Commercialisation of the news: analysis of news content in two Icelandic newspapers and two online newsites

Abstract

The media around the world are presently undergoing dramatic changes. They have their roots in political, economic and not least technolgical changes and have lead to ownership concentration, commercialisation and increased competition. Research indicates that this development has greatly affected professional journalism and led to an increasing emphasis on stories about crime, sport and entertainment and less news about politics, international, social and economic affairs. Some researchers posit that this applies particulary to online news. These changes have certainly had their impact in Iceland like other western countries, but little is known about its effect on news content. This study compares the content of the main off and online newspapers in Iceland, in the year 2005 and 2013, or before and after the financial crisis in 2008. The findings indicate that the Icelandic national daily press publishes less political and economic news now than before the the crisis in 2008, and more of so called soft news. This holds particularily true for the online news.

Keywords

• Fjölmiðlakerfi
• fréttir
• blaðamennska
• dagblöð
• vefmiðlar
• markaðsvæðing.