iPad generates new opportunities for media industry

Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs unveils the iPad at an official ceremony in January.

In a society where technology seems to be changing at a rate that is equivalent to the blink of an eye, one piece of technology that has caught the attention of the general public is Apple‘s infamous iPad, which was first introduced to the American public last April. Although the device received a lot of criticism from technology critics for being a costly expense and unnecessary device that could be easily supplemented with an iPhone, iPod, or laptop, American consumers have shrugged such assertions and have been on a iPad buying frenzy. In fact, according to a recently released report from JP Morgan Chase, Apple has sold nearly 7.33 million iPads during its first quarter last year and 4.7 million more during its second. What’s more, this increase in sales contributed to Apple’s recently reported quarterly net profit of $5.99 billion last year, marking the first time in two decades that Apple edged out more profits than its fiercest competitor, Macintosh.

Although many occupational fields have reaped the benefits of this new technology, journalism experts in particular see a promising future for the device that may help the struggling field reinvent itself during a time when print circulation profits are gradually decreasing and online hits are adversely increasing. The New York Times alone reported a 15 percent increase in digital advertisement sales last year, but a $4.3 million net loss in revenue due to declining print advertisement sales and an overall decrease in circulation. Moreover, a gradual movement into mobile media is further strengthened by studies that support the fact that consumers are increasingly turning to mobile media to get their news rather than relying on According to a study conducted by mobile application developer TigerSpike, whose clients include the The Telegraph, The Economist, The Australian, and Mail Online, the average engagement time that a person spends on mobile applications is 30 to 34 minutes, which is five times the average for publications throughout the world.

As a result of this high amount of mobile engagement among readers, many steps are being taken by publications to increase their presence online through the creation of mobile applications that would allow users to the access the same news Found online and in print on their smartphones, such as the one used by The New York Times. In addition, media entrepreneurs are also taking on more ambitious projects, such as the one that is currently being undertaken by the Northern Territory Mobile Journalists Project and the Australian government in which journalism professionals teach young Aboriginal students video journalism skills that they later use to make their own videos of every day life in remote tribal villages on special-tailored iPhones. These videos are then uploaded to Australian government website that is accessible for anyone to view who may be interested in an anthropological documentation of Aboriginal life.

Aboriginal video journalists (above) use specially tailored iPhones to document daily life activities in their villages. These videos are then uploaded to the Australian government website for the public to view.

Another ambitious project that is currently being undertaken by media mogul Rupert Murdock and Apple is the creation of The Daily, a news publication that is specially tailored for the iPad. However, some analysts suggest that interest in the five-month old mobile application may be dwindling due to a declining readership that has been reflected in how often people link stories to their social media accounts. Although the publication has been mum about its subscription rates, an analysis of PostRank data — a company that tracks how often content is shared through social networking websites — by Nieman Lab‘s Joshua Benton revealed that people were posting items from The Daily on their social media accounts gradually less over time, which may hint that interest for this relatively novel concept may be stagnating.

So, in a certain sense, does this gradual shift from print-based media to online media ultimately signify the death of the printed word, which has previously been the primary way in which readers received their news? According to University of Oregon adjunct journalism professor Ed Madison, the answer is: maybe not. Madison explained that the online component serves as a marriage between the two seemingly different worlds, since the printed word can oftentimes supplement videos or other types of multimedia pieces that can be found online. As the popularity of online media continues to increase among readers and news publications alike, Madison predicts that a large amount of printed material will be migrated online for the public to view.

Whether or not this is the foreseeable future of journalism is still not yet certain, but what is certain is that we, as journalists, need to begin to learn how to use these types of technologies in a rapidly changing world that is moving closer and closer to a digital one.

Online journalism at the crossroads of progress

At a time in the history of journalism, when print publications are sporadically closing, consolidating, cutting back its budgets, or laying off workers, there is perhaps a glimmer of hope in online journalism — the very medium that seeks to undermine the traditional structure of journalism.

For the second year in a row, ProPublica — an independent, non-profit online news organization that was founded in 2008 — has won its second Pulitzer Prize in a row for its investigation of Wall Street bankers who first delayed but then worsened the financial crisis in order to enrich themselves at the expense of their clients and sometimes even their own firms. The prize, which was awarded in the national affairs reporting category, marked a significant milestone for online news organizations that have been struggling to gain a sense of reliability and accountability in an area of journalism that is still in its infancy.

“This was the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to an online news organization,” Paul Steiger, ProPublica’s editor-in-chief, CEO and president, said in an article shortly after the award winners were announced. “This year’s Prize is the first for a group of stories not published in print.”

ProPublica's editor-in-chief Paul Steiger (center) raises a glass to toast the publication’s first Pulitzer Prize. ProPublica is one of the success stories in attempts revive journalism in the digital world. Photo courtesy of Dan Nguyen (ProPublica).

Although ProPublica had previously won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for Sheri Fink’s investigation into the misconduct of well-regarded health professionals at New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the project was done as a collaborative effort between The New York Times Magazine and ProPublica. However, this past year’s award signifies the first time in which an on-line news organization is given sole credit for its work. However, as Steiger mentioned in his article, the work was bolstered by the organization’s partnership with National Public Radio’s “Planet Money” with Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg and “This American Life” hosted by Ira Glass. Thus, these awards to do not only show the professional reputation of on-line based organizations is gradually growing but also accentuates the ability of on-line based reporting to provide in-depth reporting across different types of media platforms in an effort to promote the work of another publication.

Despite the fact that online-based journalism is a rather new development, the number of reputable online-based news organizations has been growing steadily over the several years. According to the Neiman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, nearly 100 of the 1,097 Pulitzer Prize entries that were submitted this past year came from 60 different online-only news organizations. This is a considerable amount of growth from 2009 — the first year that online entries were considered — when only 37 online-only organizations submitted 65 entries. Part of the reason for this move largely stems from the fact that many mainstream print news organizations are unable to support long-term investigative projects that can require months, if not years, of dedicated attention and research. As a result, the aim of many non-profit on-line news organizations is to provide the type of investigative reporting that is often unsustainable in journalism’s current financial model. Without such websites such as ProPublica, I believe that the commodification of journalism would quell, if not eradicate, the type of “muckraking” investigative reporting that the profession has been heralded for.