Untangling the Web: an Evaluation of the Digital Strategies of Irish News Organisations

Paul Hyland

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

As Ireland’s print media continue to suffer a drop in their circulations, how important is the implementation of a viable and, above all, profitable web strategy, and how extensively are these currently being employed within four Irish news organisations? These include Ireland’s three best selling dailies: The Irish Times, the Irish Independent, and the Irish Daily Star, and a regional newspaper with a notable online presence, the Limerick Leader. This research examines the day-to-day operations of Irish news organisations; the resources devoted to their digital media/online departments, the revenue-generation strategies in place to monetize the work of these departments; and the prioritization given to the various mediums through which information is distributed. These issues have been explored by interviewing the people with responsibility for digital development within these organisations to ascertain what they believe that they are doing both correctly and incorrectly, in their attempts to gain traction for the online news sites within their organisations. Just what does this move online mean to Irish news organisations, and what differentiates those who are moving online from those who are not? What differences exist in their news-gathering approaches and the platforms via which they disseminate news? How far will these organisations go in their pursuit of online revenues? Are paywalls the end-goal, or is the only way to safeguard their futures to adopt the media model that is digital first?
Original languageEnglish
JournalIrish Communications Review
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • print media
  • web strategy
  • newspapers
  • Ireland

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