Australian newspaper sales have continued their decline as readers move to digital platforms, a report says. Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) data showed Monday to Saturday newspaper sales fell by 3.5 per cent in the three months to September 30, compared with same period last year. The Newspaper Works, a non-profit body set up to promote the industry, said the decline was less than the 4.2 per cent fall the previous quarter and came in "testing retail conditions and shifting consumer confidence". "The ABC printed newspaper figures only tell part of the story because smartphone and tablet newspaper apps are not yet measured," The Newspaper Works chief executive Tony Hale said in a statement. "There's no doubt that newspaper audiences are expanding and newspaper content is being delivered how, when and where consumers want it, and it's working." Mr Hale noted that during the three-month audit period, Fairfax had released figures showing more than 200,000 apps had been downloaded for its The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers. The Newspaper Works said the Audit Bureau of Circulations was working on new rules to calculate both print and digital sales.
Although some people believe that printing will never die, the statistics are there to prove that people move from the printed information and entertainment to a digital form of communication. Thus, it is quite normal to assist to a decrease in the newspaper circulation. Actually, i made some research about the subject and here are my findings:
According to the 2008-09 MPHS, 72% of Australian households had home internet access and 78% of households had access to a computer. Between 1998 to 2008-09, household access to the internet at home has more than quadrupled from 16% to 72%, while access to computers has increased from 44% to 78%.
So, even though smartphones and tables applications are not yet measured they do play an important role in the newspaper circulation variation.
Heba
RépondreSupprimerHow do you think this phenomenon influences the societies in which we are living? How do you think countries such as Morocco can further develop their media systems and further influence societal changes, where printed press has much less readership than in the developed countries?
First, I think that this phenomenon can have a negative impact on the societies we are living in since it influences people.Better technology can reduce need for skilled labor; New technology can be very expensive (in the short run)to purchase and learn. If employees are very knowledgeable in current technology and not open to change, this could result in high training costs or hiring new employees who are open to learning new things; moving to computerized and networking technology opens up the doors to hackers - firewalls and security measures are not always fool-proof. Also, young people could easily become addict to new video-games (Play Station, XBox...) and pass everyday playing instead of going out to the park for instance.
RépondreSupprimerOn the other hand, technology has positive effects such as:
- technology can offer larger amounts of higher quality output at reduced costs to a firm in the long run.
- technology can improve customer information management; your relationships can be strengthened, and you can monitor customer behavior more accurately.
- it helps in accomplishing everyday tasks and responsibilities (new options in tables)
Second, even though the government of Morocco owns many key media outlets, including Moroccan radio and television, I think that developing countries such as Morocco are not very efficient when it comes to developing media systems because they believe that the money can be spent in other field that they consider more important. so, the problem comes from the culture of the country that does not consider media as important as it is.
Some still consider that blogging and online reporting are the work of teenagers. There are also those who are convinced that blogging and online journalism are passing phenomena that will burst like a bubble. I view this as a lack of culture and knowledge from officials who are having trouble keeping up with all that is happening in the world of technology.
Training programs should be proposed as a matter of urgency. Officials on the highest level of government do not even have e-mail accounts and some do not know how to use a computer or when they know they are mostly incapable of dealing with the online world. It is question of culture and habits. Technology should be inculcated in the formation of each individual and in public high schools.