A newspaper can be looked at as a technology, as a product that is bought and sold within a broader economic environment, and as a product of the institution of journalism which serves a special role in democratic societies. The Internet has created technological alternatives to the newspaper and it has also radically altered the economic environment in which newspapers operate. It has also created innovative and interesting new ways to share and analyze information. This course examines the impact the Internet has had on both the institution and the business of news.

Communication Technology

The first five weeks of the course will look at the history of communication technology as well as survey the existing state of communication technology. Students will develop a framework for understanding different communication technologies and how they differ from each other.

Week 1 Newspapers and the Internet

In 1995, Nando.net became the first "online newspaper". As it turns out, this was the first of many online newspapers and it signaled a major transformation in the news business. The history of Nando.net – its rapid rise to prominence and its eventual demise will be examined and will serve as an introduction to the topics covered in the course. The late 1990's saw the launch of thousands of Internet companies, irrational speculation and exorbitant stock prices, all of which came crashing down in 2000. At the same time that Wall Street was pursuing the promise of untold profits online, a relatively obscure militant group known as al Qaeda was using the Internet to plan operational details and find recruits for a terrorist attack that would eventually be launched on September 11, 2001. When Nando.net was launched, a utopian future was envisioned where distances were shortened, disabilities no longer mattered, where information was free and businesses flourished. The contrast between the promises made by Internet pundits in the late nineties with the realities of the first half of this decade will begin our examination of how the Internet has forever changed news.

Week 2 Media Technology: A Framework for Analysis

Changes in communication technology have lead to a proliferation of media. This week introduces a framework for understanding and analyzing various media.

Week 3 History of Media Technology

Since the very first cave painting, communication technology has continued to evolve. In this week, students examine the history of media technology and the impact technological innovations have had at key points in history. The history of the church will be looked at in particular detail to show how innovations such as the scroll, codex, moveable type and the advent of mass media have shaped it.

Week 4 The New Media: Weblogs and Wikis

The technology embodied in computers and the Internet has lead to the creation of new media at an unprecedented rate. Weblogs and Wikis have similarities to old media publications, but they are also different in particularly significant ways. Students will learn about how Weblogs and Wikis work and will analyze them in light of the media framework discussed previously.

Week 5 The Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is the brainchild of Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the original World Wide Web. His vision of the Semantic Web will be discussed as well as the underlying ideas that promise to make it possible. Students will learn about software that can make inferences based on the semantic meaning of content distributed on the Internet and will explore the possible implication of such a technology.

Economics and Public Policy

In this section of the course, students will learn about economics and how individuals choose to allocate their own personal resources. The course examines the economic implications of new communication technology and how that impacts news media.

Week 6 Introduction to Media Economics

This week introduces the basic concepts of media economics and looks in detail at the business of news. Sources of revenue and drivers of expense for newspapers will be examined, and this will be compared to other media, with a special emphasis on Internet media.

Week 7 Economics of Value

Various economic theories of value will be explored in more detail. Supply and demand will be looked at from a media perspective, as well as the concepts of utility and quality.

Week 8 Competition and Free Markets

The relationship between the free press and free markets will be examined. Different kinds of competition (perfect, monopolistic, etc.) will be discussed as well as Porter's five forces and the concept of disintermediation. The impact of the Internet on the overall competitive media landscape will be reviewed as well as the controversial topic of media consolidation.

Week 9 The Internet as Disruptive Technology

A disruptive technology is a new technology that dramatically alters the economics of an existing market and often leads to a restructuring of the market. Students will look at examples of other disruptive technologies and how businesses reacted to them, both with success and failure. This section concludes with a detailed look at how newspapers responded to the threats posed by the Internet.

Week 10 Public Policy, Property Rights and Free Speech

While free speech and a free press are protected under the constitution, government has regulated certain commercial aspects of speech. This government regulation impacts the overall competitive environment in which news media operate and even impacts the kind of information that is covered. Different technologies provide government with varying degrees of influence and this course looks at the power relationship between government and media given the changing state of communication technology.

The international nature of the Internet places strains on traditional governmental regulation and law enforcement. Fraud, copyright violations and crimes such as child pornography have flourished online and government has struggled to respond. The role of government regulation of media will be examined (FCC) as well as recent efforts to control crime online. The state of free speech on the Internet will be examined, with a focus on how governments like China continue to try to repress free speech online while at the same time try to embrace free market economics.

Journalism Profession

The free press is both an institution and a profession. Students will examine how journalists view their profession, and what industry views of new media are. Students will also look in detail at how technology impacts the nature of communication. Finally, the role of "editor" is examined and emerging alternatives to the traditional editorial role are critiqued.

The course concludes with a look at specific news stories and events and how new media has altered the nature of news coverage. Finally, we will discuss the prospects of the future and try to assess the impact current technological trends will have on news coverage and public policy.

Week 11 The State of Newspapers

Despite television news and 24-hour cable news, most journalists are newspaper journalists, so the profession of journalism will be examined from the newspaper perspective. Newspaper readership has been in decline since the early 1970's and students will examine potential causes of that decline. Changes in media consumption patterns in the past ten years will be discussed.

Week 12 Newspaper Organization and Culture

In order to address the general decline of the industry, newspapers around the country joined together to investigate the causes of the loss of readership in what is called the Readership Initiative. In addition to interviewing readers and analyzing their readership patterns, the initiative also looked inside newspapers and examined their organizational cultures. According to the study, the problem newspapers face is a content problem and a cultural problem rather than a technology problem. The findings of the initiative will be discussed and critiqued.

Week 13 Information, Truth and Bias

One constant criticism of media is that it is biased. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, newspapers were highly partisan and were often owned by unions and political parties. The idea of an unbiased newspaper as a source of objective information is a rather recent occurrence, and one that has arisen within the modern economic and regulatory environment. The growth of the Internet marks a return to the more divisive and free-wheeling days of the past. Today's Internet will be compared with yesterday's newspaper and the impact the Semantic Web may have on news content and the idea of bias will also be examined.

Week 14 Models of Editorial Control

The journalism profession has traditionally been viewed as the watchdog of society and an essential institution in a democracy. In the wash of information, the editorial function of the newspaper serves as a filter, identifying and clarifying information that is most relevent to readers. With the advent of the Internet, new models of editorial control have emerged. Sites like Slashdot have reinvented the idea of the editorial function and students will examine these competing models.

Spring, 2007, Georgetown University, CCT.