promoters were even cautious to imposeone and limit the movement [Hayashi, 2002, p. 328]. Generally said, it gathers a diversity of movementsinitiated in the US during the 1990s that experimented with journalistic practices focused on contributingto the reconstruction of communities [Chaffee & McDevitt, 1999, p. 177]. Some Japanese local newspaperseditors have adopted such principles in different ways [Parry, K. (2004) Public Journalism: Lessons fromJapan. In: Public Journalism Network. www.pjnet.org/post/15/, accessed in Dec., 2010].

80

www.pjnet.org/post/15/


mentioned as a point to be explored by newspaper companies.

Though small in scale, content for mobile phones has constituted a source of revenue

for newspapers [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2009, p. 83].1 This has become possible thanks

to i-mode mobile internet and similar services established by carriers and the subscription

model they offer. “As the fact that the leadership of mobile business belongs not to handset

makers, but to the telecommunication carriers that control the payment systems shows, the

monopoly of trade channels leads to the conquering of a stable source of revenue”, noticed

one professional [Uemura, 2008, p. 38]. On the other hand, such attractiveness has made

it a competitive platform. A great part of users’ budget is used to pay data transmission

costs and little is left for content. They reportedly subscribe on average to two services.

One tends to be linked to entertainment. Newspapers have been struggling to be the second

choice [Sato, 2003, p. 44].2 These misgivings are even more apparent regarding smartphones.

They consider the market for applications promising, since it unites both the qualities of PC

websites and mobile phones and also because it has an established payment model [Nihon

Shimbun Kyokai, 2010a, p. 80]. However, they are also a new easy option for users to

access PC internet [ibid]. That is, they destroy the artificial border created by keitai models

between i-mode and internet and, consequently, bring to mobile handsets the same problems

faced on the web [Anzai, 2010, p. 20].

The second problem mobile phones could potentially cure is the low infiltration of news-

paper readership among teenagers and people in their twenties in Japan. Besides the decrease

in size of young generations due to dwindling birthrates, the perception that they are turning

away from newspapers abounds in Japanese executives and journalists talks. The attachment

1The mobile content sales in Japan had a 15% average growth between 2005 and 2008 and reached483 billion yen. The demand for news and weather information is high—23.3% of mobile phone user saythis is the type of content they most use, above music and games [Mobile Contents Forum. (2008) K-taiHakusho. Inpress]. However, by sale volumes, the market is dominated by music and games. News andweather information respond to only 7.8 billion of total content sales. On the other hand, while only 9.5% ofPC internet users said they had paid for this type of content on the web, 17.6% said they had it on mobilephones. [Dentsu Soken. (2010) Joho Media Hakusho 2010 [A Research for Information and Media Society].Diamond.].

2Actually, 37.8% of users subscribe to only one content service. Those who pay for two represent 26.9%.[Mobile Contents Forum. (2008) K-tai Hakusho. Inpress].

81


of youth to mobile phones gives to this medium the dual role of villain and potential savior.

They already spend a considerable amount on mobile phone bills, which means less money

left for other purposes. Mobile phone carriers top pages also offer news for free. However,

the handsets are one of the few channels left for newspapers to gather the attention of these

users towards their brands and to hopefully make of them a future print reader [Sato, 2003,

p. 43]. “We are learning everyday what kind of information they need and which formats

they respond to”, said a top executive of Asahi Shimbun on its mobile services [Hakoshima,

2005, p. 11].

Some of the weapons used to accomplish such task are the same as seen on the internet:

immediacy, multimedia, and interactivity. Immediacy on mobile handsets is potentialized

by the use of SMS and instant alerts [telop]1. Besides the streaming of audio-visual content

through mobile internet connection, many models are equipped with radio and digital TV

receivers [NSK, 2006, p. 251]. The use of QR codes [bi-dimensional codes] on the newspaper

to be captured through mobile phones internal cameras allows journalists to complement

the article with hyperlinks and multimedia [Saito & Noda, 2007]. Since high quality is

a barrier rather than an attraction to this medium, videos can be produced with mobile

phones themselves, eliminating high costs associated with hardware and training. Regarding

interactivity, Hokkaido Shimbun noticed an increase in feedback from high school students

sent by mobile phones [Kitano, 2002; Otsuka, 2007].

The evaluation of digital platforms, specially mobile phones, however, seems to be more

positive among commercial departments of newspapers [NSK, 2006, p. 228]. Mobile phones

user characteristics, including their daily routines, are reportedly easier to capture on this

medium. This gives a whole new set of possibilities to customize messages and target con-

sumers. Advertising agencies claim that the use of the QR code reader function of mobile

devices in a crossmedia strategy could potentially increase the appeal of newspaper compa-

nies as distributors of advertisements [Fujita, 2008]. That is, when used in print ads, these

1See p. 95.

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4.2 Digital content production in the studied cases

codes allow them to measure response rates quickly and at low costs [NSK, 2006, p. 228].

Another strength of mobile media is its relation to space. With the use of sensors [GPS,

camera], messages could be filtered by users’ location in order to reflect the place and situ-

ation they are in. Such usage of mobile media has ultimately become a new digital promise

[Takazu, 2003].

In contrast, such buzz is not widespread among editorial departments. They consider

mobility the ultimate strength of mobile phones and believe it constitutes the greatest value-

added to their mobile products, as reported by a professional from Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

“We reprocess the content of NET [the newspaper’s PC website by then] to suit mobile

phones and offer the convenience of making it available anytime and anywhere. In exchange,

we charge for it [. . . ].” [Sato, 2003, p. 43] One of the main audiences of news on mobile

phones are salarymen looking for sport results when away from their desktops [Hakoshima,

2005, p. 10]. However, using the user’s position to filter news using a Location-Based Service

[LBS] did not seem a viable option.

That does not mean newspapers have not been exploring targeting. Websites specializing

in content for teenagers, women, specific sports or hobbies are a reality both in PC and mobile

media [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2002, p. 47]. “Breaking away from mass media towards a

complex of middle media” even became a motto for some local outlets [Takahashi, 2010,

p. 24]. However, a profitable exploration of niche audiences through a “long-tail” model1

remains a future promise [Tatematsu, 2007, p. 53].


The three national newspaper companies targeted in this research—Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi

Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun—constitute a very homogeneous group. All are centenarian

organizations, established in late nineteenth century. Asahi and Yomiuri were born as

1See p. 43.

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popular papers in opposition to the elite political press preexistent [Freeman, 2000, p. 42].

Mainichi belonged to the second group, but adjusted its line as the first became mainstream

by the beginning of the Taisho Era [1912–1926] [ibid, p. 45]. A history of editorial success,

but also mutual support relations with the government until the end of World War Two, and

peculiar market arrangements in the post-war period1 have guaranteed them a hegemonic

position in the Japanese media landscape. Their circulation figures, putting them among the

biggest newspapers in the world, are the most visible sign of their position: Yomiuri is on

top, with 13,4 million daily copies of its morning edition, followed by Asahi, with 11 million,

and Mainichi, with 4,8 million.2

Since early stages of the internet in Japan, they have tried to reproduce such hegemony

also on the new medium. Asahi Shimbun OpenDoors, an initiative of the publishing depart-

ment to promote its products, launched in April 1995, was the first website of a Japanese

newspaper company. The following month, the first news website, Yomiuri Online, went on

air. A shared trait of this and the following initiatives is that they were conceived mostly

inside the newspaper departments that worked as news wires for radio and TV stations.

That is, the same ones that, previously, had experimented with Videotex content.3 These

newsrooms were also in charge of news transmission for displays, such as those in high-speed

trains for example.

The adoption of internet and other digital platforms has been accompanied by constant

reforms in the internal organization. In January 1996, Asahi Shimbun adopted “outgrow

towards a media complex” [media fukugotai e no dappi ] as its internal slogan. Digital and

electronic media was then expected to be the third pillar of revenue, after the print version

and publishing. The many departments in charge of new media were then reorganized

1See p. 75.2Average figures of the first half of 2010, including evening editions and sales abroad [Audit Bureau of

Circulations [Nihon ABC Kyokai] (2010) Shimbun Hakkosha Report: Hanki ].3In the 1980s, telecoms in developed countries, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone [NTT], in-

vested in data transmission for end-users terminals through landlines, a service known as Videotex. Newspa-per companies were among those that attempted to explore the platform. These experiences and their failurein the US seen through a social shaping perspective on technology have been documented by Boczkowski[2004, 2005].

84


in three sections, grouping approximately 200 professionals, including temporary personnel

[Ito et al., 2004, p. 15]. One was the Project Development Section, in charge of, among

other initiatives, the new-born news website asahi.com and the creation of new formats to

distribute content. “Employees from different departments were put together and, obviously,

among some branches, there were suspicions and uncertainty regarding the work and the

goals”, described a director [Sugita et al., 2000, p. 58]. However, previously, the fear of

the erosion of print readership had even led to attempts to reduce the number and size

of articles available online, practices that were later abandoned [Ito et al., 2004, p. 11].

Though a challenge, this internal reorganization and the new work culture originating from

it have reportedly helped create some consensus inside the company and even among print

distributors on the importance of investment in digital media [ibid].

Yomiuri Shimbun did something similar in 2000, when it transformed its Media Projects

Bureau in the current Digital Media Bureau.1 The objectives behind the reform were 1) to

create an efficient workflow to handle breaking news; 2) to boost the production of multime-

dia; 3) to integrate what by then were separate initiatives in accordance with “one source,

multiuse” policy; 4) to establish a proper environment to explore commercial uses of its

archives, such as digital database services; and 5) to delineate the strategies for five and ten

years ahead. By 2004, it had gathered approximately 150 professionals in charge of PC and

mobile websites, video content, and databases [Ito et al., 2004, p. 14].

Despite the challenging goals, resources were scarce. Its chief-director at the time gave

an honest description of the early years in an article on Shimbun Kenkyu [Takada, 2001, p.

56]:

[. . . ] the number of workers is far behind the main newsroom, and human

resources have been recruited from other departments. Moreover, half of them are

50 years-old and over, which makes of it an aging organization. There are even

those who describe us as a “strategy bureau with no power to fight” [senryoku

1This is the English version of the name of this department as used on business cards. The literaltranslation of the original, however, is Media Strategy Bureau [Media Senryaku Kyoku].

85


naki senryaku kyoku]. Our share in the total amount of investments done by the

company is meager when compared to those of selling and editorial departments.

Furthermore, whenever they decide to invest in us, it is always done cautiously

and accompanied by doubts about whether we will be able to generate profit.

