At the beginning of the Mass Media and Communication industry, printed-paper was the only dependable platform. The paper printing has been introduced long before its utilisation as mass media through the process of publishing literature and artworks. After the evolution of mass media and communication printed media was being utilised is news agencies in form of printing newspapers. Apart from that, the print media had also been used for marketing and promotional activities in form of flyers, posters and other forms. Along with the mechanical advancement in printing science and technology the separated activities of mass media and communication including, newspaper and printed promotion overlapped with each other in form of various kinds of magazines. The invention of the colure printer added another feather on the crown of the highly developing mass media. However, from the beginning of the digital technological revolution the scenario began to change quickly. This digital technological revolution is commonly known as digital journalism, which was developed as a contemporary form of journalism in which, information, news and other important data were provided to the readers via internet in the place of broadcasting or newspapers. Few examples of digital medium through which, such data is provided to readers are Online Website, Internet system, cloud network, E-news, E-promotion and other digital media based technological advancement have already demolished significantly the population of print media based audiences. With the intervention of Web 2.0, the internet based mass media and communication entered a new era of establishment. The induction of social media worked as a game changer in mass media and communication industry. Primary reason of the holistic spread of digital media platform throughout the world was ease of creativity and presentation that provided journalists to explore their unique ideas, which was restricted in print as well as broadcasting media. Further, it also provides the reader with ease of gaining knowledge and distributes within a second to a larger population of readers, hence increasing its reach to a larger population.
The current press media throughout the world is facing a decline or deep crisis that is affecting the business of such media houses. As per the data of World Association of Newspapers magazine, the number of readers of newspapers is decreasing constantly as the people have started reading news on their phones. This has created a competition for the printed media options as the number of readers are shifting from print media to digital media because of its easy availability. In Singapore, the newspaper organization Singapore Today conducted a survey in 2013 that determined that the number of people reading the newspaper dropped by 145,000 readerships that constitutes to the loss of 14.3%. Therefore, the primary reason for conducting this research was to identify the issues and reasons due to which, the emergence of digital media is creating challenges for print media houses. Further, another justification for conducting this study will be inability of the press media to maintain in reputation in Singapore, whereas, in China and Britain Print media is still the best source to get any news. Therefore, the rationale for the research will be identifying the actions print media has taken is those countries, which the Singapore print media is unable to take to save its reputation and reader base.
As it has been observed that the number of readers of print media is decreasing in Singapore, the primary aim of the research is to determine the effect of digital media in the decreasing popularity and usage of print media. Further to determine the justified reason behind decrease of reader’s base and profitability of print media organizations. The secondary aim is to understand the areas in which, the digital media excels that prevent people from using print media. There is a possibility of other reasons due to which the consumers are shafting from print to digital media. Therefore, the third aim is to identify the other reasons due to which the number of consumers using print media is decreasing. Moreover, the research will also focus on the ability of print media to combat the increasing base of digital media in recent times.
For this research, the hypothesis will be as follows:
H1: The decrease in the popularity of print media is due to the increasing usage of digital media among the population irrespective of their age.
H0: The decrease in the popularity of the print media is not because of the increasing usage of digital media platforms, rather due to some other factors, which is hampering the readers base of print media.
The Objectives of this research project are as follows:
Research structure is the outline of the entire research, which is used to enlist the complete research components. The structure of this research will constitute abstract, in which the concise detail of the entire research has been included. Further, a detailed introduction has been included which contains the backgroundd details of the study, its rationale, the research aims, objectives and the hypothesis depending on which the findings of the research will be categorized. Further, a detailed methodology will also be included. Using two case studies related to the research topic, the data of print media and digital media would be provided, which further will be analyzed and interpreted in the later section. Finally, a conclusion, limitation of the study and the future prospect of the research will be included so that the gaps of this research can be identified.
