News - A Free Press

A free press is one of the foundations on which our democracy is built and it must be preserved.



https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/06/decline-of-local-journalism-threatens-democracy-says-may

Five things we learn about the news industry from this story (BuzzFeed style news)

1.The government is concerned that Google and Facebook getting too much of the money from news content – depriving the people who produce the content of revenue.

 
2.This could push too many news organization out of business leading to fewer trustworthy news sources. 

3.This is fueling a rise in ‘click bait’ content and untrustworthy, fake news 

4.A free and varied press is vital to democracy – anything which threatens the news industry, threatens democracy.

5.Digital advertising is vital and the review will look at the supply chain to see if state intervention is needed to make sure the people who produce the content get a fair share of the revenue.

Three questions this raises about the news industry

1.How can news organizations monetise their content? 

2.Could paywalls be an answer to this problem?

3.Have fake news scandals been a good thing for traditional producers by driving audiences to trusted news sources?


Two reasons this story is significant

1.It emphasizes how important the news industry is to democracy. 

2.It shows how much of a problem news organizations face trying to make money out of their content in an internet era.

One headline which sums up what this means for the UK news industry.

A threat to the news industry is a threat to democracy: May launches review into how to stop Google gobbling the profits and save the news paper industry.



Decide which of the six frameworks the story relates to

1.Audience 
2.Representation
3.Media Language and Genre
4.Audiences and Institutions
5.Regulation
6.Social and political context