This was the type of newsroom in charge of early digital media projects by Japanese

national newspapers. They generally had two principles. First, they were supposed to avoid

shovelware—metaphorically defined by Japanese journalists as the lazy practice of “lying

down what is standing up” [tate no mono o yoko ni suru]. “We do not use the term digital

newspaper [denshi shimbun], meaning that we do not aim merely to project Asahi Shimbun

on a digital media [. . . ]”, stated one editor of asahi.com [Katsura et al., 1997, p. 11]. For

his counterpart in Jam Jam, the news website launched by Mainichi Shimbun in 1995, an

active search for partnerships in order to acquire content not covered by the parent medium

was the solution [ibid]. For Yomiuri Shimbun, video was one of the keys, not only for PC,

but also mobile internet. The low diffusion of broadband and the lack of trained personnel,

however, proved problematic [Takada, 2001, p. 57].

Such production of original content should be, in their views, compensated by paid models

other than that of the advertisement model, which constituted the second principle. Among

early attempts to monetize news websites was asahi.com Perfect, a paid exclusive version of

Asahi Shimbun website launched in 1997. In the same period, Mainichi Shimbun was exper-

imenting with subscription models on Zaurus, a Personal Digital Assistant [PDA] produced

by Sharp; newsletters sent by e-mail; and a website that gave access to the a reproduction of

the print version. However, these attempts did not reach profitability targets. Consequently,

advertisement models have become mainstream, also following moves in the same direction

abroad in the years prior to the doc-com bubble bursting.

This change did not mean they suddenly turned profitable either. All these efforts have

resulted in few economical gains [Ito et al., 2004, pp. 14–6]. Online advertisement revenue

kept growing even during economic stagnation, while print advertisement suffered a reduction

86


of approximately 30% in ten years.1 However, even after growth, revenues did not cover costs.

The work force was considered the main expense. Countermeasures, such as outsourcing,

are considered difficult for a newspaper company [ibid, p. 22]. The summary of the ten first

years of news websites, said a ex-director of General Media Operations of Mainichi Shimbun

in 2004, “is a history of suffering”. “We were constantly given cold looks inside the company

asking us: ‘Why do you all produce such high losses?’” [Ito et al., 2004, p. 11]

4.2.1 The adoption of mobile phones as a platform

The situation has been slightly different regarding mobile phones service. Asahi Shimbun,

Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun were among the five news companies available on

i-mode since its launch in 1999.2 In that year, the NTT DOCOMO development team in

charge of the new service actively sought these companies out as potential content providers.

Some of them had explored pagers and mobile phone Short Message Services [SMS] to trans-

mit headlines before. If keitai internet had the same open characteristic of PC internet,

newspaper companies would probably have participated of their own accord as part of their

digital media strategy. The way things turned out, nonetheless, suggests they were part of

the strategy of somebody else, namely the mobile phone carrier.

During the negotiations, NTT DOCOMO reportedly envisioned free news websites based

on advertising models. The suggestion was initially accepted by some of newspapers, and

Asahi Nikkan Sports remained available for free until the end of the first year. Behind the

switch to a subscription model, there was the fear on the part of newspapers companies

about that they would only be reproducing on mobile phones the economical failure of PC

news websites. Advertisement prices on mobile phones are even lower than on the internet.

1Dentsu Soken. (2010) Joho Media Hakusho 2010 [A Research for Information and Media Society].Diamond. Internet advertisement reached 706,9 billion yen in 2009 and surpassed that on newspapers [673,9billion yen] [Net Kokokuhi, Shimbun Nuku: Sogaku wa 11.5% Gen. In: http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1002/22/news056.html, accessed in Dec. 2010]. Mobile advertisement reached 91,3 billion in 2008,a growth of 47% compared to the previous year.

2The others were the local newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun and the news agency Jiji.

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http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1002/22/news056.html

http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1002/22/news056.html


Targeting and crossmedia experiments involving mobile, PC and print are still exceptional.

This led newspaper companies to actively resist the carriers’ suggestion. Such a move,

however, was an act of resistance, not the fruit of objective prospects of profits [Kitamoto,

2003, p. 40]. Pessimism regarding the internet had cast shadows over any new digital

initiatives.

These low expectations influenced the shaping of the services. The departments already

in charge of online journalism were chosen to carry the new project. Though a natural option,

it also facilitated the adoption of a low-cost workflow: shovelware of content from the PC

website to the mobile one. The production of original content was not even considered. All

they did was to produce shorter versions of the articles already available on the main webpage

in order to make them easier to read on mobile handsets. That is, new work routines were

designed to reflect the uncertainty about the new business and the limitations of its platform.

Eleven years after the release of i-mode, little has changed in these initial websites, despite

the evolution of handsets. Instead, companies, with the stimulus of carriers, have decided

to release new services each time a new feature becomes available. Interviewees pointed

to growth in product lineup as the main transformation during the last decade. Together,

these three companies have approximately 30 different services. Besides the general news

websites, they also offer others specializing in specific sports and gossip. News alerts on

natural disasters and traffic and SNS are other genres explored. In recent years, they have

also started releasing applications, both for keitai and smartphone models. Some of these

services are for free, but they are exceptions.

This increase in the variety of products has also meant the establishment of professional

groups in charge of mobile content. All three companies shared a common workflow structure.

Hard news is assembled by a digital section inside the print newsroom. They are in charge

of selecting pieces for both PC and mobile websites. This was considered the best way

to guarantee full use of the coverage network of print editions and, consequently, boost

immediacy in online operations. A separate digital media department, in turn, produces

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exclusive feature stories and special coverage. The work of these two sections converge

into the same product, but they are relatively autonomous. In other words, while foreign

counterparts have been trying to merge offline and online operations, Japanese newspapers

have found a conciliatory solution. The consequences of this option will be discussed later.

This research conducted surveys among professionals behind mobile content production

from three companies. Personnel involved with mobile content [editorial staff, designers, and

technicians] number 28 in Asahi, 8 in Mainichi, and 10 in Yomiuri.1 Percentages of relatively

young professionals [54% are between 26 and 35 years-old] and women [25%] are higher than

the average in the Japanese newspaper companies [21.5% and 14.4%, respectively [Nihon

Shimbun Kyokai, 2010b]].2 Despite their age, staff were relatively mature professionals: half

of the group has been working at least five years and 41% for more than ten years, most

of them in the same newspaper company they belong to currently. No staff however has

been working with mobile content for more than five years. Half of the group had previous

experience in the offline newsroom and were then transferred to the online one.

They generally work for more than one website or application, in cooperation with [54%],

and in contact with other departments, including the newspaper newsroom [66%]. Most were

satisfied with this interaction, but three chose not to respond and two clearly mentioned there

are occasions in which such collaborations do not work. Around 60% responded they feel

the newspaper currently has priority, but that such policy needs to be changed. The same

was not found regarding the PC website. Four professionals stated that the print version

has preference currently and must maintain it in the future also.

Mobile content is seen as a new attempt to distribute news [70%] and a way to attract

those who do not read the paper version [41%]. Among their comments, three added “exper-

imenting with paid formats” as a reason: “It is still a young service with quite no function

[for the company] just yet, but, in the future, it may bear the responsibility of support-

1Asahi disproportion is due to the EZ News EX case discussed below. From this total, 20 professionalswere exclusive of this product.

2Precise age range in NSK research is from 25 to 34 years-old.

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ing the newspaper company business by generating revenue as a new medium to distribute

news besides the traditional paper.” In addition to profitability, the use of mobile phones to

complement the print version content is seen as a future task.

Immediacy, usability, paid content models, and a close workflow with offline newsrooms

are perceived as the most important aspects of mobile content production. Hyperlinks,

multimedia, interactivity, and content for young people are thought to have a moderate

importance. Interest in LBS is low. However, there is a gap between their priorities and

what they perceive as being that of management. For them, the company puts more weight

on accuracy than immediacy, and does less regarding content for young people, multimedia

and interactivity that they would like to do. Specific training programs on aspects such as

multimedia, social media, and programming have relatively strong demand: 24% said, for

example, that they would like to learn how to apply social media features in the content

they produce. Software used at work—mainly the Content Management System [CMS]—

was mentioned as another cause of dissatisfaction, a problem that resembles the findings

of previous research from abroad [Brannon, 2008; Domingo, 2008c]. But, above all, those

surveryed were discontent with their own abilities.

From a general perspective, they were only somewhat satisfied with their work, but

mentioned the challenge as worth it.

It is really exciting since you are in touch with the most advanced business

and technology. But, we are in a transitional period from paper to digital, which

demands that we take on the difficult task of steering into the digital while main-

taining the paper business. Moreover, there is a gap between what we provide

in the newspaper and what mobile phones users are looking for and, therefore,

feeling troubled about what to offer, news values and reliability standards is

common.

A close description of the results of such struggle is given in the next section.

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4.2.1.1 Keitai websites

The first services for mobile phones offered by the three national newspapers companies

were i-mode news websites that merged content from the PC webpages of the main quality

newspaper and of that of their subsidiary tabloid paper.1 Explanations of these coincidental

partnerships vary. Some say they were an attempt to make these products more marketable.

Others say it was just a matter of reducing costs. The subsidiaries reportedly did not have

enough capital and know-how to conduct such projects independently. Doing it together

also eliminated the need to negotiate with NTT DOCOMO separately. For those in the

later group, in any case, it was not the result of an active strategy on the part of the

newspaper companies, even though one could say it was, after it proved relatively successful.2

However, the option for a merge has been cited as one of the reasons for the initial boom in

subscriptions [Kitamoto, 2003, p. 40].3 Others were the price, set initially around 100 yen

[Mainichi Sponichi is currently for free].

Asahi Nikkan Sports was the most successful, reaching the peak of 1 million subscribers

and over 1 billion yen in annual revenue in 2002 [Kitamoto, 2003, p. 40]. In contrast with

the figures, the service was very simple by then. It consisted of a list of short versions of

the top headlines of asahi.com and the reproduction of the centenarian Asahi Shimbun front

page column Tensei Jingo. “It certainly needed a better initial development plan, but it is an

efficient business that demands little effort in its daily management”, said the vice-director of

the department in charge of it in 2003 [ibid]. This was true in Mainichi Shimbun too. In face

of the absence of demand projections, to keep initial costs low was the main preoccupation,

1The companies that publish Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun own each atabloid paper focused on sports and gossip. They are Nikkan Sports, Sports Nippon, and Sports Hochi,respectively.

