Online, social, and participatory media - L1

-The guardian/observer - has a website where you can read and comment on news

-had a twitter account until 2024

Scott Trust Values - to carry on a liberal tradition 

Regardless of The Observer being print and online, they are still owned by the Scott Trust, which exists to ensure newspapers are independent and carry on a liberal tradition: ​
  • Believes in the rights of each individual (human rights)​
  • That all individuals are of equal worth (democracy)​
  • All people of the world are of equal worth​

Representations should:​
  • Promote democracy (equality) and human rights​
  • Celebrate individuality, diversity, tolerance and allowing opposing points of view​
  • Care for people no matter what in the world they live in (internationalism)​
  • Be open-minded about change​

The Observer & The Guardian do not support one any political party. It is key that writers express different political views.​
Political point of view is liberal, articles should criticise:​
  • Extreme right-wing ideas (that limit freedom for some groups)​
  • Extreme left-wing ideas (that limit freedom of individuals)

-tabs on the right hand side that give you more features = online audiences can experience the same news as a print audience


Print VS Online News

Print

-Print version provides much more detail on the front page. Print is a better technology for detailed writing.​

-Print newspapers allow for much more varieties of layout as it is far less constrained by size considerations.​

-Print newspapers can include large photographs and graphics, which creates much more of a visual appeal/interested.​

-Advertisers can be offered a range of display advertising, including full page adverts.

Online

-Online homepages do not have as much detail (specifically of one story). ​

-Online websites are constrained by size and limited from changing the page layout.​

-When viewing a website, specifically on a mobile phone you are limited by the images that you see,. as you are restricted by the size of your screen (optimisation). ​

-Advertisements are limited and are in small spaces to gain exposure.



-the opinion page has majority left wing opinions and comments = conflict 


Funding


Contributor, members, subscriptions and donators: ​

The Guardian/ The Observer have been experimenting with their model to protect free online content. During October 2017, they released that they had 800,000 paying contributors worldwide and that this income exceeded that from advertising. In 2025 they have over 1 million contributors showing their loyal readership

-Monthly subscriptions via Kindle: The Guardian/Observer offer their publication on Kindle devices. This is an example of convergence. The monthly subscription is £9.99, but to entice readers they offer 14 day free trial. This service stopped in 2023. = (convergence) 

Cross-Promotion: The Guardian/The Observer advertise their sister magazine ‘The Guardian Weekly’. Although they are not gaining revenue specifically from the magazine itself, they do gain funding from advertising this as it gains exposure and entices readership.

Events: The Guardian/The Observer frequently run courses, meetings and conferences.

Product Sales: The Guardian/The Observer also sell holidays and books linked to their review and travel sections.

Online Advertising: While online advertisers reach a global audience, they are able to sell advertising to different national audiences.

Advantages of Online Technology

  • It’s free
  • Uses & Gratification theory – Personal Relationships: comment online news
  •  ​It can be updated immediately – newspapers are literally ‘yesterday’s news’​
  • Customisable (cookies) – newspapers are not​
  • Don’t have to leave the house to get it ​
  • Better for the environment ​
  • Saves time – people have less time to read at length now​
  • Distribution of online devices – widely available, therefore there is a decline in circulation​
  • Interfacing with social media – makes news part of every day consumption. The website publishes comments from readers after articles and also on The Guardian ‘Comment is Free’ site: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/commentisfree
  • Comments are actively moderated and it’s quite common that comments are removed. This allows both a safe space for debate and genuine user-generated content. How can you apply the Uses and Gratifications theory?​
  • Hyperlinks on the website enable readers to follow a story in multiple directions and suggested related articles are offered on the side/bottom of the webpage.

How have Online presences affected print

  • Print readership has steadily declined. Newspapers are closing and journalists with decades of experience are being made redundant.​
  • If circulation dips below 100,000 copies, it becomes too expensive to physically print. The Independent is an example of a print broadsheet newspaper that is now only available online!
  • Advertising is moving heavily online and therefore online newspapers are attracting online advertisers.​
  • It is feared that once a newspaper moves online, it will lose its influence and become ‘just another website.’​
  • ‘Fake news’ becomes trusted as this is all people see.

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