It is not in few years mass media has started to being affected. The mass media has begun getting influenced with the technologies long before the internet or social media, it is precisely the print media that has been affected. The print media refers to newspaper, magazines, journals, periodicals and books. Earlier, the role of media was performed only through the publishing houses through the mentioned components. The printing press was the only instrument of production that was used to produce millions of copies of newspaper, flyers, books and magazines. The primary significance of the print media is to spread knowledge and ideas in the mass. Initially, the printing used to be through the handwritten process that consumed a lengthy amount of time to produce a single book. However, the changes did not take long to occur along with the other significant changes, and through industrialization, the mass media industry also experienced enormous changes. The initial stages of print media were influenced by developed machinery followed by electronic media such as television and radio. Television and radio have brought vivid changes in the media industry primarily the changing the readership habit of the population. The revolution by modern digital and electronic media is presenting the advance and developed stage of mass media. The new generation has undoubtedly given improved versions of providing information to people, however, in the process of development, there is a segment of the mass media that is on the verge of passing away. The changes and advances in the technology and the internet in the last ten years have reshaped the way information and knowledge are aggregated, transformed, and disseminated. The print media which was the initial stage of mass media is slowly losing its significance in the digital age and is not preferred by the audience in this contemporary era, therefore, it is clearly seen that the print media is on the decline.
The method of producing images and texts to spread information and knowledge was first done in China before 220 A.D. The Chinese were the first to invent the art of printing and made it on wooden blocks to print letters. During the Tang Dynasty, the printing process was started in 600 AD. Also, the first book that was published was in China in 868 AD. It was the Egyptians who invented paper around 3500 BC, and it arrived in Spain, Europe in the 11th century. The printing technology is believed to be developed by a German, Johannes Gutenberg around 1439. He also invented an oil-based ink for printing and printed the Bible in 1450. Later, the process of printing was adopted by the whole world, and now it has become impossible to imagine a world without paper and print. The invention of printing has played a significant role in the development of the Renaissance and the scientific revolution.
Media-industry is a vital sector for any region for the contribution it makes towards society. Print media is of various types, and it includes magazines, brochures, posters, banners and lastly the newspapers. The leading role that print media has been playing is the offering of extensive news, information and in-depth treatment of themes. They are the provider of the more abundant variety of coverage through the medium of different types of writings. There are separate sections devoted to the different genre, including daily affairs, sports, politics, awareness, business, entertainment and exclusive articles. It also has designed columns for reviews of book, films, media and art. The newspaper helps readers become responsible and informed citizen. Since media is used intensively by the mass, it is a vast platform for advertisement. Traditionally the media performed its functions in a more straightforward way and offered the above mentioned components. Later, with the electronic media, things appeared in a different form. The electronic media are the electronic device that operates with the electrical energy for obtaining information and entertainment. The electronic media has been dominating the media industry since its inception by providing instantaneous news and entertainment. They are considered to be the primary source of news. The information provided by the media has a role to play in the shaping ideas and sensibilities, and therefore it has a burden of responsibility. The newspaper serves society in various ways, it prints in different languages and segregates in separate sections for people to choose as per their choice. Almost every person is depended on the media for information which makes it an absolute necessity. Media is not merely a carrier of news; it lets people access to worldwide information sitting at home. After the electronic and digital invention people preferred the television and the radio over the newspaper. It has been the dominating form of media for the most prolonged period however with the growing technology the digital media is now becoming another favourite source of information. People are now slowly shifting is on the digital as it is a most comfortable way of following up with the news anywhere and anytime.
The changes and advances in the technology and the internet in the last ten years have reshaped the way information and knowledge are aggregated, transformed, and disseminated. Whether it is in print, Television, radio or digital devices, it is evident that it reaches a broad audience often covering national as well as international. In the coming years, the reality is expected to be without the existence of print media. The decline of print media has been discussed and debated widely. In recent years the industry of print media is faced with many challenges since it is a traditional method of media and many new technologies have emerged with the industrial revolution. For a very long time, print media has provided information, knowledge and entertainment in its beautiful way. Print media, in its static nature, allowed indefinite exposure. People would read beautiful magazines with visually attractive photos and interesting content in leisure times. Also, people could always store the articles or photos if found useful and print media gave the opportunity to come back and re-read the same thing several times when wished to do so. However, people’s way of gathering information took a turn when the industrialisation produced the broadcast media. The first shift was made in the 1950s with the emergence of television and radio. After the development of television and radio, two continuous decades at the beginning of the innovation happened to affect the printing industry drastically. The device with audio and visual entertainment attracted the audience at an instance. Although radio could not give the visual entertainment, it offers ongoing dialogue, actions and background music. This quality allows making a high impact on audiences and keeps the audience hooked. Television helps reaching nationwide audience and radio helps to reach the local audiences. Since the broadcasting became more popular than print media, the advisers and subscribers are found to be less interested in the print media and used the broadcasting mostly for advertising, entertainment business and disseminating information. The print media was faced with an unstable financial support that was received by the adverting agents as consumers are found shifting to modern technology for information delivery. The shift to advanced technology from the print media escalated when the technology gave birth to digital media. The rapid growth of the internet and social media has made the path of print media harder along with the broadcast. With the internet, it is possible to reach billions of people in a fraction of seconds making a great scope for the companies to transmit news and entertainment. Some companies solely depend on online marketing and advertising due to its effectiveness. Media, broadcast and print are the type of media that cost people for the limited knowledge whereas the internet provides unlimited access to the world’s any information in less cost compared to the print and broadcast media. The industry has been facing loss in term of its sales, the demand for the newspapers have fallen. The newspaper industry has seen the peak of success at times however, it started to show a steady decline.