2This point was addressed by the interviewee from Mainichi. “Making both hard news and sports newsavailable sounds like a strategy to increase page views. Some might even have thought of it this way then.But the truth is that this format is the result of the fact that we did not know what would be of it in thebeginning.”

3Yomiuri has deepened this strategy by offering two subscription models since November 2006. One canread News Yomiuri Hochi and pay 84 yen per month or its content plus that of Mobile Giants for 210 yen.The later is the official keitai site of Yomiuri Giants baseball team, which is part of Yomiuri Group.

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which helps explain the byproduct character of these initiatives.1

More than ten years later, most of this structure remains the same, including the reuse

of the same news pieces and columns of PC websites and print newspapers. As mentioned

above, such options are the result of established workflows and reflect on them. The digital

sections inside the offline newsrooms are in charge of selecting pieces sent by reporters to

a central server to be post on the web. Asahi Nikkan Sports and News Yomiuri Hochi

automatically reflects these selections. That is, their three top headlines are the same as

those on the quality paper webpage. Since the length of articles is not thought to be a

problem for 3G connections, the content is the same too. The number of photos—which are

not widely used even on the PC site—is reduced when there are more than three.

Mainichi Sponichi, however, had a different approach: the observation of its content over

ten days, in December 2010, showed that only 50% of its three top headlines came from

Mainichi.jp front page main section. Titles are also shortened. That does not mean that

they were original pieces, but that they were picked from different sections of the website.

In contrast to this low diversity found within the same media group, a cross comparison

found discrepancies in the genres highlighted on each website [see chart 4.2]. Asahi Nikkan

Sports leads in the number of news related to crimes and accidents [23%]. Domestic politics

and international news come next [12% each]. Mainichi Sponichi balanced the first two

categories [20% and 18%, respectively], but almost entirely ignored international news during

the period analyzed [3%]. News Yomiuri Hochi, in turn, put more weight on domestic politics

[32%] and regional politics [17%]. Asahi Nikkan Sports and Mainichi Sponichi were the ones

that highlighted more frequently at least one news piece on the same subject and in the

same period of the day [18% of the times]. Asahi Nikkan Sports and News Yomiuri Hochi

did this the least [11.5%].

In contrast, the other mobile website analyzed—Keitai Ote Komachi—is one of the most

exceptional cases. Its parent version, the PC website Ote Komachi was launched in October

1On the lack of planning in the mass media industry, see. p. 41.

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Figure 4.2: Genres of top headlines in four mobile news services [categories names and newspieces classification are based on the section the articles were listed on the website. On EZNews EX, see p. 97].

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1999. Created by Yomiuri Online, it focuses on women and covers topics such as fash-

ion, cooking, children’s education, etc. Its main innovation, however, is the BBS Hatsugen

Komachi. The interactive feature, an unique case of its kind among national newspapers, be-

came the most successful corner of the digital magazine, with 100 million page views and 100

thousand posts per month. “As exchanges happen among the participants, this housewives’

gossip [idobata kaigi ] creates a small community. This is a big difference and something

impossible on paper”, wrote a professional from its staff on the tenth anniversary of the site

[Inazawa, 2009, p. 42].

For a traditional mass media outlet, exploring such new formats has its costs. Since

2003, professionals hired just to check all posts review around one thousand each one per

day, spending three minutes on average per post. This task was shouldered previously by

the editors, and even now they have continued helping in their free time. Content that may

be considered unpleasant, questionable, indecent, slander, or spam is deleted. “We expect

the same standard as in our letters-to-the-editor column”, explained Mr. Yamane.1 Users

themselves also help by pointing out non-appropriate or repeated posts and typos.

The current page view figure was reached after a site renewal in 2007. Topics were

separated by theme, such as love affairs, children, work, health, etc. Users can also bookmark

specific threads. Rankings and icons show the most bookmarked, accessed or answered

threads. Recently, the most popular started being published periodically in the newspaper.

A series of books with stories extracted from the BBS was also published. The paid keitai

version was launched in March that year as part of this reform and gathered 11 thousand

subscribers. Costing 105 yen per month, it offers the same content as the PC version, which is

free. One of the few additional features is an e-mail alert sent when one’s post is approved.

Between 10% to 15% of access is done through the mobile version, a percentage that is

increasing.

1See list interviewees on p. 64.

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4.2.1.2 Keitai and smartphone applications

In 2001, NTT DOCOMO released i-mode keitai models able to run Java based applications.

They were called i-appli and included navigation systems, QR code readers, games, and many

other applications. The economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun was one the few newspaper

companies to make use of this system to transmit information in the early years, mainly

stock prices and exchange rates. The most successful case, however, came six years later. In

June 2009, after one year developing the project, Asahi Shimbun Company in partnership

with its sibling broadcasting company, TV Asahi, and the telecom KDDI1 launched EZ News

EX, an exclusive application and website for au by KDDI mobile phones.2 In September

2010, it broke Asahi Nikkan Sports previous record of 1 million subscribers, even though it

cost more [262 yen].

That was the first time Asahi Shimbun had such a relationship in a news related business

with a company from outside the mass media industry. “One of our purposes is to challenge

the ‘news is for free’ idea that thrives on the internet”, stated the professional in charge of

digital media in the newspaper company [Sato, 2010, p. 12]. Mobile phones were the obvious

medium to do that, as the previous experience with Asahi Nikkan Sports had shown. But

the keitai mobile news website market is saturated and niche website growth has clear limits.

The hint came from NTT DOCOMO i-channel, a paid web portal with 15 million sub-

scribers. This figure was reached through a selling strategy that only a carrier could put

into action: to actively introduce the service to users when they buy the handset. Asahi

Shimbun has been working closely with KDDI as the news provider for the carrier’s products.

Therefore, the number two Japanese carrier seemed the natural option for a partnership.3

Among the services that use newspaper content is EZ News Flash, a free application with

1The Japanese mobile phone market leader is the aforementioned NTT DOCOMO. au, the mobilesubsidiary of KDDI, is the second largest, followed by Softbank and EMOBILE.

2An application version for Android, the Google operational system for mobile handsets, was released inDecember 2010, following the release of a series of smartphones by au.

3KDDI, reportedly, was chosen because it agreed on most of the fundamental points with Asahi Group[Takimoto, 2009, p. 48].

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more than 10 million users. EZ News EX was born from this experience, as an attempt to

convert some of them into paid subscribers.

The next challenge was to increase the service’s value-added. Breaking news was per-

ceived as an element that adds dynamism to websites and the strength of Asahi Shimbun.

“Live Flash News” [Live Sokuho] section is one of the most successful content initiatives to

date. It is characterized by up-to-the-minute short posts published while the event happens.

“[. . . ] we send what we saw or heard just the way we did, one after another. Among us, we

call it a ‘Twitter style news flashes’”, explained the Asahi chief of digital content [Sato, 2010,

p. 13]. The format was especially successful when reporting sports events. It was judged

so worthwhile in generating new subscriptions that the company even sent an EZ News EX

exclusive reporter to South Africa Soccer World Cup in 2010.

The carrier, on the other hand, realized the potential of accessibility and immediacy. The

content is guaranteed to appear as highlights on the au by KDDI top page. The application

also allows users to open it by clicking on the headlines that appear on the screen. Regarding

breaking news, the Broadcast Short Mail Service [BSMS], an emergency alert system for

earthquakes used by the carrier meant “super news flash” [cho-sokuho] became possible.

Through it, data can be transmitted in a “push” style to handsets and displayed on the

screen. “This strong system has disciplined the reporters’ immediacy mind and it is not rare

that we are faster than TV alerts”, the Asahi chief of digital content says [ibid], in a clear

reminder of the role of technology in reinforcing previous standards. Analysis of e-mail alerts

sent by Asahi Nikkan Sports, EZ News EX, and News Yomiuri Hochi showed that EZ News

EX was faster in six of seven times the three reported on the same topic during the eight

days observed.1

The other answer to the query of how to increase the value of the service was to strengthen

multimedia and soft news. TV Asahi, which belongs to the same media group, had been

already providing videos for Asahi Shimbun keitai site Asahi Mobile Station. Moreover, both

1On the other hand, the same comparison found that EZ News EX sent fewer alerts [13], while Yomiuridid it the most [22].

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have had an agreement, which involved the reinforcement of organizational ties through the

cross ownership of stock, to pursue synergy since 2008.1 A new partnership for EZ News

EX was a natural step. Original content, including video, is also produced by the newsroom

responsible for the application in the newspaper.

Regarding video content, once again, the technical solutions available because of the

partnership with the mobile carrier played their role. Another push type system, the Broad-

cast Multicast Service [BCMCS], permitted the periodical distribution of massive data at no

charge to users. This technology was the very motive behind initial discussions to launch the

application and is used to update data it each 30 minutes. Since data is stored on devices

and therefore users do not need to access the web, they can read the content even when

their mobile network is not available, such as in most of Japan’s subway tunnels. It has also

removed the barrier of transmission costs associated with large amounts of data, what has

led to the strengthening of multimedia and other formats. One example is Asamaga, a digital

magazine with columns, news on famous people, reproductions of content from magazines

for women,2 restaurant information, original videos, and other related content, sent daily.3

New workflows were also designed to support these configurations. The approximately

200 pieces of hard news posted per day still come from what reporters cover for the news-

papers or PC website and is available from the central server. The difference is that it does

not automatically copy the same content and sequence from the PC website as Asahi Nikkan

Sports does. A second gatekeeping stage guarantees a different selection.

This is backed by findings on the genre of the content offered from the content survey

1In a series of operations starting that year, stocks belonging to Mrs. Michiko Murayama, a descendentof one of the founder families born in 1920 and then the Asahi Shimbun Company largest shareholder, havebeen sold or donated to TV Asahi Corporation and Kosetsu Museum Foundation, among other organizationsrelated to Asahi Group. Currently, her participation has been diminished down to the fourth position [Nagae,2009; Takimoto, 2009].

2Ms. Yoshioka reported the team had been studying how to improve the appeal of EZ News EX amongwomen. Months later, they released a new section called EX Caffe, which is focused on them and have socialmedia features as weblogs.

3As its title, the contraction of asa magazine [morning magazine], suggests, distribution is done earlydawn. The reason is another proof of how carriers affect gatekeeping: this is the time period with least useof their networks.

