Social Expectations of Mass Media: Cultural Impact of Print Media Trends

Newspapers and magazines have faced challenges in a digital age
Image credit: Susan Lesch (CC BY-SA 3.0)

New technologies do not merely influence culture through their own benefits and drawbacks but also through the ways in which they shape existing technologies. Mobile and Web 2.0 communications media have had this kind of transformative impact on so-called "traditional" print media like books, magazines, and newspapers—as Wikström and Ellonen (2012) explain, "Today, print media firms find themselves in a radically different business environment where long-term survival is difficult without continuous and aggressive innovation" (p. 64). Many new outlets have adopted web sites, social media platforms, and mobile applications to supplement their print media in light of the ways in which "Internet technologies [... have] rapidly increase[d] the importance of their online services" (p. 63). Print media have both changed as a result of social pressures and helped shape cultural changes themselves. While many positive innovations have arisen from traditional media organizations' reaction to digital culture, print-based publishers face many challenges as they adapt to shifting consumer demands.

News publications lose subscribers but gain online readership
Source: NewsGroup4.com, via OpusFidelis.com

CHANGING EXPECTATIONS

Digital consumers expect 24/7 access to information through a variety of electronic devices, and print publications are struggling to adapt to these new consumer demands. Some revered print publications, including the stalwart Newsweek, have moved to entirely digital formats ("Digital Media," 2012, para. 5), while others have stepped up their online presence. As this NewsGroup4.com infographic shows, the Washington Post lost 3.2% of its Sunday circulation in 2011 but boasted 9.5 million unique visitors to its web version, illustrating how print-based organizations can offset lost print readership by embracing web and mobile channels. An OPUSfidelis article (2012) advocates not merely supplementing print media with on online presence but actually reversing the model altogether, arguing that "A 'digital first' approach is rapidly becoming the only approach for most firms to continue doing business" ("Digital Media," para. 1). Citizens in this digital society still respect the authority of traditional publications—they just prefer to consume that news in digital format.

WEB AND LEGACY MEDIA CROSS-INFLUENCE 

As readers grow accustomed to online formats, some magazines and newspapers have adopted layout designs influenced by web trends, with bolder typefaces, increased reliance on visuals, and infographic-style illustrations. Hodgkin (2014) writes that "The magazine industry has been a textbook case of this disruptive innovation in the way that the established industry leaders have reacted to the opportunity presented by mobile devices and tablet technology" (par. 6), with digital editions designed to exploit touchscreen capabilities, search functions, and social sharing and print versions often mimicking the look and feel of their electronic counterparts. In a surprising twist, however, some digital outlets are reverting to a more traditional aesthetic: “the new Bloomberg site actually feels more like its print magazine counterpart than a typical web site [….] The text overlay happening with the coverlines is a cue taken from magazine covers and page layouts” (Rhodes, 2015, para. 5). Consumer culture is thus torn between competing impulses: while readers demand greater accessibility, novel design, and convenience, they also long for the stability and comfort of traditional outlets. A Bloomberg Business "Debate Room" feature considers whether "The Print Media Are Doomed," but digital and print versions of the same publications have so far been able to coexist, despite the inroads web and mobile publishing has made in traditional paper-based sales.

Print media's influence can't be discounted
_______________
References

"Digital media is beginning to eclipse traditional media." (2012, October 18). OPUSfidelis. Retrieved from http://opusfidelis.com/insights/ digital_media_is_beginning_to_eclipse_traditional_media/

Jarvis, J., and Tolles, C. (2008, December). The print media are doomed. Bloomberg Business. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/12/the_print_media_are_doomed.html

Rhodes, M. (2015, February 2). Haters to the side: Bloomberg’s loud redesign heralds the future of web news. Wired. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2015/02/haters-side-bloombergs-loud-redesign-touts-future-web-news/?mbid=social_gplus#slide-id-1718979

Wikström, P., & Ellonen, H. (2012). The impact of social media features on print media firms' online business models. Journal of Media Business Studies 9(3), 63-80.