Spiegel and Its Online Mission
It is impossible now to argue that the internet is not taking over the world by means of penetrating the very fundamental institutions of human society, and the press is not exempted. Spiegel Online is a good example of how a traditional press organization is coming to terms with the Net, [...]
Spiegel and Its Online Mission
It is impossible now to argue that the internet is not taking over the world by means of penetrating the very fundamental institutions of human society, and the press is not exempted. Spiegel Online is a good example of how a traditional press organization is coming to terms with the Net, i.e. an established print magazine extending to online, and interactive, news. But a more interesting question is whether the move signals the end of traditional news provision.
It is interesting to see that about half of Spiegel Online’s audience comes from the U.S., while only a quarter comes from its country of origin – German. The site is claimed to attract considerable advertising money. News production for the site involves a crew of reporters and editors quite independent of that of its print production. Will these prove the decline of news provision in print magazine in years to come?
Research on the changing readership of traditional print information with the arrival of online news provision has be far from definite, with results pointing towards both the decline and rise of print readership. Futurists are pleased with the decline signal, and not too upset about the opposite signal. It can be claimed that the traditional print readership, most of which old or middle-aged middle-class, needs time to grasp the internet.
But the absence of advertising on the Spiegel Online International arouses some thinking for me. Such ad absence from BBC Online as a public broadcaster is easily understandable. But for Spiegel Online International, it points toward different argument. The site is after all a brand enhancement and audience loyalty technique by Spiegel. As admitted by one of its editors, its online readers in the US have some connection to Germany, and the online edition staff is far smaller than that of the print edition. Spiegel is still largely dependent on profit from its print edition, while the online edition works to keep the readers connected to Spiegel, who may or may get to the print edition but for sure know the quality and nature of Spiegel – knowledge that of course works for brand enhancement and audience loyalty.
Many journalists are happy, probably for the first and only time, with Rupert Murdoch’s proposition that third-party sites and readers should directly pay news sites, rather than being exploited by advertisers (i.e. selling news not eyeballs). But even Spiegel Online editor is not sure if that will work out. For the time being, advertisers’ money – especially for the print edition – is good enough.
Experiencing the Internet and Online News
When I first used the Internet in the first semester of my freshman year exactly a decade ago, the Internet was no more than another frustrating library. The first web site I used was www.altavista.com, and it was for my first university assignment on Sri Lanka. The school library, for its small collection and extremely limited opening hours, was a disappointment as an information source. The Internet did not fare any better. A lot of the sites popping up in the search results were for tourist information and not much time was left on the clock before the Internet café had to close as most businesses did early in the evening.
But today, the internet is a completely different tool – or world. I can indulge it (or in it) losing the sense of time and (physical) space, for it is capable of taking you on a journey across enormous amount of information knowing no time limit and geographical boundaries. This is how I usually get lost in the information cyberspace. But oftentimes, going directly to www.bbcnews.com, www.skysports.com, or www.phnompenhpost.com (or www.spiegel.de only if I had some connection to Germany), apparently guarantees that I am not going to get lost in the cyber information world. At the end of the day, I still prefer the brands and to be loyal to them, and maybe get a print copy of them to read without investing in the internet and its associated monetary and non-monetary costs.
Information Authority
Starting a written piece in an academic context has always been simple, albeit quite difficult, for me. It is almost always about starting right away with an argument, one that constitutes my claim, followed by a painstaking task of making sure the syntax, reasoning and cross-referencing work in an “objective” mode. The hard work pays off in the sense of establishing some authority over the claim and information by confirming ‘objectivity’ for which the readers buy the argument. But this whole scenario, as I have just been told, may be too boring for blog readers.
So I just left behind the information authority issue and enjoyed the luxury of subjectivity. But what is it about Spiegel Online that may be interesting so as to strip myself of the objective look and gain the attention of the public – not academics? I am not sure, but I just tried.