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[see chart 4.2 in p. 93]. On the EZ News EX keitai website version, the three top headlines

are from asahi.com, though with shorter titles. A fourth one completes the topics list with

some entertainment related news provided by TV Asahi. Analysis found that genres covered

are relatively more balanced than on general news ketai websites, including Asahi Nikkan

Sports. The space is filled mainly with “curiosities and other contents” [sono ta, wadai ], that

gathers soft news and features [15%]; “life”, with content on personal health, food, tourism,

etc [12%]; and domestic politics [12%]. Only in 20% of the time EZ News EX shared at least

one topic with Asahi Nikkan Sports, even though both use content from asahi.com. On the

other hand, posts are done with a delay of 3 minutes on average [maximum of 7 minutes]

compared to the latter.

The active approach and success of EZ News EX contrasts with a relative cautiousness

regarding smartphones. None of the three companies had news applications for iPhone.1

Instead, Mainichi and Yomiuri have been experimenting with Android. The first of such

experimentation was analyzed in this thesis. Mainichi Shimbun Android Version was the

result of a request from NTT DOCOMO prior to the release of new models running the

Google operating system. Differing from initial i-mode websites, the carrier paid for the

development of the application. This constituted the only revenue associated with this

enterprise, since it is free to download. It also explains why the application was available

initially only on DOCOMO Market, the exclusive application shop of the carrier.2 Moreover,

its concept reflects this preoccupation. The top page is a mere list of headlines starting with

more recent news. Articles can also be displayed by genre.

As part of a “trial and error” strategy, Mainichi decided to enrich the content by making

it a reader for two of its Twitter accounts posts. @mainichijpedit, the Mainichi.jp mascot

account3, suggests news pieces from the website. Though the “personal” language style

1This does not mean national newspapers did not have any. Sankei Shimbun and Nihon Keizai Shimbun,those not included in this analysis, offer applications for Apple handsets. Mainichi does it for iPad. Someof them also customized their PC website to be read on the US maker mobile browser.

2In late 2010 [after the conclusion of interviews], Mainichi Shimbun made it available for other mobilecompanies, following their releases of Android models.

3www.mainichi.jp/info/etc/character.html, accessed in Dec. 2010.

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www.mainichi.jp/info/etc/character.html

4.3 Factors affecting the gatekeeping of content

adopted and invitations to users to answer online quizzes, it is still mostly a strategy to

attract page views rather than interact with the audience. The second account differs entirely

in this aspect. @mainichiRT is part of the print project Mainichi RT 1, a daily tabloid size

paper released in 2010. In an attempt to increase print readership of young people, the

online discussions and the news access ranking on the Mainichi PC news website determines

the topics covered. An active adoption of social media is considered a way to “resonate the

times” and make a “medium made by its readers” possible [Nakajima, 2010, p. 53]. Twitter,

in particular, is praised for its speed and diversity. Misinformation is something to worry

about, but, for its supporters, the dynamics of updates and constant countering with new

information work as an “autocorrection” feature.


Analysis of the targeted cases revealed some patterns regarding agents and factors that affect

the development of mobile phone services by newspaper companies and the gatekeeping of

their content. This will be discussed in the last part of this chapter. After comparisons with

the results of previous research, sources of influence were summarized into six points: 1) work

routines; 2) organization culture; 3) technology; 4) mobile phone carriers; 5) partnerships,

and 6) profitability. These aspects are developed in the following subsections.

4.3.1 The role of work routines

One clear transformation in newsmaking made possible by digital media is the elimination of

deadlines. Japanese online enterprises also have immediacy as a premise, but its application

is only partial. Day partitioning, with hard news for salarymen in the morning and soft

news in the evening, for example, is also perceived as a potential way of editing news, but

a systematic application remains a future task. Workflows and routines, mainly those of

1From the acronym for ReTweet, a function of this microblogging system to reproduce other user’s post.

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offline newsrooms, are reasons for both gaps [Sugita et al., 2000, p. 58]. By implanting

a digital section inside print newsrooms, companies have created a hub in the information

stream that allows them to post breaking news first on the internet. However, it does not

change the fact that they are dependent on coverage which is mainly intended for the print

version. To convince reporters to send news pieces all through the day is still a challenge,

that includes calling regional offices when they know something is happening in that area to

ask for a short report for online media. As explained by Mr. Kasuya:

They have the habit of writing articles in time for the morning and evening

editions. Therefore, news pieces are concentrated when deadlines get closer. We

have been holding meetings to ask everyone to send their pieces as events occur.

But this point is really difficult to change.

These arrangements have also had an impact on the maintenance of previous standards

regarding news values. Thus, strategies have been adopted to ease such influence and adapt

the content for the new audience. If the merger of content from the subsidiary tabloids on the

mobile general news websites did not exist, the type of news found on mobile phones would

have barely changed from that on the PC website and in the print edition, even though they

have different readerships. “Those who are editing on the web are newspaper journalists [. . . ]

and, therefore, they would never put the marriage of some artist on top”, explained the staff

of Mainichi Shimbun. This makes the EZ News EX case the exception that confirms the

rule. With relative independence and their own gatekeeping process, they have guaranteed

that genres usually not highlighted also have a chance to be on top.

Besides workflows structure, other transmission channels of these routines are human

resources. Online newsroom staff have more diverse professional backgrounds than their

offline counterparts. However, still half of them are experienced professionals who have

worked for the print version of the same company. That is, they have likely gone through the

Japanese journalist formation system, wherein new college graduates from a variety of majors

become news professionals through “on the job training” in local offices [Hanada, 1999, p.

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123]. “Print circulation and revenues are going down. Consequently, it is becoming difficult

to maintain some of these regional offices. In the US, the professionals deployed there would

probably be fired, but not in Japan. Here, they are sent to online newsrooms”, explained

one of the interviewees. On the other hand, 37.5% had some previous experience outside

the current company, which suggests the existence of interactions with professional values

brought from outside. Interviewees, however, stated that the roles of these professionals are

more related to bringing digital media technical know-how than rethinking established news

values, and that they are supposed to learn from the journalists.

Interviewees did not agree unanimously on how to improve current workflows and not

even on whether the influences of print culture should be reduced, but generally cited two

options. One answer already adopted by some Japanese newspapers was to split digital op-

erations or part of them into separated companies. Among the three companies analyzed,

a certain consciousness of the supposed benefits of this move exists.1 However, they raised

contractual costs between the parent and affiliated companies for content purchase and over-

lapping expenses as deterrents. Because of costs, 100% original content production was not

considered an alternative. The second option was the opposite: to merge the offline and

online newsrooms completely, as done in companies abroad. Moves so far, as the creation

of the digital sections inside offline newsrooms, were steps towards this direction.2 How-

ever, further integration requires a change in mentality and would certainly come up against

resistance.1The Digital Media Bureau chief of Sankei Shimbun around 2004 summarized the thoughts behind such

measures. “I think this is a matter for each company management team to judge, on whether you put theweight on the unity of the newspaper company or on flexibility and proneness toward business.” [Ito et al.,2004, p. 21] His company and Nihon Keizai Shimbun—the two national newspapers out of the scope of thisresearch—did indeed adopt the later stance and entrusted the commercialization of part of their contentfor digital platforms to subsidiaries: Sankei Digital [www.sankei-digital.co.jp, accessed in Dec., 2010] [NSK,2006, p. 316] and Nikkei Digital Media [www.nikkei.co.jp/digitalmedia/, accessed in Dec., 2010], respectively.

2Organizational reforms are a constant. Asahi did it in 2002 and 2006 [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2003,2007]. Yomiuri, in 2000 and 2006 [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2001, p. 60]. Mainichi took a similar measure in2009 [Nihon Shimbun Kyokai, 2009]. By the time of the interviews, some mentioned that new departmentreorganizations would take place soon.

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4.3.2 The role of organization culture

Ote Komachi is a paradoxical case. Similar experiments do exist at local levels [Kaminaka,

2009; Takei, 2002]. However, as shown in the first part of this chapter, SNS and UGC

perceived flaws, such as low reliability and standards, the damage they could cause to the

brand image, and the costs involved in finding and erasing questionable posts are considered

more harmful in big scale initiatives by national outlets. Moreover, the fact that it belongs

to Yomiuri Shimbun, seen by its counterparts as the most cautious in terms of digital media,

makes it more enigmatic.1 It suggests that the factors that ultimately have led to its release

are on levels of analysis not reached by the present research.

On the other hand, even though an exceptional case, Ote Komachi and its BBS corner,

Hatsugen Komachi, still demonstrate the existence of effects caused by organization culture.

First, Japanese newspapers have a long culture of supplements for women, some of them

with life counseling columns. Yomiuri Shimbun is not an exception. Its Jinsei An’nai [Life

Guidance] section dates back to 1914, when it was called Mi no Ue Sodan [Personal Affairs

Consultations ]. Moreover, by tackling social issues from perspectives different to hard news

and with the contribution of readers, these “Home and Family” sections have traits of an

alternative discursive sphere [Hayashi, 2000]. These traits are also found on the Yomiuri

digital initiative, which may mean it inherited and developed practices already existent.

However, a systematic comparison, as well as a deeper discussion on the changes unleashed

by the transposition of such forums to online platforms by the use of UGC remain a future

task.

Second, all posts are hand checked before being published in order to maintain established

standards. “Newspapers are an industry with a social status and newspaper companies have

traditions. Therefore, there is a part of them that cannot take unconventional steps. It is

necessary to protect their moderation and pride as newspaper companies”, stated one Yomi-

1By mid 2010, the newspaper company had only three mobile services. Ten new ones have been releasedsince then.

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uri executive [Ito et al., 2004, p. 19]. The costs of maintaining this gatekeeping phase are

seen as prohibitive by all companies when considering launching new similar experiments.1

The organization culture that makes companies suspicious of UGC, however, had to be ne-

gotiated with regards to perceived BBS essential features: no strict registration requirement

and anonymous postings. The removal of these aspects would reduce the main merit of this

format, its ability to extract sincere and free comments [Inazawa, 2009, p. 43]. On the other

hand, the very existence of newspapers as a filter is praised as adding value compared to

other online forums. “The safe environment [of Hatsugen Komachi ] is only possible because

Yomiuri Shimbun is committed to it”, defended Mr. Yamane.

Asahi and Mainichi, on the other hand, have a relatively more open approach concerning

social media. Twitter is mostly used by Japanese newspapers as an RSS feed aggregator.

The purpose is to lead followers to specific articles on their websites, even though some fear

that most users are satisfied with the alerts and do not click the links. That is, it becomes an

immediacy tool, and not an interactive tool. Within this context, the exceptional Mainichi

experiment with Mainich RT to produce an “interactive” newspaper is attributed to the

“open newspaper” [hirakareta shimbun] principle adopted by the organization [Nakajima,

2010, p. 52]. The company has been promoting two-way communication channels with the

audience, which includes making “the face of the newspaper visible” [kao no mieru shimbun].

