Online Journalism

After somewhat of a shoddy research and largely based on my experience on the ‘World Wide Web’ I have come to a conclusion that the so called transition of journalism from newspapers to online is a myth. Simply put, this can be best explained through the arch rival of internet – Television.

As a child you are glued to cartoon network, when you transit into your teens, music channels such as MTV and Channel V take precedence, and finally you are hooked on to news, sports channel, discovery, religious and cookery channel or whatever your taste is. But staple channels such as Star, FOX and CBS…continue to be a part of your TV guide.

Exactly it is with the newspaper. The basic premise of my hypothesis is that today people log on to read about their interests or look for specific information. Example: How a particular company/ share doing or whether that cute Vampire movie couple are back together or not.

In the process the particular website or content aggregator may lure his audience to something else which may or may not be of his interest but overall a good read. Like a title “How to pleasure your partner,” will attract more hits than “OPEC Nations to decide on oil quantity.”

The moot point is that a reader/audience will always want a newspaper unless there has been a total transition online, which at least in India will take another half a century.

I am presenting a few case examples and hoping that the so called editors or media moghuls who think that online is the future may take a stand which may change journalism for the betterment. In my opinion (which perhaps does not matter at all) one should look at changing the strategy either for internet (Future Strategy) or for Newspaper ( Current Strategy)...

CASE 1

TIMES OF INDIA ---

Check out Story NO 3 on “Erection” and “Hospital Mall” they both are aggregator’s great idea popping somewhere underneath a story like NO 1, 4, or even Salman-Karan Johar stoy….

  

This is TIMES OF INDIA, India’s largest selling English daily and people want to read on its website, how to get a stronger erection or they want to know that what makes a loser like Fardeen Khan, whose movie career has bombed and was a drug addict “Feels like a dream.”

So if we go by the logic of what reader wants then should not be Times of India banner screaming ---- 6 WAYS TO GET A STRONGER ERECTION

 CASE 2 --- THE ECONOMIC TIMES

On the website of financial paper, The Economic Times, the top 5 read stories were:

Now understandably on any given day on any medium, newspaper or online people will like to know about Vikram Pandit given the circumstances under which he had to resign. But what about Story No 2 on ‘Eight bad financial habits..” and Story No 5 on “Honda diesel variants.” This clearly indicates that what sells on online is PERSONAL FINANCE stories or SOFT STORIES…

Because the day when Vikram Pandit still remains top read it had been more than 48 hours since RBI has come out with no change in its monetary policy and there was a reported tiff between RBI and Finance Minister.

MY POINT IS: An ONLINE reader does not want to know that. He had his share of entertainment through STAR, FOX or CBS (as explained above). He needs content which either he is looking for…

“What the fuck happened to Pandit?” or the aggregator lured him like “ Eight bad financial habits.”

CASE 3  -- FIRST POST

This is from FIRST POST, another emerging wholesome website….

At a time when there has been a cabinet reshuffle. There is a storm in USA. The Most popular stories on this website are purely semi-editorial stories. My favourite pick is “Bollywood’s problem with South Indian hereoes,”

CASE 4 -- MONEYCONTROL

To prove my case that the online reader is looking for specific info is the kind of TOP READS on financial website MONEYCONTROL

On Moneycontrol the audience is looking for specific info and hence best explained if you look at the kind of stories and my favourite is “How Hurricane Sandy will affect investors,”

-----

Thus I end my hypothesis with the argument that people want to read soft stories or whacky stories on the internet. They may go to specific websites to look for information that they have heard of and want to know more about. An online audience is typically looking for views or new information or very very specific information. Websites need to take that into consideration....

For those who believe that online is future should start adapting to this trend so as to get more eyeballs on their website. And those who believe that some journalism is still left in papers should drive their reporters to do better stories.

And the rest of all garbage can always be your MOST READ STORY if you only know how to place it….  

Guinness and Me...

After a few Guinness, Ireland becomes more appealing. The recession may have hit the country so hard but the bars are always full of people. An optimistic lot on counts of both their favorite Guinness and Hope...

So, it was almost poetic when the Emirates first direct flight from Dubai to Ireland,landed at the Dublin Airport and Irish tourism and transport minister,Leo Varadkar promptly noted ; “It is a good news story when it is hard to get good news in Ireland.”

For a country in recession, good news and bad seems twinned like the weather -- sunshine with intermittent rains.

“It was the banks. I used to get calls at midnight for zero interest loans. If not for Guinness (the iconic Irish beer), I too would have given in,” reminisces Tom about how it all began.

Tom, organises tours for the famous St. Michan’s Church in Dublin and has seen a drop in the number of visitors in the last two years.

He recalls, how some of his close friends bought a villa somewhere in Poland just over drinks for it looked that the banks with their schemes do not want their money back, ever.

“A year later my friends had to sell their property near Wicklow (a county near Dublin) to meet ends. The Polish dream is long gone,” he says ruefully.

The property price in Ireland has fell down by almost 45% since the peak of 2007 and the signs of revival are yet to reveal.

“But you should rub his ring finger,” he says pointing to a mummy at the Church. “He may bring you luck, he was a knight. God knows we need people from India to visit,” he says.

If Tom is selling both history and luck, the Irish government is hopeful of attracting both visitors and investors.

Next day it was cloudy and good news in Ireland is also short lived. All Irish papers had reported that the number of overseas trips to Ireland fell by 4.1% between September and November 2011.

In the middle of the town, in front of the Central Bank of Ireland, there is a group of protesters demanding that everyone including the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) should stay out of Irish affairs.

Ireland was one of the first to respond to the Lehman Brothers col-lapse, guaranteeing Euro 440 bn of liabilities at six Irish-owned insti-tutions and a foreign-owned bank.

Known as the “Occupy Dame Street” movement, these protesters hold German Banks responsible for the Irish financial crisis. “Our Celtic Ti-ger was poached by the Germans,” says Wesley Arder, one of the protesters and B-school student.

“Now we are paying them because they have successfully poached us,” he adds. A theory which has found many a believers in almost all pubs of Dublin.

“It is true,” says Tony, who works for one of the leading Irish Banks. “There was way too much cheap capital flowing from Germany, which created a real estate bubble in the Irish economy,” he says. But Tony is unsure if there is any other way out. “The economy is stabilising. Even Twitter (micro blogging website) will set up its office here,” said Vincent who works at airport. DAA is hopeful that they will see more traffic as a lot of tourists will spill over from the London Olym-pics this year.

But some Irishmen opine that counting on the Olympics may not be the idea of the moment, as there is general agreement among Dubliners that the present day economic ruins of the Greek economy lie in more than a dozen and now vacant Olympic venues built for the 2004 Olympics.

“I am scared for Londoners. I hope the UK does not nosedive,” says a sarcastic Kevin, who works at a bar in the famous Temple Bar Street, but his colleague, Patricia Murray is more hopeful, “I am counting on the Chinese and Yankees. Chinese specially because they are going to be number one this time in the medal tally. They should come here,” she says.

Patricia is not way off the mark, the Chinese Olympic team topped the gold medal tally in Beijing and reports in the British media indi-cate the UK is also counting on hordes of Chinese to arrive.

Ireland, a country which had celebrated authors such as James Joyce, is also hopeful to sell itself to brand itself as the new education hub. Attracting Indian students is high on every country’s agenda. And the Irish too are in the fray. "We may be a country in recession but there are jobs for skilled workers. Students studying here stand a good chance," said Lucey, an international education manger.

The next day, Irish papers were full of reports about 1,000 jobs lost in a day. The Irish are definitely trying hard to sell, the problem is that the slowdown is a global phenomena.