This article written by Roy Greenslade, though based on a piece by Charlie Arlinghaus, takes a usually unexplored perspective in the topic of the decline of the newspaper industry as the digital revolution takes place, in that it raises the issue that there are misconceptions regarding the way people obtain their news. While it's said more and more that an increased number of people are getting news from social media such as Facebook and Twitter, Arlinghaus brings reality to light in that by following someone who posts links to news stories, you're still getting your news from someone who produced and gathered it at a newspaper institution. Not only this but the reliance that workers within other media platforms have on (local) newspapers is unreported, particularly with radio where front pages of local newspapers are often used as scripts by news broadcasters. Rounding off the article though, the whole concept of citizen journalism is discussed and the need of it emphasised. Without it with the decreasing number of reporters, government in particular aren't as accountable as they once were and as an iron core of journalism, democracy is also harmed in the process.
- Guardian Media Group to cut 250 jobs in bid to break even within three years
- Trinity Mirror confirms 12 job losses on Cambridge and Herts & Essex titles
- Telegraph to axe senior jobs in fresh round of cuts
What I like in particular that this article is able to put across is this idea that there are now some thoroughly developed misconceptions to do with how people currently access news online. While they may be using social media to hear about the news, if they're clicking on to a link by a news publication to get the full details of it then that means that industry is still very much needed by the general public today. Along with this, the importance of not just newspapers in general are stressed, but more specifically local ones, and I believe that this is quite a significant thing to look at as these papers are often used as a basis for people working within other media platforms such as radio, so the death of them could also cause a decline with other platforms.
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