In accordance to these principles, the newspaper has a tradition of crediting reporters for

articles, a practice still not widespread in Japan. It was also the first national media outlet to

adopt the weblog format. In another example, articles on Asahi Nikkan Sports and Mainichi

Sponichi also are integrated with the Japanese SNS Mixi, while those on News Yomiuri

Hochi are not. That is, users can post and comment on them on their profiles. The thinking

behind this is that articles are public information already approved by an editor. Moreover,

there is no way to impede users from commenting on the internet, since they can always

1In an experiment three years ago, Yomiuri Shimbun asked readers to send photos of Tokyo Marathon.They were displayed then on a map of the route, in an attempt that mixed UGC and geotagging. Eventhough relatively successful among users, the idea was discontinued. The conclusion was that checking allcontent is a troublesome job.

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do so on other websites anyway. “We are just making it a little bit easier”, explained Mr.

Takano, adding that, however, allowing this service on their own websites with no checking

system in place is problematic, since users’ posts could lead to law suits for the company.

4.3.3 The technological factor

Professionals have handset and connection specifications in mind when producing content.

Around 60% of NTT DOCOMO handsets are not able to use cookies, which limits the

adoption of automatic customizations.1 The variety of models required a series of pre-tests

and warnings about those for which certain services are not available.2 The existence of

users perceived as technologically unsavvy also means downloads are often accompanied by

notices on data transmission costs. It also explains why the general news keitai websites

have not evolved much with time. “We are offering this content since i-mode started and

we have a relative number of users in their forties and fifties that do not use the latest

models. Therefore, we maintained the design almost untouched so it is accessible even on

old handsets”, said Mr. Takano, from Asahi Nikkan Sports. Even with the widespread 3G

network, long downloads times on keitai were considered a possible source of irritation for

users. Thus, videos were limited to less than one minute.3

In other contexts, technologies also boost new gatekeeping formats. The ubiquitous

aspect of mobile phones was also claimed sometimes as the reason for certain enterprises.

“The conspicuous feature of mobile phones is the fact that it is a ‘personal media device

1au by KDDI and Softbank models have cookies enabled, but the leading company and its market shareof 47,5% [Telecommunications Carriers Association, TCA, www.tca.or.jp, accessed in Dec., 2010] have aconsiderable weight on content providers decisions.

2The variety of Android OS versions due to the customizations done by the handset makers was cited asa demerit of this platform compared to Apple products.

3Around 2007, one minute long videos could be downloaded in most of keitai. On average, this meantapproximately 30 seconds of download. Two professional from a local newspaper considered 15 seconds (7 or8 seconds to download) the ideal length [Saito & Noda, 2007, p. 67]. The remark illustrates how “perceivedirritation towards long downloads” was a stronger factor shaping the news rather than “satisfaction with alonger content”. Besides saying moving objects on the screen were preferable, they also mentioned that thatwas the duration of most TV commercials. Although possibly just the first comparison they had in mind,one may infer from these comments that the role of such audio-visual content was more linked to offering anemotional stimulus than complementary information.

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always attached to people’s body’. I consider that such a characteristic can be utilized best

during disasters”, wrote an Asahi professional on their keitai website specialized in offering

alerts on traffic and natural disasters. That is, the technological aspect meets the immediacy

demand already existent in mass media journalism. This point was reinforced by Mainichi

staff when explaining why the mobile website does not have as much features content as its

PC counterpart. On keitai, “we put more effort in updating it with flash news as fast as the

information arrives”.1

Regarding another technological factors, professionals and companies have different re-

actions regarding Content Management Systems [CMS]. Half of those who responded the

online survey said they were somewhat dissatisfied or totally dissatisfied with it. The num-

ber is in accordance with the findings of Domingo [2008c]. However, for the interviewees,

who also shoulder management responsibilities, CMS was strictly connected to which type of

content and workflows they were aiming for. Changes in the software have been planned by

Mainichi Shimbun to support the merger of offline and online operations. The goal is that

reporters, in the future, could feed all media, including mobile, with content posts through

an efficient CMS directly from the scene. The only weapon mentioned against expected

resistance, nonetheless, is a patient explanation of why such move is necessary. “We will

have to educate them, by explaining how we wish they would make use of it, as well as the

principles behind it”, explained Mr. Kasuya.

One final aspect of digital media technology is its effects on the perception of audiences.

Sharing increasing feedback from users among all professionals in charge of Asahi Nikkan

Sports is routine [Kitamoto, 2003, p. 41]. An active investigation of subscribers’ demands

was done through group interviews and monitoring of new subscriptions, cancellations, and

the most accessed stories [ibid]. Recently, article lists are also generated automatically using

1This aspect was also cited by Yomiuri Shimbun staff as the most important evaluation point whenthey compare digital operations with those of other newspaper companies. Accordingly, he did not considerYahoo! Japan News a competitor, even though it is the leading news service on the internet. This was dueto the fact that, since it does not produce their own content and actually purchases Yomiuri one, it couldnot be faster than newspaper companies.

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search engine trends as a filter. Though not systematic, Ms. Yoshioka reported that, as

individual initiatives, professionals pay attention to what is being discussed on Twitter and

extract hints on which are topics of interest at the time. Daily coverage, however, has

limitations when reflecting such perceptions because of its dependence on offline newsrooms.

For example, even though the fact that mobile audiences are relatively young compared

to those of other media is a known characteristic, it did not mean hard news was edited

with them in mind. The margin to mirror users demand was bigger in services as EZ News

EX, where an additional gatekeeping phase allowed different top news arrangements and

the production of “special coverages” sections, with a list of articles related to some specific

topic. The dispersion of content into different niche services is also a strategy to avoid these

restraints and satisfy users’ demands, which are perceived as being less “massive” than those

of other media.1

4.3.4 The role of mobile phone carriers

Among the companies targeted in the present research, Mainichi Shimbun online operations

had previous experience in partnering with a company not from the traditional mass media

sector. Confronted by difficulties in making profits on the internet, the company chose to

make an alliance with the Japanese version of MSN [Microsoft Network ] portal in January

2004.2 The merge of the websites gave MSN content it did not have, while the Japanese

newspaper had access to a stable audience. However, editorial independence was seen as

an issue in early stages. “It is true we faced, even inside the company, people asking if it

was appropriate for a newspaper to join forces with such partner. There was a particular

resistance with the other part being a foreign company.” [Ito et al., 2004, p. 16] A direct

comparison of this case and the relations established by newspapers with mobile phone

1Despite being an aspect developed in academic and marketing research, the supposed attachment ofwomen to mobile media was not cited as a decision factor behind the focus on them by Ote Komachi and,more recently, EZ News EX.

2Mainichi-MSN Interactive lasted until September, 2007. Sankei Shimbun substituted Mainichi in thepartnership and both are together until the time being.

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carriers as content providers or partners may not be correct, since they have different natures.

However, as a matter of fact and in contrast with the aforementioned example, no deep

considerations of their “appropriateness” were captured during the data collection of this

research.

That does not mean conflict has not existed. The vice-director of the department in

charge of Asahi Nikkan Sports around 2003 summarized the uncomfortable situation [Kita-

moto, 2003, p. 42]:

One big difference, compared to the business schemes experienced by newspa-

pers before, is possibly the huge presence of carriers standing between [providers

and audiences]. [. . . ] in the initial period, it was difficult to draw a clear limit

between us and them and it is a fact that different opinions have led to collisions

many times. Fortunately, it became possible currently to draw an appropriate

line for both of us, after some experience. However, it is common to hear that

many providers are still unsatisfied regarding the economic power unbalance in

face of carriers, depending on their region or business. On our side, there is

this feeling that ‘we are the ones who are offering the content’ and a sense of

incongruity since, in ‘paper’ times, there was nothing corresponding to carriers.

According to one of the Asahi sources, newspaper companies actively resisted initial sug-

gestions by NTT DOCOMO that news services should be free. Moreover, keitai internet top

pages constitute more of a barrier than an incentive, since they “hide” newspaper websites’

urls in the link directories.1 One could argue then that these companies were not passive

victims of mobile phone carriers, but actively negotiated their foothold on the new platform.

Moreover, as emphasized by one of the interviewees, providers are guaranteed editorial free-

1E.g., on au by KDDI mobile phones, one has to go four levels to reach newspaper websites list [Top >Menu List > News, Weather > National Newspapers; accessed in Dec., 2010]. One professional from Asahijoked that being the first on the list was one of the reasons behind Asahi Nikkan Sports success [Kitamoto,2003, p. 41]. For those that do not have such luck, QR codes are a strategic detour to lead users to thecontent without the filter of carriers [Saito & Noda, 2007, p. 67]. In the present time, however, those whofind the website through the directories list are a minority. Around 80% of users access Asahi Nikkan Sportsthorough bookmarks and the rest through links posted on SNS [Mixi ] or search engines.

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dom in the contract. When the present research states that these external companies have

been influencing the gatekeeping function of newspapers, however, it does not suggest that

they actively dictate what should be covered and reported. The influence of mobile telecoms

happens through other subtle and not so subtle ways.

First, even though one cannot state that these companies would not have developed the

services for mobile phones if the carriers had not invited them, they did start these

services in the way they did in response to carriers’ invitations and with their technical

support.1 As the Mainichi Shimbun Android Version case shows, this scheme may

be reproduced even when creating content for smartphones, which were believed to

help eliminate the centrality of mobile telecoms by empowering the makers. Android

is perceived as having all the open aspects of the internet. However, the excess of

content and the consequent risk of being buried under it has become an issue. That

is what makes carriers own application stores attractive. As explained by an Asahi

interviewee, being there means you were certified [sumitsuki ] by the mobile telecom.

Moreover, while the Android Market requires a credit card, carriers offer the option of

paying through mobile phone bills, such as i-mode.

Second, though not definitive, mobile telecoms have a strong hand in what will be available

and, to a certain extent, successful on keitai internet. Such power is exerted when they

select which providers will be official and, consequently, displayed on mobile portals

and able to use their billing system. The effects of this scheme are exemplified by an

interviewee:

For example, if we were the managers of a vegetable shop, we could decide

where to put the products we want to sell. But we are not granted the same

1Carriers offered the technical know-how that newspaper companies lacked. Asahi staff built the websitesthemselves from scratch and counted on manuals and technical assistance offered by the carriers to do so.Technical work was outsourced in Mainichi to an external company indicated by NTT DOCOMO. YomiuriShimbun, on the other hand, initially assigned the task of developing and maintaining its mobile website to asubsidiary company, which, in turn, outsourced the system development to an external company. Operationswere absorbed by the parent company in March 2000.