The roots of suffering for the print media are many however there are significant influences that have fueled the process of decline. One primary reason for the decline of print media is lesser readership in the contemporary era. The young, as well as older generations, are found doing various activities such as watching movies, travelling, gardening, surfing the internet and many more where reading activity is found less. Often people spend time visiting famous websites, their favourite television shows and children are seen playing video games and watching cartoons. All the advanced methods of spending leisure time have substituted readership and contributed to the decline of print media. Millions of websites provide information and people are no more relying on the print media for news. Along with other social and global issues, one primary concern has been the environmental concerns. The production of printing presses creates substantial environmental pollution while discharging harmful chemicals. People working in the industry is found to be the victim of severe health hazards like asthma which as a result make the job seekers give the print media industry lesser preference.
Expenses are seen as another cause for the failure of printing media. The print media certainly has more costs when compared to the other forms of media. The types of machinery involved in the producing millions of copies are expensive, and when the income is rationalised, it does not generate revenue as much as the expenditure. Also, the most cost-effective as well as an easy way of gathering information for the consumers is the other media sources. The newspapers and magazines are distributed door-to-door, or it is purchased from the nearest store. The printing industry needs a different section of recruitment where the job of distributing the newspaper is performed. The easier job is by the other media forms, the digital and broadcast media that are available sitting at home. Therefore, the whole process of producing overnight journals and distributing door-to-door in the morning is very time-consuming. The print media fails to provide give people the privilege of giving instant news. The digital and broadcast are way much faster than the print media, and people always tend to go for the faster source of information. The quantity of information in the newspapers and other print media sources are limited to the few pages highlighting only the favourite topics such as politics, sports, business and films. The scope of providing a better quantity of information is little higher in the broadcast media making the internet in the first position giving people the opportunity to access unlimited information on unlimited topics.
Authoritarian theory: according to this theory, all types of communications are under the control of the governing authorities as well as authorities or influential bureaucrats. The powerful section of the society has strong hold on the mass communications. This theory explains that the authoritarians are a necessary body that is needed to prevent the people and to protect the nation from any kind of threats from any communication and information. Some of the news that is sensitive to certain group of people or the whole nation is needed to be checked so it does not create any sort of threat to the nation. The mass media has the access to reach millions of people at an instant and therefore it has the power to influence people easily. It is an instrument that is used to enhance the ruler’s power in the state and not create any threats. The authorities hold the power to permit media to release information by means of license that will provide guidance regarding the matters. When any media is found violating the government rules and regulation, the authorities can cancel the license and revoke it. The authorities mainly focus on controlling the distribution of any sensitive issues that can raise misbalance and problem in maintain the harmony. It determines maintaining peace, order and security in the nation.
An act of suppression of any kind of communication that may seem harmful to the people, government, authorities or nation is called censorship. These censorship methods are recognized by media and they can identify the communications that are against the freedom of expression and freedom of speech. In many cases the rulers and authorities are helped from sensitive issues. There are different forms of censors such as political censors, religious censors, moral censors and corporate censors.
Libertarian theory: according to libertarian theory, people are seen as the sole judgment maker of good ideas and bad ideas. This theory identifies people as rational bodies who can decide what information is pleasant and unpleasant. The press should not be restricted from spreading knowledge even when it is a negative content since criticism helps in evolving from bad situation. The libertarian theory is certainly opposite of the authoritarian theory which keeps the king or the state above all. As the name suggest, liberalism means information is the key to knowledge and knowledge is the ultimate power; libertarian theory is based on freedom of press from any authority or any control. However, there are some advantages as well as disadvantages of this this theory. The freedom of media will make press free from the control and it will disclose genuine things occurring in the society without any limitation. It will give more value to people’s thought and help them express it to media. However, the theory is seen as an absolute positive theory which is impractical in nature. Perhaps the media can release information that can hurt the sentiments of people and can damage the harmony.
