Essay Plan
Digital culture has shaped everyday lives in significant ways. Discuss this statement with reference to Intimate Lifeand using theories from at least one of the two keyframes of identity and economy.
Your plan should include:
A thesis statement which outlines your proposed argument in one sentence.
A draft introduction paragraph that expands on your approach and thesis, and outlines in brief three to four main points to support thesis statement.
An outline of main body of essay which indicate what each section of essay will address.
A draft of one paragraph out of the body of essay (a paragraph is a smaller unit of writing out; at least a few paragraph may make up a section)
A list of best 5 scholarly sources u have found which relate to your topic
(references listed in APA style)
Internet Studies
School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry
Assignment 1
Essay Plan
Regional Newspapers, Community Identity and Social Capital in a Digital World
Student Name:
Caroline Hammat
Student Number:
19060336
Unit Name:
NET102 Digital Culture and Everyday Life
Email Address:
[emailprotected]
Date Submitted:
31/3/2019
Word Count:
917
Public link or
URL (if applicable):
By submitting this assignment, I declare that I have retained a suitable copy of this assignment, have not previously submitted this work for assessment and have ensured that it complies with university and school regulations, especially concerning plagiarism and copyright.
31/3/2019
Caroline Hammat
(Date/Signature)
(Typing your name in the space provided is sufficient when
submitting online via FLECS-Blackboard.)
NET102 Digital Culture and Everyday Life
Assignment 1: Essay Plan
Thesis statement
Digital culture has rapidly changed how we consume entertainment and popular culture with regional communities at risk of losing access to stories and information relevant to them, traditionally served by their local newspaper.
Draft introduction
Improvements to the reliability of internet access across regional and rural communities have seen rapid changes in the media landscape across Australia (Warren, as cited in Freeman & Park, 2015, p. 466). The portability and availability of internet enabled devices is changing how these communities consume their local news (Couldry, 2012, p. 16). The newspaper at a local level has historically played an integral role in connecting communities by telling their stories and providing a platform for issues (Hess, 2015, p.490). Their perceived or actual closeness to the community helps in forming and presenting the communities identity through the social capital they generate. Traditional advertising revenue streams are being monopolised by large digital platforms and this contributes to the downgrading of resources available to regional newspapers (Carson, 2015, p. 1027). The impact of declining advertising revenue and the publics reluctance to pay to view stories hosted online (Hess & Bowd, 2015, p. 23) could lead to communities unable to reliably access stories researched and written for and about regional communities. The decline in advertising and circulation revenue potentially affects the accuracy, reliability and availability of local news important to regional communities. Digital culture has rapidly changed how we consume entertainment and popular culture with regional communities at risk of losing access to stories and information relevant to them, traditionally served by their local newspaper.
Essay outline
Changes to our entertainment and popular culture platforms and how we consume media.
Internet enabled phones and more reliable internet access to regional communities
Streaming services, self-creation of media, citizen journalism.
Social media and news consumption
Paywalls and online eEditions
History of regional newspapers and their contribution in reflecting and recording a communitys identity
Traditionally powerful role in the community (pros and cons)
Reporting on local issues and telling the communitys stories
Campaign for regional issues and creating noise that can be picked up by larger media organisations. Connecting individuals with policy and decision makers
Social capital
Reflecting and creating identity
Archiving
Loss of revenue and circulation
Digital platforms and the monopoly on advertising revenue
Digital platforms lifting news items from other sources
Centralisation, amalgamation and closing of regional newspaper offices
Competition from social media platforms and impact of citizen journalism
Paywalls and digital subscriptions
Impact of losing or having under-resourced regional newspapers
Loss of access to local issues and stories not covered by state or national media
Information supplied by non-genuine news sources is inaccurate and taken out of context, loss of journalistic integrity and no accountability
reliability of digital archiving
Draft paragraph
Regional and rural communities have historically had a strong and long running connection with their local newspapers. This connection can largely be attributed to their perceived closeness to the community. The divide that exists for metropolitan based journalists private and public life is not possible for those who work for any length of time in regional press. The lines become blurred and it is likely regional journalists will often know those who they write about or meet them outside their work environment (Pretty; Bowd; Alysen et al, as cited in Hess & Bowd, 2015, p. 22). It has been the place of newspapers to inform the wider community of births, deaths and marriages, and celebrate the sporting prowess and academic achievements of residents. Journalists and editors have played a role through this platform in connecting people with those in powerful positions and giving the community a voice in government policy and civic matters (McManamey; Richards; Putnam, Leonardi, & Nanetti; Bowd, as cited in Hess, 2015, p. 484). Newspapers have traditionally remained close to the community and championed for outcomes that are deemed in the communitys best interest yet this closeness can also impact the newspapers objectivity (Maslog, as cited in Hess, 2015, p. 490). This community connection places the local newspaper as an important source of social capital for regional communities. Through the actions of bonding people with their locale, connecting them to each other and providing access to those in powerful positions who are sometimes difficult to reach it has traditionally helped to form and strengthen the communitys identity (Fenton et al., as cited in Hess, 2015, p.483). Even as local newspapers centralise production or ownership changes from local interests there still retains a sense of identity and community (Hess, 2015, p. 486) although this needs a concerted effort to retain that focus. Importantly the local newspaper provides an uninterrupted historical record of the regions news and events. Records can be accessed through libraries on microfilm and archived hard copies although these may not always easily accessible. Although these older forms of archiving are fast being replaced by the National Library of Australias online digital database, Trove (Cathro, 2009).