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freedom to do so [on i-mode]. The carrier ultimately decides what to place

near the entrance, where things sell more. Therefore, if we have the carriers’

idea in mind and produce what they want to offer now, they would display

us somewhere that attracts attention. [. . . ] And this is one of the important

points in case you want to increase subscriptions.

Moreover, the newspaper companies targeted here may have had problems being high-

lighted on top pages, but not being part of i-mode. This may be an obvious rational

business choice, but constitutes an issue for journalism studies in the digital age. Al-

though an unsettled discussion, on PC internet, startups and individuals are believed

to have the chance to compete against the hegemony of mass media giants. Economic

power disparities constitute a hurdle, but, on mobile internet, such barrier is accompa-

nied by a new one: mobile phone carriers as an external filter, a “macro-gatekeeper”.

Third, the very existence of them as mediators has retroactive impacts on providers, as

shown in attempts by newspapers to bring audience also from channels other than

i-mode top page. Such retroactive forces, however, need to be relativized as just one of

the factors under which professionals make their decisions. The power of such external

filters in determining how mobile internet will be marketed and to which audience it

is aimed suggests a potential channel of influence. The i-mode team focused on young

people as the preferential users of i-mode while still in the project phase. This target

has coincided with newspapers wishing to reach this very audience. “We are always in

touch with the carriers staff. For example, NTT DOCOMO always tell us on which

generations they will focus next summer. As a response, we discuss proposals of what

content and formats to offer targeting these generations”, explained an interviewee.

However, this has had few results in the actual news content offered by the early mobile

news websites, since they were under the constraints of offline newsrooms routines.

To merge content from the quality paper and the tabloids appears to be a skillful

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maneuver to eliminate such limitations, but here again low budgets have also been an

issue. Carriers targeting attempts are more apparent in initiatives that achieve further

independence from offline newsrooms, such as EZ News EX and the weight they put

on soft news. But this later example is the product of a different context and, thus,

not directly comparable with early initiatives.

Fourth, influence is also exerted regarding formats. “When NTT DOCOMO planned to

release the FOMA keitai models, on which it became possible to watch videos on

mobile phones for the first time, they consulted us, six months prior to the release,

to see whether we could offer video content. And we indeed started a new service

with videos. This idea was born only because we received such consultation from NTT

DOCOMO, asking us to synchronize with the launch of these models”, an interviewee

explained. The stance of this research is that the digital environment has made choosing

formats a part of gatekeeping. The availability of a new technology has the obvious

effect of offering new packaging options. Flash has helped popularizing videos on the

internet, but few [correctly] thought of Adobe as a player in the gatekeeping function.

Mobile phone carriers, however, not only made technology [3G, multimedia] available,

but actively stimulated providers, including newspapers, to produce content using it.

4.3.5 The role of partnerships

As seen in the EZ News EX case, although still exceptional, the initial discomfort regard-

ing the presence of carriers as an intermediary has grown into a willing partnership. One

executive mentioned the arrival of a “ubiquitous information society” as the motivational

force that has pushed them towards partnership with a telecom company. “It is a society

in which is possible to make Asahi brand news available whenever and wherever, through

PC and mobile devices.” [Takimoto, 2009, p. 48] Besides enabling the company to explore

such an environment, ties with the companies that own the platform are part of an strategy

to leave the role of being a mere content provider. Partnerships with mobile phone carriers

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give access to technologies not available to other content providers. It also guarantees a

highlighted position, both on top pages and on mobile default screens. Moreover, handset

vending staff can actively promote the service to new subscribers. All these benefits are

believed to surpass the fact that content becomes accessible only through one specific mobile

company.

Partnerships with the subsidiary TV stations, on the other hand, promote the use of

multimedia content. The broadcasting companies not only offer their content, but also

training. As part of the Asahi Group synergy strategy, TV Asahi offered workshops on digital

recording for Asahi Shimbun photographers and online newsroom staff. Nihon TV does the

same for its print counterpart Yomiuri Shimbun and has also sent one professional to work

with its digital bureau. Such collaborations are a rational choice from the management point

of view. However, the reinforcement of the cooperation inside these media conglomerates

may lead to a deepening in the discursive uniformity in the media landscape.

4.3.6 The profitability factor

The new situation of being intermediated by mobile phone carriers when offering content

for audiences has also shifted from tolerable to desirable because of the business solutions

it has offered. “I am certain that paywalls for news content thought to be difficult became

a reality on mobile phones so easily only because the payment system was ingenious”, said

one professional from Asahi Shimbun in regard to the i-mode billing model [Kitamoto, 2003,

p. 42].1 The merit of participating in such a promising sector overpasses any discomfort,

since even content available for free on their PC internet media can be charged for on mobile

phones, as happens in most of the cases analyzed.

Profitability is the keyword behind why some promises of digital technology have ma-

1The employment of hybrid models of paywall, in which certain contents are left open for free access whileothers not, poses a new decision during gatekeeping processes which is closely linked to business rather thanjournalism. Such model is already in use in Japan and editors are anticipating or already being confrontedwith these tasks [Anzai, 2010; Utada, 2010].

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terialized, while others not.1 One strategy cited by the source from Mainichi to convince

reporters on why immediacy is important was to show them how it generates page views and,

consequently, revenue. On the other hand, QR codes printed on Yomiuri Shimbun Sunday

edition have been used to complement articles with multimedia. Mainichi Shimbun, in turn,

offers updates on articles that can be accessed through the codes, such as election results.

However, such usages remain an exception because “making money out of it is out of ques-

tion”. The same is true for LBS. All information sent by reporters of Mainichi and Yomiuri

through their CMS already have location tags. But an automatic filtering of content using

these tags is not available.2

The strategy of creating new services in opposition to adding new functionalities to those

already existent is cited as what has led to the biggest transformations in the eleven year

history of i-mode. When it became possible to watch videos on mobile phones, Asahi chose

to launch a new service based on multimedia—Asahi Mobile Station. Asahi Nikkan Sports

continued having only texts and images. That is, the first option was thought to lead to an

increase in revenue bigger than that a growth in the number of subscribers for the already

existent service would do. The exploration of niche markets was seen as a feasible source

of revenue. However, the market is reaching saturation. Moreover, the increasing switch

of users to smartphones is perceived as the beginning of keitai content industry shrinkage.

This context makes a long-tail strategy difficult, as explained by Mr. Kasuya. “Even if we

produce a lot of websites, the others would do the same.3 Therefore, the number of users

who subscribe to each one of them is falling [. . . ]. And many are switching to smartphones,

1“After I started getting involved with the internet, I became conscious of costs and I have made ofthem an important factor in my work decisions”, stated a local media outlet editor [Murakami, 2007, p. 34].The remark is in accordance with findings on online operations being more market-driven [Boczkowski &Livingstone, 2002, p. 275; Cohen, 2002].

2Asahi products are the only ones on which news can be customized by region, even though geotags arenot available in the articles entries. Experiments have been done in the past by Asahi Shimbun, when aparticular mechanism of J-Phone [current Softbank] base stations allowed filtering information by its location.The idea was discontinued after this function was disabled. Using the BSMS technology, EZ News EX staffsends alerts to specific regions in a similar manner. This example is another argument regarding the effectsof partnerships on gatekeeping.

3One known consequence of the lack of audiences demands measurement is the reproduction of successfulformulas [Shoemaker & Vos, 2009, p. 78–79].

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so I think all newspaper companies are facing this decline.”

The decline of the keitai market is seen as a reason not to invest in new services on this

platform or additional features for currently existent services. In contrast, the rise of smart-

phones is promising, since their users are perceived as technologically savvier and having

higher purchase power. An active investment in content for these new devices, nonetheless,

is considered premature. “The market itself is small. [. . . ] It is still dominated by Apple

alone and it is not time to put money into producing something for Xperia”, said the intervie-

wee from Mainichi, referring to the Sony Ericsson model running Android recently released

in the Japanese market.1 As this remark suggests, the main preoccupation of Mainichi while

developing its Android application was to maintain production and operational costs close

to zero, as became possible thanks to NTT DOCOMO investment.2

Regarding Apple handsets, the newspaper adapted Mainichi.jp for iPod and iPhone, but

was cautious about releasing applications. One big reason is the central role of the maker.

“The worst aspect of Apple is that they practice censorship”, Mr. Kasuya said, citing stricter

rules imposed by the US company regarding what content can be sold in the AppStore.3 This

was true even though the former shares the same problems from PC internet in generating

earnings, while the latter has an established paid model. “If users can access the website

through browsers, why would they buy an application? NTT DOCOMO offered us money to

produce the Android application. But we do not expect, of course, Apple to do the same”,

explained Mr. Kasuya. “We do not embark on adventures based only on optimism”, he

1Mainichi Shimbun at the most, but the other companies also, have released new products for keitaiinternet and smartphones in late 2010 [see appendix]. These recent moves are out of the scope of thisresearch. They suggest however how transitory the judgements of these companies are. Therefore, anyconclusion upon them is also subjugated to such temporality. That is, they are specific of a certain period,which are getting shorter with the accelerated evolution of markets.

2Contrary to the common conception that online operations are cheaper since technology is accessible,many editors seem to have a high cost perception regarding the development of new mobile services [Anzai,2010; Omachi, 2010].

3Some European tabloids application, but not only, have had problems with Apple policy [McGann,L. (2010) Mark Fiore Can Win a Pulitzer Prize, But He Can’t Get His iPhone Cartoon App PastApple’s Satire Police. In: Nieman Journalism Lab, April, 15. http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/04/mark-fiore-can-win-a-pulitzer-prize-but-he-cant-get-his-iphone-cartoon-app-past-apples-satire-police/, ac-cessed in Dec. 2010.].

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http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/04/mark-fiore-can-win-a-pulitzer-prize-but-he-cant-get-his-iphone-cartoon-app-past-apples-satire-police/

http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/04/mark-fiore-can-win-a-pulitzer-prize-but-he-cant-get-his-iphone-cartoon-app-past-apples-satire-police/


added. This remark shows how disregard concerning costs, that allowed previous research

on online journalism to make light of this factor, is part of the past, possibly not just in

Japan.1

1It has not always been like this in Japan also. “Regarding niche products, only those that have somechance of being profitable are produced these days because of costs. It is not like in the past anymore, whenwe created new projects one after another”, reported Ms. Yoshioka.

