Media Displacement Effect: Investigating the Impact of Internet on Newspaper Reading Habits of Consumers

Abstract

The emergence of internet has many effects on the availability of news and information. It expands the reach of news, information and discussion forums to the public and forces traditional news media to reorient themselves in competitive situations. The newspaper/print media companies have understood this trend and have come out with new plans. Most of them have developed their on-line portals or websites that provide news as well. This study has been conducted with a view to capture impact of Internet on changes in consumer behavior, with respect to reading news on internet. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase comprised of an exploratory research that gave the insight about the issues. It is followed through a detailed questionnaire to conduct the descriptive study. Target population considered was one who has Internet access. It was divided in two segments namely working professionals and students. The responses were collected through e-mail. It was found that Internet has not much affected the newspaper business. It has come out as complimentary to the newspapers. Further, Internet is found more popular in case of business/stock news, sports news and international news.

Keywords

Internet Newspapers Factor Analysis Media Displacement

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adoni

Nossek

(2001), “The New Media Consumers: Media Convergence and the Displacement Effect”, Communications, 26(1), pp. 59–85.

Anthony

G. C.

(1980), “The Impact of Television on South African Daily Newspapers”, Journalism Quarterly, 57(2), pp. 216–223.

Baldwin

McVoy

Steinfield

(1996), Convergence: Integrating Media, Information and Communication. London: Sage.

Belson

W. A.

(1961), “Effects of Television on the Reading and Buying of Newspapers and Magazines”, Public Opinion Quarterly, 25, pp. 366–381.

Burt

R. S.

(1987), “Social Contagion and Innovation: Cohesion Versus Structural Equivalence”, American Journal of Sociology, 92(6), pp. 1287–1335.

Dennis

Gallupe

(1993) ‘A History of Group Support Systems Empirical Research: Lessons Learned and Future Directions’ in Jessup

L. M.

Valacich

J. S.

(Eds.), Group Support Systems: New Perspectives, New York, Macmillan, pp. 59–77.

Dimmick

W. J.

(2003), Media Competition and Co-existence-The Theory of the Niche, IE A Publishers, Mahwah, NJ and London.

Fidler

(1997), Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media. Thousand Oaks, CA, Oine Forge.

Filistrucchi

(2005), “The Impact of Internet on the Market for Daily Newspapers in Italy”, EUI Working Paper, ECO No. 2005/02, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana 1-50016, San Domenico (FI), Italy.

10.

Finholt

Sproull

(1990), “Electronic Groups at Work”, Organization Science, 1(1), pp. 41–64.

11.

Harvey

M. G.

Rothe

J. T.

(1985), “Video Cassette Recorders: Their Impact on Viewers and Advertisers”, Journal of Advertising Research, 25(6), pp. 19–27.

12.

Henke

Donohue

T. R.

(1989), “Functional Displacement of Traditional TV Viewing by VCR Owners”, Journal of Advertising Research, 29(April/May), pp. 18–23.

13.

James

M. L.

Wotring

C. E.

Forrest

E. J.

(1995), “An Exploratory Study of the Perceived Benefits of Electronic Bulletin Board Use and their Impact on other Communication Activities”, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 39, pp. 30–50.

14.

Kaplan

S. J.

(1978), “The Impact of Cable Television Services on the use of Competing Media”, Journal of Broadcasting, 22(2), pp. 155–65.

15.

Kayany

J. M.

Yelsma

(2002), “Displacement Effects of Online Media in the Socio-technical Contexts of House Holds”, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Spring.

16.

Lazarsfeld

P. F.

(1940), Radio and the Printed Page: An Introduction to the Study of Radio and its role in the Communication of Ideas. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce.

17.

Lee

Kuo

ECY

(2002), “Internet and Displacement Effect: Children's Media use and Activities in Singapore”, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 7(2).

18.

McLuhan

(1994), Understanding Media – The Extensions of Man, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.

19.

Merrill

J. C.

Lowenstein

R. L.

(1971), Media, Message, and Men: New Perspectives in Communications. New York: David McKay and Company Inc.

20.

Morris

Ogan

(1996), “The Internet as Mass Medium”, Journal of Communication, 46(1), pp. 39–52.

21.

Napoli

Ewing

(1998), The Media Habits and Internet Practices of the Net Generation. Perth, Australia: Curtain University of Technology.

22.

Nielsen

(1997a), How Users Read on Web, http://www.useit.com/alterbox/9710a.html.

23.

Nielsen

(1997b), Measuring the Usability of Reading on the Web, http://www.useit.com/alterbox/readingmetrices.html.

24.

Nielsen

(1998), The End of Legacy Media (Newspapers, Magazines, Books, Networks), http://www.useit.com/alterbox/980823.html.

25.

O'Brien

(1999), “Newspaper on the Internet- With a Case Study of the Nando Time”, Research Paper.

26.

O'Shea

Self

(1983), Learning and Teaching with Computers: Artificial Intelligence in Education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

27.

Palmer

J. W.

Eriksen

L. B.

(1999), “Digital Newspapers Explore Marketing on the Internet”, Communication of the ACM, 42(9), pp. 33–42.

28.

Rheingold

(1994), The Virtual Community: Finding Connection in a Computerized World. London: Seeker & Warburg.

29.

Robinson

J. P.

Barth

Kohut

(1997), “Social Impact Research: Personal Computers, Mass Media and use of Time”, Social Science Computer Review, 15(1), pp. 65–82.

30.

Rogers

E. M.

(1962), Diffusion of Innovation, New York, Free Press.

31.

Rogers

E. M.

(1983), Diffusion of Innovation, New York, Free Press.

32.

Rogers

E. M.

Kincard

D. L.

(1981), Communication Networks, Towards a New Paradigm for Research, New York, Free Press.

33.

Shinar

(2001), Internet: Communications, Society and Culture. Ramat-Aviv, Israel: Open University, pp. 3–38.

34.

Sparkes

V. M.

(1983), “Public Perception of and Reaction to Multi-channel Cable Television Service”, Journal of Broadcasting, 27, pp. 163–175.

35.

Stephens

(1998), “Which Communications Revolution is it, Anyway?”, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 75(1), pp. 9–13.

36.

Tsao

C. J.

Sibley

S. D.

(2004), “Displacement and Reinforcement Effects of the Internet and other Media as Sources of Advertising Information”, Journal of Advertising Research, pp. 126–142.

37.

Valente

T. W.

Davis

R. L.

(1999), “Accelerating the Diffusion of Innovations using Opinion Leaders”, Annals of American Academy, 566, pp. 55–67.

38.

Van Der

R. J. W.

(2005), “Impacts of the Internet on Newspaper in Europe”, International Journal of Communication Studies, 67(1), pp. 107–120.

39.

Williams

T. M.

(1986), The Impact of Television. New York: Academic Press.

40.

Wilzig

S. L.

Avigdor

N. C.

(2004), “The Natural Life-cycle of New Media Evolution”, New Media and Society, 6(6), pp. 707–730.