Scholarly sources
Carson, A. (2015). Behind the newspaper paywall lessons in charging for online content: a
comparative analysis of why Australian newspapers are stuck in the purgatorial space
between digital and print.Media, Culture & Society,37(7), 10221041. https://doi.org/
10.1177/0163443715591669
Couldry, N. (2012) Media, Society, World. Polity: Cambridge.
Hess, Kristy. (2015). Making Connections. Journalism Studies, (16:4), 482-496. DOI:
10.1080/1461670X.2014.922293
Hess, Kristy and Bowd, Kathryn. (2015). Friend or foe?: Regional newspapers and the power of
Facebook. Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, (156), 19-28.
Retrieved from
https://search-informit-com-
au.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=463927848802395;res=IELLCC
Turner, G. (2015). Re-Inventing the media. London: Routledge.
References
Carson, A. (2015). Behind the newspaper paywall lessons in charging for online content: a
comparative analysis of why Australian newspapers are stuck in the purgatorial space
between digital and print.Media, Culture & Society,37(7), 10221041. https://doi.org/
10.1177/0163443715591669
Cathro, W. (2009). Trove: The librarys new discovery service. Retrieved from
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/11779/20100707-
0013/www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/101/story01.html
Couldry, N. (2012) Media, Society, World. Polity: Cambridge.
Hess, Kristy. (2015). Making Connections. Journalism Studies, (16:4), 482-496. DOI:
10.1080/1461670X.2014.922293
Hess, Kristy and Bowd, Kathryn. (2015). Friend or foe?: Regional newspapers and the power of
Facebook. Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, (156), 19-28.
Retrieved from
https://search-informit-com-
au.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=463927848802395;res=IELLCC
Bibliography
Bowd, Kathryn. (2015). Whos in the news?: Sourcing priorities in regional newspapers.
Australian Journalism review, 37(2), 173-185. Retrieved from
https://search-informit-com-
au.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=841823138424288;res=IELAPA
Ewart, J., & Massey, B. L. (2005). Local (people) mean the world to US: Australias regional
newspapers and the Closer to readers assumption.Media International Australia
Incorporating Culture and Policy,115(1), 94108. https://doi.org/
10.1177/1329878X0511500110
Freeman, Julie and Park, Sora. (2015). Rural realities. Transforming Government: People,
Process and Policy, 9(4), 465-479. DOI:10.1108/TG-03-2015-0012
Hess, Kristy; Waller, Lisa and Ricketson, Matthew. (2014). Are there news gaps in rural/regional
Australia?: Researching media plurality beyond Finkelstein. Australian Journalism
Review, 36(2) 157-169. Retrieved from
https://search-informit-com-
au.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=912615482424324;res=IELLCC>ISS
N: 0810-2686
Leary, P. (2015). Response: Search and serendipity.Victorian Periodicals Review,48(2), 267-
273,295. Retrieved from
https://search-proquest-
com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/1789772370?accountid=10382
Lecheler, S., & Kruikemeier, S. (2016). Re-evaluating journalistic routines in a digital age: A
review of research on the use of online sources. New Media & Society, 18(1), 156171.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815600412
Oh, H., Animesh, A., & Pinsonneault, A. (2016). Free versus for-a-fee: The impact of a paywall
on the pattern and effectiveness of word-of-mouth via social media. MIS Quarterly,
40(1), 31-A5. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=1127
50556&site=ehost-live
Park, S. (2017). Digital inequalities in rural Australia: A double jeopardy of remoteness and
social exclusion. Journal of Rural Studies, 54(August), 399-407.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2015.12.018
Turner, G. (2015). Re-Inventing the media. London: Routledge.
Vonbun-Feldbauer, R., & Dogruel, L. (2018). Regional newspapers sourcing strategies:
Changes in media-citation and self-citation from a longitudinal perspective. Journalism.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918817639
Name [Student No. 19060336]
Assignment 1: Essay Plan
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