NDM: Audience and Institution - how news consumption has changed

1) What are the key statistics relating to the influence of new and digital media?

News Consumption

• The majority of adults in the UK (95%) say they follow the news
• Television is by far the most-used platform for news with 75% of adults consuming
• Increase in internet or apps consumption for news, with over four in ten (41%) - dominantly 16-34 age group
• Almost half (45%) of 16-24's say their most important news source is a website/app

TV News Consumption

• BARB figures show that each adult watched an average of 115 hours of national and international news on TV (2013)
• Majority of this (64%) was on BBC One or BBC Two and a further 12% on the BBC News channel
• 16-24 year olds consumed only 27 hours of news on television
• 196 hours for those aged 55 and over

Attitudes towards different types of news

• When asked which topics they considered to be news, UK adults nominated crime (53%), worldwide current affairs (53%), UK-wide current affairs (51%) and UK-wide politics (49%)
• UK politics and current affairs, and worldwide current affairs,are seen to have societal importance by half (49%) of UK adults, crime by 48% and weather by 45%
• Younger and older age groups find different news topics personally interesting
• The 16-24's, specific news categories such as crime, sports, technology and science/environment fall into the top ten topics
• The over-55's are more likely to nominate, general world news and UK and regional current affairs

Reasons to follow the news

• Three in five (58%) UK adults say they follow the news to find out “what’s going on in the world”
• Next most-cited reason is to know “what’s going on across the UK” (56%)
• “What’s going on in my local area” (49%)
• “What’s going on in respective nations” (46%)
• “Because I feel it’s important to keep informed about certain issues” (42%).

2) Come up with an example of an institution that has benefited from the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. Explain how new technology has helped the institution and try to find statistics or financial figures that support your point.

The Guardian

The Guardian is a British national daily newspaper founded in 1821 and is accessible in both print and in recent years on-line, too. In August 2013, 'The Guardian' in paper, formed an average daily circulation of 189,000 copies and the newspaper's online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world as of October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. In the UK, it's combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million readers.

• The Guardian publishes online, with free access both to current news and an archive of three million stories. 
• The website offers G24 which is a free printable A4 format PDF 24-hour newspaper containing the top stories and a monthly subscription of the complete newspaper in PDF format.
• As of May 2013, it was the most popular UK newspaper website with 8.2m visitors per month, ahead of the Mail Online.
• The 'Comment is Free' section features columns by the paper's journalist and regular commentators as wellas articles from guest writers, with readers comments and responses below.
• Censorship is exercised by Moderators who can ban posts with no right of appeal, by those who they feel have overstepped the mark.
• The paper has also launched a dating website 'Soulmates', and is experimenting with new media, having previously offered a free twelve part weekly podcast series by Ricky Gervais - In January 2006 Gervais' show topped the iTunes podcast chart having been dowloaded by two million listeners world.

3) Find an example of an institution that has suffered as a result of the changes new and digital media has brought to the news industry. In what way has it had a negative impact? Again, try and find actual statistics or financial figures to explain your point.

 'Ealing Times' is a prime example as to a newspaper that has suffered as a result to changes in new and digital media, as they do not have an application for smart phones, which is the easiest way for individuals to consume information. However, the have kept up to date with the new technological developments through their website. In particular, a niche audience would directly go to the shops to buy the newspaper as the majority won't be interested. Thereby, the institution isn't getting high revenues that will ultimately help increase the quality of the journalism.