Build The Wall Analysis

Build The Wall Analysis

Your main work is some in-depth reading which will provide excellent preparation for university. David Simon, creator of critically acclaimed TV series The Wire and a former journalist, has written a passionate defence of the newspaper industry in the face of the new and digital media onslaught. This will easily take you a couple of hours to complete - make sure you put the time in.

The article, Build The Wall, is available here on the Columbia Journalism Review website.

Your tasks are as follows:

Read the article in full and create a blogpost on your MEST3 Exam Blog called 'Build The Wall analysis'. 

1) Summarise each section in one sentence:

• Section 1 (To all of the bystanders reading this…)

This part of the article reviews how consumers should pay for the content that newspapers and online articles provide so that the company could benefit and extensive journalism could be done. 

• Section 2 (Truth is, a halting movement toward...)

This section of the article talks about the use of paying a subscription and what effects this has. It uses the example of Times and The Post and weighs up the pros and cons.

• Section 3 (Beyond Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Weymouth…)

This section of the article looks at the time line of how newspapers have changed and how paying a subscription, statistically, would help industries. 

• Section 4 (For the industry, it is later than it should be…)

This part of the article talks about the possible outcomes if newspapers were to make their newspapers a paid subscription. 

2) Summarise David Simon’s overall argument in 250 words.

David Simon's overall argument addresses the issues that has risen in the newspaper industry and how newspaper companies could benefit majorly if access to articles were paid for. This article looks at the decline in print newspapers and the increase in free content on digital media and the effects that both of these changes has had on journalism and future jobs within the industry. In addition to this, there is evidence used through two newspapers and how they are at somewhat of an advantage due to there being paid subscriptions but also, is weighed up with the negatives that they face. There is an argument that is made based on quality over quantity as David Simon argues that the content of the newspaper is more important than reading multiple poor journalist stories – professional journalism would make the quality of the newspaper better and in effect, should lead to consumers paying for it. Also, even though there is a decline in print newspapers, industries could use the increase of new digital media to their advantage by publishing articles for money, this way they would be able to make a profit. If newspapers were to take this toll, David Simon addresses the possible scenarios, which are, that paid newspapers would benefit and survive due to their income, there would be a market for online subscriptions and profitable newspapers survive as they are unique. 

3) The New York Times added a paywall in 2011 - two years after David Simon's essay. Read this summary of the New York Times's paywall - why does the writer suggest the NYT's paywall was successful?

The writer suggests that the NYT's paywall was successful as NYT has generated a large amount of revenue through having paid subscriptions to access their news articles ($200m a year). Due to this, the paper has been able to use quality journalism and an increased amount of subscribers. This has also been the result of an increase in the use of new digital media. As more consumers are accessing their news online more, the brand reputation of this news paper has lead it to be successful as their news stories are deemed reliable. 
4) The Washington Post followed with its own paywall in 2013. Read this article about the launch of the Post's paywall. List one strength and one weaknesses of newspaper paywalls that the article discusses.  

One strength that The Washington Post has had due to them introducing a paywall is that  those willing to pay for content are a more valuable audience to advertisers.

One weakness that The Washington Post has had is that for buyers, when the paywall goes up, pageviews and uniques go down. 


5) Read this Guardian comment by AC Grayling piece on the state of journalism that was published the year before David Simon's essay. What references to new and digital media can you find in AC Grayling's argument? Overall, do you feel the comment piece is positive or negative about the influence of new/digital media on the newspaper industry?

There are multiple references to new and digital media in AC Grayling's argument. One is that the internet enables multiple opinions and data to be spread across the world at a rapid pace. A downfall that can be seen in this argument is things like spamming, threats, trolls and fake news. 

Also, there is a political mention of new digital media and the affect that this has on politics and people's views. 

Overall, I believe that there is a positive outlook on social media in this argument. This is because, there are more justifications towards why the internet is good rather than bad. One good argument that is made is that fake news and bad journalism can be outed and the person could be held accountable in a quick time so people wouldn't believe the news story.  

6) Finally, what is your own opinion? Do you agree that newspapers need to put online content behind a paywall in order for the journalism industry to survive? Would you be willing to pay for news online? Critical autonomy is the key skill in A2 Media - you need to be able form opinions on these issues.

In my opinion, I think that newspapers do need to put a paywall in order for journalism to survive. This is due to the level and quality of journalism behind news stories if journalists were getting paid. More of a reliable and reputable job would be done causing the news story to be more trust-worthy compared to free content which predominantly are multiple news stories being crafted by secondary information rather than primary. 
If I was in a paid job, I would pay for the news online as I know that I would be getting value for money and become more knowledgeable on a story as this would be factual.