The Integrated Newsroom The Integrated Newsroom abstract methodology references
resources about the author keshvani online
The Integrated Newsroom site index australia CIT climate age online findings overview of online journalism
singapore CIT climate straits times findings content analysis discussion
Research Findings
Content Analysis - The Age
Website
Content
Data Analysed

4.1.4 A Comparison of The Age with The Age Online - A content analytical approach

This section details the results and general observations of a content analysis conducted to identify similarities and differences between The Age and its online counterpart, The Age Online. The primary points of comparison in this exercise were the amount and type of content that was transferred from the print to online edition, and the organisation, look and feel of the online newspaper. Thirteen consecutive print and online editions from 19 to 31 July 1999 were examined in this study.

A sheet was designed to record data in an efficient and organised fashion. Due to resource and time limitations, the analysis was restricted to the foreign/world news sections. International news was selected in an attempt to justly compare the content transferred from print to online.

It is acknowledged here that focusing solely on the foreign section may not depict the amount of content transferred for the entire paper since it is common knowledge that local news is usually given priority in terms of column space at any newspaper.

The Age Online pages were downloaded and saved onto disk at 9am daily (the researcher was conducting participant observation in Singapore at that time), however it was discovered subsequently that news is occasionally updated through the day. In the mornings, the online edition is almost identical to the print edition. Due to the sheer volume and number of links on each page, there is a possibility that a few stories may be overlooked but this human error is believed to have been minimised by checking the data three times

Variables examined included date the story was printed, byline and location, headline changes between print and online if at all, and amount of information transferred (photographs, images, background information, additional/related links and section categorisation). Table 1 (refer to Appendix E) and Graph 1 summarise the results of the content analysis.

 

 

 
     

 

| abstract | methodology | references | resources | about the author | keshvani online |

 

| overview of online journalism | Australia CIT Climate | Singapore CIT Climate | The Age Online findings |
| The Straits Times findings | content analysis | discussion | site index |