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Chapter 5

Concluding remarks

The present case study has confirmed some of the findings of previous research and has

added new focal points for further analyses. Regarding the gatekeeping model, newsmaking

for mobile phones is dependent on news flows from other departments, mainly the offline

newsroom.1 Therefore, differences in mindsets have to be negotiated, such as the importance

given to immediacy or differences over news values. Such negotiations, however, have been

reduced to a minimum level with the establishment of relatively independent workflows that

converge into the same product: quality paper news content is produced by the parent paper

newsroom; tabloid news comes from the subsidiary sports newspaper; and features are the

responsibility of online departments. Partnerships with other media outlets, such as TV

stations, may create content currents coming from outside the organization.

Behind this attachment to efficiency, there is an increasing consideration of costs and

profitability. These factors have made of workers and managers “realists”. That is, the

technological “utopias” described by previous research still exist as symbolic constituents of

media. However, their weight in the negotiations that precede the creation of new services

and the establishment of work routines has been deeply reduced. In other words, the frus-

tration captured in studies of online newsrooms regarding their failure to fully explore the

potential of new platforms was not found in this case. Instead, there was a widespread feeling

1A different pattern with similar results has been observed in previous researches outside Japan: thedependence of online operations on news agencies. In many of them, work was restricted to fine-tuning newswires stories [Paterson, 2005; Quandt, 2008].

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that this is what is possible in the current context.

This realism of the professionals in these newspapers may not be recent, but has not been

a constant either. Initial skepticism resulting from business frustration with the internet

has given way to some euphoria in early years in the face of a paid business model for

online content on mobile phones. This was reflected in the boom of new services in the

last decade until it reached the perceived current level of saturation. In all these phases, the

influence of mobile phone carriers as accelerators has been present. More than that, the data

collected suggests that their role has been generally greater than newspaper companies’ own

innovation strategies and users’ demand. Accordingly, such central agency of an external

organization may have not determined newsmaking and the actual content produced, but

has had consequences for both.

In practice, these dynamics have resulted in hypertext almost never being applied in

newsmaking as a potential tool. Multimedia, on the other hand, has materialized as we-

bvergence.1 Behind its implementation, carriers stimulus and efficient content production

through partnerships have functioned as accelerators. A strong perception that audiences

are not satisfied with one-way communication flows has push media outlets toward experi-

ences with interactivity. But once again, the tools offered are the result of negotiations with

organization culture and costs.

The potential of mobile phones was wrought with difficulty due to preexistent work

routines and the extent to which it was required to fit them. Accordingly, day parting has

not become a systematic practice since news is dependent on print workflows. Incidentally or

not, the perception of mobile audiences as having different demands for news was partially

satisfied with the merge of content from quality papers and tabloids. That is, in a way

no change has been required of the established news values of each newsroom. An already

existent culture of print supplements for women may explain the focus on them in some of the

services analyzed. However, the view of mobile phones as an efficient medium to reach this

1See p. 22.

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audience as discussed marketing and media research was not pointed as a reason. Filtering

news by user location was more probable when technologies that only a partnership with the

carrier would give access to were available. Otherwise, the absence of profitable perspectives

have hampered implementation.

Immediacy, on the other hand, has emerged as the digital feature par excellence. Breaking

news culture has been boosted by technology and by the fact it is a widely shared premise in

many journalistic cultures. However, it has become a reality only as far as offline newsrooms

were already prone to provide it, since they are in charge of breaking news at the time being.

The emphasis in immediacy has been observed in research abroad [Brannon, 2008; Domingo,

2008c; Steensen, 2009], as well as its impact as a brake concerning the implementation of

other promises of digital media. This coincidence suggests discussion on the homogeniza-

tion and consequent commoditization of news due to constant updates [Boczkowski, 2010;

Boczkowski & Santos, 2007] as research topics also in Japan. It also reinforces suggestions

that the internet has had a bigger effect in increasing the efficiency of distribution, rather

than lowering production costs and stimulating original production [van der Wurff, 2008, p.

67].

In sum, these findings resonate the remarks of Tuchman [2002, p. 87], suggesting how

innovation in mass media does not necessarily lead to innovations in the way mass media

journalism is done:

When, from to time, the protocols of writing the news change, it is rele-

vant for research to ask how this discursive change relates to possible changes

in professional routines and in the political economy of news. [. . . ] In terms of

organizational routines and professional ideals, the actual shift is presumably the

result of both management deliberations and contestations among professionals

about the relatively prestigious ‘product’ which they co-sign. [. . . ] Significantly,

the core definition of news as the presentation of facts remains untouched by this

joint commercial, professional, and discursive strategy.

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Her conclusion regarding the permanence of objectiveness despite changes in production

processes was verified regarding other journalistic practices in the present case.

Figure 5.1: Gatekeeping in the “mobile news worlds”.

Lastly, Boczkowski [2005] defends that online journalism is not the fruit solely of online

journalists, but something that emerges from“news worlds”. Among the other actors he lists

are other professionals, such as designers and programmers; other departments, including

the offline newsroom, commercial, and marketing; and audiences. One can add that, sup-

porting this environment, there is a platform, the internet in this case. The “mobile news

worlds” contain all these agents and are supported by mobile phones as the platform [fig.

5.1]. However, while the possible influence of the multitude of actors that control internet

technology is dispersed enough to the extent of being ignored with relatively no consequence

for research, this was not true for mobile phones in Japan. The existence of this channel of

influence through platform ownership and its consequences for mass media systems consti-

tute a new focal point for journalism studies. Moreover, such logic may be being reproduced

on smartphone and e-book markets, which constitute potential targets for further research.1

1New moves suggesting such reproduction are occurring. A new alliance among Asahi Shimbun Company,KDDI, Sony, and the printing company Toppan, which resulted in the creation of Booklista, a company

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5.1 Limitations and future research


The methodology and scope of the present research has obvious limitations. Consequently,

some of its findings need to be relativized. The most obvious flaw is the very restricted

range of newspapers followed during the field work. The homogeneous group targeted has

allowed to argue in this thesis the existence of common models and mechanisms behind their

initiatives in the mobile content sector. However, transposing them to other contexts requires

caution. This is true even regarding the other two national Japanese newspaper companies

not targeted, since they occupy different positions in the market and have different stances on

digital operations. Application in a foreign context is even more problematic. The Japanese

media system has its peculiarities and mobile phones are“boundary objects” [Lievrouw, 2006,

p. 249], that is, their usage is open to be shaped by each social group. Digital media as a

research object is also a “moving target” [Lievrouw & Livingstone, 2006, p. 24; Westlund,

2008, p. 459], which makes past or future extrapolation difficult.

In regard to methodology, the present research has not employed a systematic method of

interpretation to texts—the content of interviews and the articles collected. A stricter content

analysis or a discourse analysis applied on a smaller corpus might have shown different results.

Moreover, the use of gatekeeping models is also limited to routines, organizational, and inter-

organizational levels. It is possible that much more could be explained with observations of

the individual also.

Lastly, discussion of this topic in its relation to other social scholarship remains a future

task. As briefly covered in the literature review, the idea of professional routines as impedi-

ments to change in mass media is interrelated with the concepts of “fields” and “autopoietic

social systems” proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and Niklas Luhman, respectively.1 These pre-

focused on the e-book market, is one of the most visible cases [Denshi Shoseki no Jigyo Gaisha Hassoku:Sony, Asahi Shimbunsha Nado 4-Sha. In: asahi.com, Nov. 2010, accessed in Dec. 2010. www.asahi.com/business/update/1124/TKY201011240414.html]. Mainichi Shimbun Company, on the other hand, has joinedforces with the mobile carrier Softbank and both established Viewn, a company focused on providing contentfor smartphones [www.viewn.co.jp].

1See p. 20.

119

www.asahi.com/business/update/1124/TKY201011240414.html

www.asahi.com/business/update/1124/TKY201011240414.html

www.viewn.co.jp


liminary connections may constitute bridgeheads towards locating this topic within broader

social theories.

120

Chapter 6

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1 of

27

Prof

essi

onal

s in

cha

rge

of m

obile

con

tent

in n

ewsp

aper

com

pani

es

1. A

ge

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

15-2

04.

2%1

21-2

5

0.0%

0

26-3

016

.7%

4

31-3

537

.5%

9

36-4

025

.0%

6

41-4

512

.5%

3

46-5

04.

2%1

51-5

5

0.0%

0

56-6

0

0.0%

0

61-6

5

0.0%

0

66-7

0

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

2 of

27

2. G

ende

r

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Mal

e75

.0%

18

Fem

ale

25.0

%6

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

3 of

27

3. E

duca

tiona

l Lev

el

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

High

Sch

ool

8.3%

2

Spec

ializ

ed T

rain

ing

Colle

ge

0.0%

0

Juni

or C

olle

ge

0.0%

0

Und

ergr

adua

tion

Cou

rse

87.5

%21

Gra

duat

ion

Cour

se4.

2%1

Leav

e in

bla

nk

0.0%

0

Oth

er

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

4 of

27

4. Y

ears

sin

ce s

tart

ed w

orki

ng

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Less

than

1 y

ear

0.

0%0

1 ye

ar to

3 y

ears

0.

0%0

3 ye

ars

to 5

yea

rs8.

3%2

5 ye

ars

to 1

0 ye

ars

50.0

%12

Mor

e th

an 1

0 ye

ars

41.7

%10

Leav

e in

bla

nk

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

5 of

27

5. Y

ears

wor

king

in th

e cu

rren

t com

pany

.

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Less

than

6 m

onth

s

0.0%

0

6 m

onth

s to

1 y

ear

0.

0%0

1 ye

ar to

3 y

ears

12.5

%3

3 ye

ars

to 5

yea

rs8.

3%2

5 ye

ars

to 1

0 ye

ars

37.5

%9

Mor

e th

an 1

0 ye

ars

41.7

%10

Leav

e in

bla

nk

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

6 of

27

6. T

ime

wor

king

with

mob

ile c

onte

nt in

the

curr

ent c

ompa

ny.

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Less

than

6 m

onth

s20

.8%

5

6 m

onth

s to

1 y

ear

16.7

%4

1 ye

ar to

3 y

ears

33.3

%8

3 ye

ars

to 5

yea

rs29

.2%

7

5 ye

ars

to 1

0 ye

ars

0.

0%0

Mor

e th

an 1

0 ye

ars

0.

