Build The Wall analysis

1) Read the article in full.

2) Create a blogpost on your MEST3 Exam Blog called 'Build The Wall analysis'. 

3) Summarise each section in one sentence:
Section 1 - It's an issue (and seems quite pushy) to suddenly demand to be paid after audiences have been freely available to read content online at no cost)
Section 2 - Since there is existing free content available online, the paid subscriptions corporations would struggle to produce unique content that does not replicate the free content
Section 3 - This ability to start a paid subscription service would enable news corporations to earner a much higher revenue (and possibly profit, as well) than they are currently receiving from the minimal advertisement revenue that they are currently sustained by.
Section 4 - It is a late change to be made by the industry as a whole but it is still possible to generate revenue' using this method.

4) Summarise David Simon’s overall argument in 250 words.
David Simon argues that news industries should use a paid subscription method in order to generate revenue directly from consumers as opposed to relying on the minimal amount of advertisement revenue available. This would allow audiences to view exclusive content which is available at any time to those who pay their subscription fee. Therefore, this would ensure that the newspaper industry could possibly thrive, generating enough revenue to cater for their competition and allow their firms to remain somewhat successful in order to prevent further revenue decline from the print news industry.
The reason this is an important issue to tackle is that it was a factor which played in making journalists redundant which means that the newspaper firms would also be at a loss due to the backlash of this decision (having poor quality articles available for their audiences to read. He also highlights the important point that the news industry is far too late in introducing this method, since it has been around 15 years since the internet was accessible to everyone which a lot of institutions and business manage to adapt to well in comparison to how poorly the news industry dealt with the new media form. This left the newspaper industry behind as online websites offered news content for free which was a better deal for consumers than the prices which they'd have to have paid had they have went to buy a print edition. He also makes the point that in order for this paid subscription service to be successful, every institution would need to put it into place otherwise there would still be access to free content available which thus defeats the objective in the first place.

5) Read this Guardian comment by AC Grayling piece on the state of journalism that was published the year before David Simon's essay. What references to new and digital media can you find in AC Grayling's argument? Overall, do you feel the comment piece is positive or negative about the influence of new/digital media on the newspaper industry?

AC Grayling's piece on the state of journalism refers to the impact that citizen journalism is having on the news industry, as highlighted through the phenomena of blogging and interactivity it has created to the comment threads that accompany articles. Grayling discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the influence of new/digital media on the newspaper industry, such as users having the chance to express their opinions and debate as well as the ability to make the world "porous to information". Despite the negatives such as the "volume of rubbish" online and the weaker presence the media has over some parts of the world such as the US, the article gives an overall message that we just have to accept the changes that new and digital media has brought us.


6) Finally, what is your own opinion? Do you agree that newspapers need to put online content behind a paywall in order for the journalism industry to survive? Would you be willing to pay for news online? Critical autonomy is the key skill in A2 Media - you need to be able form opinions on these issues.

I personally don't think that there is a way to revive the newspaper industry. I definitely think that there will always be articles available from journalists but they won't receive the credit or even money they deserve for the content produced. As a result, this could lead to them feeling unmotivated within their job and thus cause them to quit as they may have a lack of self fulfillment. I do not agree that putting up a pay wall would do any good for the firms - if anything, I think that their audience would be even more encouraged to move to another source of news in order to prevent themselves from succumbing to the demand of these firms. I personally would not pay for news online. This is because I am aware that there are free alternatives which would most likely offer the same content. Another point is that I would usually only read one or two articles as opposed to a whole newspaper issue therefore I would feel that my money wouldn't be put to good use.