Social responsibility theory: this particular theory lies between the authoritarian theory and libertarian theory where there is no boundary for the press however at the same time it needs to display its content in public panel and it needs to accept any sort of obligation from professional self-regulation as well as public interference. The only control that is exerted is the external control. This theory has helped in bringing professionalism in media by setting up a high standardization based on truth, accuracy and informative. The Social responsibility theoryformulates the code of conduct and make penalty for violating the code of conduct. Avoiding any kind of conflict situation during emergency and war by taking the public opinion has been made possible through this theory.
The soviet media theory: based on Marxist and Lenin principles the soviet media theory is structured. The soviet media theory follows the model of Leninist principles which is based on the Karl Marx and Engel’s ideology. According to this theory, the government regulates control on the media and serves the working class. The major interest of theory is to use the media and communication is to keep the interest of the working class maintained. Government has the absolute power to access control on any media for the benefit of the working class and the purpose of the media is to educate the large masses of working class. The theory is similar to the authoritarian theory however the core part is what makes it different and this theory can even go wrong if the leader of the nation is selected wrong.
With all the theories in mind, it can be stated undoubtedly that the press is getting adapted to the libertarian theory. There is very little control by the authorities and the controlling agents on the digital media. The print media can be controlled by the government easily and that is one reason people seek for information in the internet. The digital media is hard to control and with the help of social media it is near to impossible. Every individual is getting a voice that can be heard in internet that newspaper fails to give under the heavy institutionalization. Analyzing recent traits of media, lastly it is easy to state that at present it the libertarian theory that is in operation.
Connections between online media and broad communications are consistently developing. In the previous ten to fifteen years, there has been an unmistakable move in support and fame from the more ordinary types of broad communications, to more up to date types of media, in particular interactive and advanced digital media. After the invention of networking system the mass communication, become easier and less expensive. At the same time, it connected a large amount of audience in very less time. Therefore, because of these advantages the major companies of mass media and communication began to incorporate the digital media in their communication system along with the traditional printing media and broadcast media. As a result the mass media industry achieved a surprising profit margin that incline them more in digital media or online network based communication instead of the expensive broadcast media or time consuming printing medias. However at the early stage of the digital media the Web 1.0 only provided a static online platform for the mass media industry, in which the industry faced similar problem in terms of user interface and flexibility. In spite of these boundaries the low operational busted up the usage of digital media up to 76% of global mass media industry within the early 2000.
The mass communications and media is otherwise called predominant press, which produces content in view of what dominant part needs to see and hear. In the course of the most recent 20 years the broad communications’ capacity was upset due to the web and when the term web 2.0 presented as a point of milestone in history of mass media. The web and its advancement tested the broad communications in a way nobody at any point envisioned. After the introduction of Web 2.0 in network handling and user interface development the popularity of online users has increase rapidly. The dynamic server maintenance and website and webpage development allows both the client and the service provider to customise the user operation of the website or web pages. Along with this faculties the revolution of social media came. After the intervention of social media, the online communication in mass media experienced a huge traffic and client interfaces from all around the globe. New social media engines and website has been built namely face book, tweeter, Linkdn and others. It enable verities of promotional tools and mass communication strategies to be involve with this huge world of networking. Along with the news companies and other mass media operators, the clients can also access the news update, promotions, digital communication and other attractive facilities. The dynamic server and networking system also allows the mass communication companies to collect market data including competitors, consumer trends, and scopes with ease.
This literature review mostly focused on the precious published report and theoretical analysis. The literatures that were selected for review did not provide any real time data in terms of interview and survey. Therefore the literature review is based on the reanalysis and presentation of research reports and books that also followed the secondary data collection method. Therefore, in this literature review the lack of survey and interview based data analysis was clear. Apart from that the literature review has been focused only the benefit of digital media over print media, instead of discussing the further possible consequences due to the ultimate collapse of print media.
The term method outline emphasise the structure of the research that holds the foundation of any research from the beginning to end. The research outline usually comprises the major components of the research paper including method of the research, research strategy, data collection and analysis strategy, research onion and chosen tools for the research. For this research the research philosophy, design and approach relied on the outline of the methodology. At the beginning of this research based on the changes of mass media due to technological advancement and declination of print media, the required data, procedure and strategy, has been formulated. It helped to develop the method outline for this research accordingly.