0%0

Leav

e in

bla

nk

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

7 of

27

7. W

hat w

ere

your

prio

r w

ork

expe

rienc

es?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

s)

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

I had

no

prio

r exp

erie

nce

4.2%

1

Prin

t new

sroo

m o

f the

cur

rent

ne

wsp

aper

54.2

%13

Com

mer

cial

dep

artm

ent o

f the

cu

rrent

new

spap

er8.

3%2

Adve

rtisi

ng d

epar

tmen

t of t

he

curre

nt n

ewsp

aper

4.2%

1

Oth

er d

epar

tmen

t of t

he c

urre

nt

news

pape

r16

.7%

4

Oth

er p

rint m

edia

com

pany

4.2%

1

Oth

er d

igita

l med

ia c

ompa

ny8.

3%2

Broa

dcas

ting

0.

0%0

Oth

er m

ass

med

ia c

ompa

ny8.

3%2

Oth

er m

obile

con

tent

pro

vide

rs4.

2%1

Mob

ile p

hone

car

riers

0.

0%0

Leav

e in

bla

nk4.

2%1

Oth

er

12.5

%3

8 of

27

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

8. W

hy d

id y

ou c

hoos

e to

wor

k w

ith m

obile

con

tent

?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

It w

as m

y fir

st o

ptio

n4.

2%1

I bec

ame

inte

rest

ed a

fter f

indi

ng

the

vaca

ncy

by c

hanc

e16

.7%

4

It w

as th

e be

st a

mon

g th

e op

tions

I ha

d

0.0%

0

It w

as m

y on

ly a

ltern

ativ

e

0.0%

0

Pers

onne

l shu

ffle

70.8

%17

Leav

e in

bla

nk

0.0%

0

Oth

er

8.3%

2

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

9 of

27

9. W

hat's

you

r ty

pe o

f con

trac

t?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Part-

timer

0.

0%0

Tem

pora

ry w

orke

r8.

3%2

Con

tract

wor

ker

0.

0%0

Reg

ular

wor

ker

83.3

%20

Leav

e in

bla

nk4.

2%1

Oth

er

4.2%

1

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

10 o

f 27

10. W

hich

type

of m

obile

ser

vice

do

you

prod

uce

cont

ent f

or?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

s)

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

New

s w

ebsi

tes

58.3

%14

News

app

licat

ions

41.7

%10

Spor

ts n

ews

29.2

%7

Gos

sip

news

29.2

%7

Vide

o we

bsite

s4.

2%1

Dat

abas

e12

.5%

3

Nic

he w

ebsi

tes

0.

0%0

Oth

er33

.3%

8

Leav

e in

bla

nk

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

11 o

f 27

11. W

hat a

re y

our

daily

act

iviti

es?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

s)

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Dat

a co

llect

ion

8.3%

2

Writ

ing

16.7

%4

Editi

ng te

xts

58.3

%14

Editi

ng m

ultim

edia

8.3%

2

Proo

fread

ing

0.

0%0

Prog

ram

min

g20

.8%

5

Des

ign

12.5

%3

Man

agem

ent

12.5

%3

Leav

e in

bla

nk4.

2%1

Oth

er

33.3

%8

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

12 o

f 27

12. W

hich

trai

ning

pro

gram

s ha

ve y

ou e

nrol

led

in th

e pa

st?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

s)

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

A g

ener

al p

rogr

am58

.3%

14

Artic

les

and

feat

ures

writ

ing

for

prin

t med

ia33

.3%

8

Artic

les

and

feat

ures

writ

ing

for

digi

tal m

edia

12.5

%3

Artic

les

and

feat

ures

writ

ing

for

mob

ile m

edia

4.2%

1

Des

ign

for d

igita

l med

ia4.

2%1

Mul

timed

ia16

.7%

4

Soci

al m

edia

8.3%

2

PC s

kills

8.3%

2

Prog

ram

min

g12

.5%

3

Oth

er te

chni

cal t

rain

ing

prog

ram

16.7

%4

I hav

e ne

ver p

artic

ipat

ed20

.8%

5

Leav

e in

bla

nk4.

2%1

Oth

er

12.5

%3

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

13 o

f 27

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

13. W

hich

trai

ning

pro

gram

s do

you

thin

k yo

u ne

ed?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

s) R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

A ge

nera

l pro

gram

4.2%

1

Artic

les

and

feat

ures

writ

ing

for

prin

t med

ia16

.7%

4

Artic

les

and

feat

ures

writ

ing

for

digi

tal m

edia

20.8

%5

Artic

les

and

feat

ures

writ

ing

for

mob

ile m

edia

20.8

%5

Des

ign

for d

igita

l med

ia45

.8%

11

Mul

timed

ia29

.2%

7

Soci

al m

edia

54.2

%13

PC s

kills

16.7

%4

Prog

ram

min

g45

.8%

11

Oth

er te

chni

cal t

rain

ing

prog

ram

29.2

%7

I don

't ne

ed a

ny

0.0%

0

Leav

e in

bla

nk4.

2%1

14 o

f 27

Oth

er

12.5

%3

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

14. H

ow is

you

r da

ily w

orkf

low

?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

I hav

e a

clea

r fun

ctio

n an

d I

perfo

rm it

mos

tly in

divi

dual

ly12

.5%

3

I wor

k in

coo

pera

tion

with

des

igne

rs

and

tech

nici

ans,

but

ther

e ar

e co

nflic

t som

etim

es

0.0%

0

I wor

k in

coo

pera

tion

with

de

sign

ers

and

tech

nici

ans

and

ther

e ar

e no

con

flict

s54

.2%

13

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

25.0

%6

Oth

er

8.3%

2

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

15 o

f 27

15. H

ow is

wor

king

with

oth

er d

epar

tmen

ts?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

I do

not h

ave

chan

ces

of w

orki

ng

with

oth

er d

epar

tmen

ts12

.5%

3

Ther

e ar

e oc

casio

ns in

whi

ch I

work

in

coo

pera

tion

with

the

PC w

ebsi

te

staf

f12

.5%

3

Ther

e ar

e oc

casi

ons

in w

hich

I w

ork

in c

oope

ratio

n w

ith th

e PC

w

ebsi

te s

taff

and

the

prin

t ne

wsr

oom

66.7

%16

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

8.3%

2

Oth

er

0.0%

0

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

16 o

f 27

16. H

ow w

as w

orki

ng w

ith th

e PC

web

site

sta

ff?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

I do

not h

ave

chan

ces

to w

ork

with

th

em4.

2%1

The

wor

k flo

wed

sm

ooth

ly66

.7%

16

Ther

e w

as s

ome

conf

lict

0.

0%0

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

25.0

%6

Oth

er

4.2%

1

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

17 o

f 27

17. H

ow w

as w

orki

ng w

ith th

e pr

int n

ewsr

oom

sta

ff?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

I do

not h

ave

chan

ces

to w

ork

with

th

em16

.7%

4

The

wor

k flo

wed

sm

ooth

ly54

.2%

13

Ther

e w

as s

ome

conf

lict

4.2%

1

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

20.8

%5

Oth

er

4.2%

1

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

18 o

f 27

18. D

o yo

u fe

el th

e pr

int n

ewsp

aper

has

pri

ority

ove

r di

gita

l med

ia?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

The

prin

t new

spap

er d

oes

not h

ave

the

prio

rity

4.2%

1

The

prin

t new

spap

er h

as th

e pr

iorit

y an

d th

is is

a n

atur

al o

ptio

n16

.7%

4

The

prin

t new

spap

er h

as th

e pr

iori

ty b

ut th

at n

eeds

to c

hang

e62

.5%

15

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

8.3%

2

Oth

er

8.3%

2

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

19 o

f 27

19. D

o yo

u fe

el th

e PC

web

site

has

pri

ority

ove

r di

gita

l med

ia?

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

The

PC w

ebsi

te d

oes

not h

ave

the

prio

rity

25.0

%6

The

PC w

ebsi

te h

as th

e pr

iorit

y an

d th

is is

a n

atur

al o

ptio

n8.

3%2

The

PC w

ebsi

te h

as th

e pr

iorit

y bu

t tha

t nee

ds to

cha

nge

33.3

%8

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

25.0

%6

Oth

er

8.3%

2

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

20 o

f 27

20. W

hat d

o yo

u th

ink

the

func

tion

of m

obile

con

tent

for

a ne

wsp

aper

com

pany

has

bee

n so

far?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

)

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Attra

ctin

g ne

w re

ader

ship

s41

.7%

10

Expe

rimen

ting

with

new

form

ats

to d

istr

ibut

e ne

ws

70.8

%17

Show

ing

the

high

light

s of

prin

t ed

ition

of t

he n

ext d

ay4.

2%1

Com

plem

entin

g ar

ticle

s pu

blis

hed

in

the

prin

t edi

tion

4.2%

1

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

16.7

%4

Oth

er

16.7

%4

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

21 o

f 27

21. W

hat d

o yo

u th

ink

the

func

tion

of m

obile

con

tent

for

a ne

wsp

aper

com

pany

sho

uld

be?

(Mul

tiple

ans

wer

s)

R

espo

nse

Perc

ent

Res

pons

e C

ount

Attra

ctin

g ne

w re

ader

s37

.5%

9

Expe

rimen

ting

with

new

form

ats

to d

istr

ibut

e ne

ws

66.7

%16

Show

ing

the

high

light

s of

prin

t ed

ition

of t

he n

ext d

ay8.

3%2

Com

plem

entin

g ar

ticle

s pu

blis

hed

in

the

prin

t edi

tion

12.5

%3

Leav

e in

bla

nk /

I do

not k

now

16.7

%4

Oth

er

16.7

%4

an

swer

ed q

uest

ion

24

sk

ippe

d qu

estio

n0

22 o

f 27

22. H

ow m

uch

do y

ou th

ink

the

follo

win

g po

ints

are

impo

rtan

t in

the

prod

uctio

n of

mob

ile c

onte

nt?

N

ot im

port

ant

Alm

ost n

ot

impo

rtan

tA

littl

e im

port

ant

Impo

rtan

tM

ost i

mpo

rtan

tIt

does

no

appl

y / I

do

not

know

Rat

ing

Aver

age

Res

pons

e C

ount

Imm

edia

cy0.

0% (0

)0.

0% (0

)8.

3% (2

)12

.5%

(3)

66.7

% (1

6)12

.5%

(3)

4.67

24

Accu

racy

0.0%

(0)

0.0%

(0)

12.5

% (3

)29

.2%

(7)

45.8

% (1

1)12

.5%

(3)

4.38

24

Focu

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