數位新聞將重振新聞產業？
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/4/11
2014-04-01 Web
only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/stereogab |
皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Centre）提出的新報告指出，約三分之一的美國人現在會在網路上觀看新聞影片，與看有線電視新聞的人數相當；而在18～29歲的族群中，約半數會在網路上看新聞。
過去幾年，皮尤的「新聞媒體現況」報告一直相當陰鬱，但今年似乎變得較為樂觀，將眼光放上近期大量出現的數位新聞服務。皮尤指出，468間數位新聞公司創造約5,000個全職工作。許多線上新聞公司也從大型媒體挖來知名記者，並朝著世界各地拓展觸角。
數位新聞公司過去大多只是重新編排傳統報紙的報導，現在則開始放上更多原創文章。去年，Business
Insider放上了雅虎執行長梅爾（Marissa Mayer）的專題報導，總計23,000字，有如中篇小說。BuzzFeed現已擁有約170名全職員工，更請來普立茲獎得主舒福斯（Mark Schoofs）帶領新成立的調查團隊。
低成本解釋了為何會出現這麼多數位新聞公司。分析師達克特（Ken Doctor）表示，創立「可信」的數位新聞服務，成本最低只要500萬美元。金融家和慈善家也開始投資新聞，為坐困愁城的新聞產業注入希望。
新聞報導亦變得更具參與性。皮尤發現，約半數社群媒體使用者會分享新聞文章或影片，也會加上自己的評論；約7％美國成人曾在社群網路上張貼自己的新聞影片，或是將影片傳至新聞網站。
不過，縱有這些好消息，新聞編輯室的人力仍舊在減少。許多地方報紙關閉，導致地方新聞報導減少，但數位媒體公司崛起無法有效增加地方新聞。數位新聞公司的長篇報導和調查新聞，或許可以吸引注意力，但也不太可能彌補因預算大減再也無法推行的傳統媒體報導計畫。
Facebook使用者或許會讀新聞，但如果是從Facebook連往新聞網站，他們每月平均只在每個新聞網站停留約1分半鐘，約為直接連往新聞網站的使用者的。數位影片或許在成長，但其廣告收益仍舊只佔數位廣告營收約10％，而且觀看人數成長已開始減緩。就連電視新聞也不好過；2013年，3大有線電視新聞的黃金時段觀眾總計減少約11％。動能或許已移往網路，但重力還是在將所有人向下拉。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
Journalism in America
Digital
resurrection
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: April 01, 2014
Mar 29th 2014 |
From the print edition
Some moderately
good news in the news industry.
IN FEBRUARY Vice,
a media firm that caters to youngsters who like their news with a dollop of
sass and hip-hop, toured the opulent residence of the ousted president of
Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and posted the video online. "It looks like a
weird dictatorship theme park," the sardonic reporter told the camera. A
new report by the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, finds that a third of
Americans now watch news videos online, about as many as say they watch news on
cable television. Among those aged 18-29, around half do.
In years past
Pew's "State of the News Media" reports have been sombre, chronicling
the evisceration of jobs and the gutting of news budgets. This year, however,
Pew sounded more optimistic, pointing to the slew of digital-news services,
such as Vice's online news channel, that have sprung up recently. Around 5,000
full-time jobs have been created at 468 digital-news firms, according to Pew.
Many online-news firms have hired high-profile journalists away from big
publications, such as the New York Times and Washington Post, and are launching
bureaus around the world (although not nearly as many as have been shuttered by
newspapers).
Digital news firms
used to do little besides rehashing traditional newspapers' stories. Now they
are starting to feature more original articles. Last year Business Insider, a
business-news site, ran a profile of Marissa Mayer, the boss of Yahoo. At
23,000 words, it was as long as a novella. "Online you can afford to do
that. In a magazine you'd go broke," says Henry Blodget, the boss of
Business Insider. BuzzFeed, which used to be known for casting out "click
bait" online, now claims around 170 full-time staff, including a
Pulitzer-prize winner, Mark Schoofs, who has been hired to run a new
investigative team.
Lower costs
explain why so many digital news firms, like Silicon Valley start-ups, are
launching today. Ken Doctor, a newspaper analyst, reckons it costs as little as
$5m to start a "credible" digital news offering. Financiers and
philanthropists are investing in news: eBay founder Pierre Omidyar put $250m
into a new non-profit, First Look Media. All this has injected hope into a
beleaguered industry. Last month Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist,
predicted that journalism may "be entering into a new golden age" and
that the news industry would grow ten- or a hundredfold.
Journalism is at
least becoming more participatory. Pew finds that around half of social-media
users share news articles or videos, and comment on them. Around 7% of American
adults have posted their own news video to a social network, or submitted one
to an established news site. Interactive features are doing particularly well.
Last year the New York Times's most popular "article" was a quiz in
which people could test whether they spoke more like a Los Angeleno or a
Louisianan.
Some positive news
is welcome, but newsrooms continue to bleed jobs. The rise of digital-media
firms has done little to restore local news coverage, which has suffered with
the closure of many local papers. Digital-news firms' long-form narratives and
investigative journalism may grab attention, but they are unlikely to
compensate for projects that will never take place again in old newsrooms
because of budgetary woes.
Facebook users may
be reading news, but they spend on average only a minute and a half on a news
site each month if they come from Facebook, about a third of the time that
visitors spend if they go to a newspaper's site directly. And digital video may
be growing, but its advertising only accounts for around 10% of all digital ad
revenues, and viewing growth has slowed. Even television news is not having an
easy time. In 2013 the three big cable news channels—CNN, Fox and MSNBC—lost
around 11% of their combined audience during prime-time. The news industry
today resembles Newton's third law of motion, says Amy Mitchell, Pew's director
of journalism research: for every action, there is an equally strong reaction.
The momentum might have shifted online, but gravity is still pulling everyone
down to earth.
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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