The research onion is the graphical representation of the research procedure through the layer based design. The research onion consists of multiple research starting from its core to exterior surface. The outer layer defines the initial stage of the research method including the research philosophy. Along with the depth of the layers the proration of methodology depends. Therefore, at the core of the onion the data analysis is situated. In this research the onion represents the philosophy, design, approach, data collection strategy and data analysis of this research sequentially from the external surface to the core of the onion.
The philosophy of the research is the most initial part of the research method that depends on the purpose and the aim of the research. The research approach and strategies depend on the research philosophy. At the same time, the research philosophy defines the core ethics and policies of the research. Three optional research philosophies are available to follow namely Positivism philosophy, Interpretivism philosophy and the Realism philosophy. The positivism philosophy allows the research to follow a real time data processing oriented structure that focuses mainly on the direct data collection from primary sources. On the other hand, the Interpretivism research philosophy allows the research to follow more interpretation of collected data from another sources and research reports. However, the realism philosophy considers both perception of positivism and Interpretivism philosophy in combined data collection process. This research focused on the secondary data collection and their interpretation. Therefore, this research has followed the Interpretivism philosophy in order to measure how the digital media has become the reason behind the dearth of print media.
The research approach emphasise the approach of the execution procedure of the chosen research strategies. The approach defines the utilisation technique of chosen tools in order to gather the data and analyse them in a proper format. Two types of research approaches are available to conduct a research namely inductive research approach and deductive research approach. Inductive research approach allows the research to explore a topic with appropriate data, rational and logical analysis without considering or assuming any variable or constant at the beginning of the research. On the other hand, Deductive research approach allow the research to declare a assumption or to consider more than one variables at the beginning of the research, in order to deducting the authenticity and originality of that assumption. This research has made an initial hypothesis about how the digital media has become the reason behind the dearth of print media. Therefore considering the hypothesis this research follows the deductive research approach to prove the authenticity of the hypothesis.
After choosing the research philosophy and the appropriate research approach, the design of the research has been done. The research design is the planning of the research conducting process that can be follow three types of design namely Exploratory design, Explanatory Design and the Descriptive research design. In explanatory research design the aim of the research method is to testify a hypothesis or assumption which is declared at the beginning of the research through cause effect analysis. The exploratory research design allows to explore in a topic or a particular situation with enough evidences and rational analysis in a open ended environment. Descriptive research design describe a particular condition which does not have any particular goal to meet. This research has made an initial hypothesis about how the digital media has become the reason behind the dearth of print media. Therefore considering the hypothesis this research follows the Explanatory research approach to prove the authenticity of the hypothesis.
The research strategy refers the strategic selection of the tools through which the research can collect the data and analyse them aiming to the possible deliverables of the research. This research has made an initial hypothesis about how the digital media has become the reason behind the dearth of print media. Therefore considering the hypothesis this research follows the secondary data collection from article, published report, conducted researches along with 2 case studies. The research utilises the qualitative analysis process with the strategic implementation of case study analysis. The case studies are selected focusing on the mass media companies in Singapore, who faced considerable amount of changes because of the intervention of digital media.
Data collection can be done by following two types of data collection method namely Primary data collection and Secondary data collection. The primary data collection method refers the collection of data from real time environment by utilising various data collection tools including survey, interviews and others. On the other hand, the secondary data collection method focus on secondary sources including previously published report, research articles, organisational broadcast and other online and offline sources . This research is completely based on the secondary data collection from various secondary resources including the case studies, published report, articles and other mass media oriented resources. At the same time, the case studies are selected from secondary resource for analysis. This research has made an initial hypothesis about how the digital media has become the reason behind the dearth of print media. Therefore considering the hypothesis this research follows the secondary data collection approach to prove the authenticity of the hypothesis. The secondary data collection has been made by focusing on the mass media companies in Singapore, who faced considerable amount of changes because of the intervention of digital media.
Sample size refers the range of the platform on which the date will be collected considering either secondary or primary data collection procedure. For this research, the resource of the data collection is secondary. For secondary data collection the sample size is divided in to two section namely literature review and case study based analysis. For case study based analysis, this research has been analysed 2 case study of 2 mass media companies in Singapore. For literature review the research paper has been focused on the history of global mass communication and media industry and the relevant literature, published report, business report, research articles and others.
