By KYLA SMITH
The UNITY News

News delivery has changed dramatically in the past decade. Readers want up-to-the-second headlines, updates and photos. They want streaming video and audio from all around the globe — and they want it now.

In an age where newspapers are reshaping coverage to accommodate Internet users, many wonder what effect such a heightened demand for immediacy and convergence will have on traditional newspapers.

“I used to subscribe to The Detroit Free Press,” said LaKeisha Dickinson, 24, a medical student at Wayne State University. “But it’s more economical and environmentally friendly to look at news online, plus I can look at more than one news site online.”

More independent and alternative newspapers are going online, too. The Chi-town Daily News, an online-only publication started in 2005, is written by and for Chicago residents. Founding editor Geoff Dougherty said the site runs stories that traditional newspapers wouldn’t normally report.

“It’s clear that newspapers are moving online,” said Dougherty, who left the Chicago Tribune to start the Daily News. “With new business models and most online dailies being nonprofit now, a lot of problems newspapers faced financially are not as big an issue now [for online publications].”

Convergence has shrunk the industry, leaving fewer jobs in the newspaper business.

“I don’t think newspapers will fully become extinct, but I do believe, eventually, they will more likely become a specialty item in the future,” said Alicia Nails, director of the Journalism Institute of Media Diversity at Wayne State University.

Some believe it has opened doors for more diversity in coverage.

“The media faces two challenges: technology and diversity. Diverse staffing is the key to diverse audiences,” said Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press. “Digital media doesn’t have any biases to entry so people of color are able to unlock these doors and start their own media Web sites,” he said.

But Richard Karpel, executive director of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, said ownership of alternative publications still reflects the mainstream.

“There has been an increase in alternative newspapers since the late ’80s and early ’90s, but I see no difference with journalists of color having their own publications online,” Karpel said. 

“If we teach citizens how to immediately post their thoughts and ideas journalistically, it can be positive,” said Grimm, who cited efforts by the Free Press’ parent company, Gannett, to increase participation from readers in the news process.

“The upside to alternative news is that there is more diversity in the newsroom. Previously, in some towns, there was only one news media outlet, which only focused on one kind of opinion,” Dougherty said. In a recent blog post, Dougherty mentioned that more than half of the candidates for an associate editor position at Chi-Town Daily News were journalists of color.

“This stunned me, but I suppose it makes sense,” he said. “Given our business model and the massive network of citizen journalists that we’re building, it’s clear that we’re a different kind of news organization that’s open to new stories and new voices.”

topic: Industry Issues
tags: convergence, new media

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