The data analysis procedure is the most essential part of the research that holds the achievement of the research. In data analysis, the collected data has been analysed through various techniques considering several parameters. Two types of Data analysis method can be followed namely qualitative data analysis and quantitative data analysis. The quantitative data analysis allows to analyse the numerical data with appropriate mathematical and statistical techniques to formulate the ultimate results. On the other hand the qualitative analysis analyse the non-numeric data through various strategies namely thematic, case study, narrative and other types of analysis. This research has made an initial hypothesis about how the digital media has become the reason behind the dearth of print media. Therefore, the secondary data has been analysed with qualitative analysis based on literature review and 2 case studies.
The ethical consideration emphasise the authenticity and morality of the research that holds a large portion of its viability as well. In order to comply the ethical considerations the research abide by the appropriate regulation and condition considering the secondary data collection based activities . The ethical consideration of this research comprises the regulation of data protection act, cyber crime act and other compliances. For secondary data collections and qualitative analysis, the research paper has been focused on the history of global mass communication and media industry and the relevant literature, published report, business report, research articles and others. Throughout the method of this research ensures that the research will not disclose any confidential and controversial data. Along with that the research also ensures the data collection of this research considered only the authentic data and reports in the data collection procedure.
Media-industry is a vital sector for any region for the contribution it makes towards society. At the same time, the Print media can be various types including magazines, brochures, posters, banners and lastly the newspapers. The mass media has stated getting affected with the technologies long before the internet or social media, precisely the print media. The major significance of the print media is to spread knowledge and ideas in the mass without requiring the internet system or expensive broadcast medias like TV and Radio. The method of producing images and texts to spread information and knowledge was first done in China before 220 A.D. Along with the mechanical advancement in printing science and technology the separated activities of mass media and communication including, newspaper and printed promotion ware the major repayable field of development and sustainability. Johannes Gutenburg developed the printing technology around 1439. He also invented an oil based ink for the purpose of printing and printed the bible in 1450. However, at the initial stage of the dearth of print media, various Broadcasting Medias such as television and radio influenced the audiences.
In the next phase of evolution of mass media, the electronic media was dominating the media industry since its inception by providing instantaneous news and entertainment. After the invention of networking system the mass communication, become easier and less expensive. At the same time, it connected a large amount of audience simultaneously. More 2 third of the mass media and communication industry has been changed due to the intervention of internet system and digital communication. After the introduction of Web 2.0 in network handling and user interface development, the popularity of online users has increase rapidly. The dynamic server maintenance and website and webpage development allows both the client and the service provider to customise the user operation of the website or web pages. More than 68% of the mass media and communication industry depends on the digital media and recently on social media across the globe. The revolution by the advanced digital and electronic media was presenting the evolved stage of mass media. The new generation has certainly given improved versions of providing information to people. On the other hand, in the process of development, a segment of the mass media is on the edge of utilization of print media. The dynamic server and networking system also allows the mass communication companies to collect market data including competitors, consumer trends, and scopes with ease.
As per the first case study, it is clear that Today MediaCorp press, the largest media broadcaster in Singapore largely known as the well established digital news provider. At the start of the journey of Today the newspaper was appreciated by so many people of the population, thus the publishers started to print the papers, magazines. The free distribution of the newspaper was another key business strategy of the company that also helped them to increase their brand reputation in the mass media market. However, after the digitalization of the mass communication system of Today, the company achieved a huge amount of success that made them the largest media broadcaster in Singapore. From the case study, it is also clear that the company is still keeping their traditional print media as a minor part of the mass communication network. The noticeable fact is the company has retain their audience number from 42% in few years after their initialisation of the digitalised mass media and communication. This innovation has lead to the incident of making ‘Today’ fully digitalised in the year 2017. As the publishers noticed that the digital form of their newspaper is gathering more focus and interest of the public, they decided to end their print publication in September 2017 and make available the full online version of Today.
Similar to the case of Today, Straits Times has faced same kind of publicity change as well as alteration of audience demand after the revolution of digitalised mass media. In both of the cases the popularity of printed version of their paper has reduced while introducing online version of their paper has increased the publicity and revenue in a very short time period. From 1845, the company focused on the print media with an inclined rate of profit margin. However, a meeting was arranged and the publishers proposed to introduce digital or online version of the newspaper to reach more people and increase their revenue in an effective manner. As per the planning, they have launched a website for the straits times and after that they have launched the mobile and tablet application for their paper, that bring them a new era of success level in terms of huge level of publicity and profit margin. Now a days people want more availability to necessary things with less investment of time. Thus, the access to daily news via internet has become more popular in the recent time. In both of these mass media companies namely Today and Straits Times, the faces similar kind of situation after the intervention of digital media. At the same time they achieved their success level after the alteration with their mass media communication strategy prioritising the digital media based communication. The incorporation of social media is another phase of development that can bring more success to them as per the market analysis and the trends of the audiences.
Conclusion
Media-industry is a vital sector for any region for the contribution it makes towards society. The paper printing has been introduced long before its utilisation as mass media through the process of publishing literature and artworks. Apart from that, the print media had also been used for marketing and promotional activities in form of flyers, posters and other forms. The printing press was the only instrument of production that was used to produce millions of copies of newspaper, flyers, books and magazines. The primary significance of the print media is to spread knowledge and ideas in the mass without additional requirement in terms of internet system or satellite broadcast. The initial stages of print media were influenced by developed machinery followed by electronic media such as television and radio. However, from the beginning of the digital technological revolution the scenario began to change quickly. Readers have been becoming more depended on Online Website, Internet system, cloud network, E-news, E-promotion and other digital media based technological advancements. With the intervention of Web 2.0, the internet based mass media and communication entered a new era of establishment. Today to 76% of global mass media industry depends on the digital media and the percentage is increasing day by day.
From the case study analysis it is also clear Today MediaCorp press and Straits Times, two of the major media broadcasters in Singapore largely known as the well established digital news providers. However both of their journey had been started with the utilisation of print media as tool of mass communication and media. However, both of the companies experienced a huge expenditure gap between digital media and print media after the intervention of digital technology in mass communication. The cost required for affording a press system including the equipments management, printing, distribution is considerably higher than the Digital platform of mass media and communication. Apart from that the publicity has been grown extraordinarily because of the global inclination of utility of digital media and internet in regular life. Often people spend time visiting famous websites, their favourite television shows and children are seen playing video games and watching cartoons. After the incorporation of web 2.0, the social media has took the largest space in the field of mass media and communication leaving a unrecognisable space and opportunity for print media.
The primary aim of the research was to determine the effect of digital media in the decreasing popularity and usage of print media. The secondary aim was to understand the areas in which, people are deflecting from using print media globally. As per the explanatory design and deductive approach the hypothesis of this research was:
H1: The decrease in the popularity of print media is due to the increasing usage of digital media among the population irrespective of their age.
H0: The decrease in the popularity of the print media is not because of the increasing usage of digital media platforms, rather due to some other factors, which is hampering the readers base of print media.
From the above case study and other secondary analysis and discussion, it has been proven that because of the cost efficiency for the companies and the acceptability within the modern lifestyle the mass media and communication industry is becoming more and more dependent on the digital media and advanced digitalization, which is social media. It has been also proven that even after the intervention of broadcast media, the print media was still able to hold its place to some extent. However, after the digital media, it has took the largest space in the field of mass media and communication industry leaving a unrecognisable scop for print media. Therefore, it is clearly indicating that the reason behind the dearth of print media is the dependency on digitalization and the popularity of digital media. Therefore the hypothesis of this study has been proven successfully.
Limitations of a research are situations, which are not under control of the researchers and created a future prospect for the research study. This research was completely based on the secondary statistical data and figures collected from different newspaper organizations and did not included any primary data such as interviews or surveys with the employees or readers of such news papers. Therefore, it affected the credibility of the research. Further, the second limitation can be the broad prospect of the research due to which focusing on crucial and important factor that lead print media lost its reputation becomes difficult. Therefore, broader aspect of research can be the second limitation of this research study. Apart from that the literature review has been focused only the benefit of digital media over print media, instead of discussing the further possible consequences due to the ultimate collapse of print media.
The future prospect of this research study should be making it credible and more focused towards the aspects rather than the reason, which made the reader base of print media weaker. The further researches should be able to understand the factors other than popularity of digital media in decreasing the base of print media. As well as they should be able to identify the sections that the print media lacked and digital media included that created a major difference between two sections of the same stream. More research that is primary can be done on this topic in order to support the data with real time data and evidences. Apart from that the real time data analysis will allow to discuss more on practical causes rather that theoretical explanations.
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