The death of the daily newspaper in the internet age has been predicted for decades. While print newspapers are struggling from drops in advertising and circulation, their survival has been based on original reporting. Instead of a death knell, metro dailies are experiencing an identity crisis—a clash between traditional print journalism’s formality and detail and digital journalism’s informality and brevity.
In Metro Dailies in the Age of Multimedia Journalism, Mary Lou Nemanic provides in-depth case studies of five mid-size city newspapers to show how these publications are adapting to the transition from print-only to multiplatform content delivery—and how newsroom practices are evolving to address this change. She considers the successes when owners allow journalists to manage their newspapers—to ensure production of quality journalism under the protection of newspaper guilds—as well as how layoffs and resource cutbacks have jeopardized quality standards.
Arguing for an integrated approach in which print and online reporting are considered complementary and visual journalism is emphasized across platforms, Nemanic suggests that there is a future for the endangered daily metro newspaper.
“ With the U.S. newspaper industry lost in the digital jungle, Nemanic’s book documents the confusion and turmoil that numerous journalists have experienced since the recession. Addressing the most important problems facing journalism through a critical review of what has taken place in newsrooms across the country, Nemanic presents compelling case studies and sobering findings. Her timely, indispensable research on the consequences of misinformed strategy highlights the need for the newspaper industry to learn from its mistakes. Metro Dailies in the Age of Multimedia Journalism is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and anyone who cares about the future of quality journalism.”
—Iris Chyi, Associate Professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and author of Trial and Error: U.S. Newspapers’ Digital Struggles toward Inferiority
“Metro Dailies in the Age of Multimedia Journalism makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on daily newspapers. Nemanic has a new take on the strategies deployed to respond to the rise of digital technologies and the market shifts that accompanied them. Nemanic’s study is unusual in that it begins with a recognition of the persistence and viability of metro dailies and includes not only rich, in-depth interviews that shed light on newsroom dynamics but also an insightful discussion of photojournalism. This is a smart, convincing book.”
—John Nerone, Professor Emeritus of Communications Research and of Media and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and author of The Media and Public Life: A History
"(A) deeply researched, well-organized, and illuminating study.... (I)t adds invaluable texture as it describes with nuance and detail how newspapers are experimenting with new ways of engaging their audiences.... Nemanic contributes greatly to the scholarship on daily newspapers and their position in the digital news environment."
—Contemporary Sociology
"Relying on more than 40 interviews conducted with journalists, Nemanic recounts the historical conversion of five U.S. metropolitan daily newspapers from print to hybrid print/online news platforms.... This well-written monograph will be a good companion and update to Roger Fidler's Mediamorphosis and Jay Bolter's Remediation . The list of references is comprehensive, and the indexing is helpful. Journalism and mass communications collections will want to add this volume.... Summing Up: Recommended."
—Choice
"In Metro Dailies in the Age of Multimedia Journalism , (Nemanic) thoroughly surveys the academic research done on the wrenching changes at newspapers and ventures out onto the front lines to interview editors and reporters in depth about them. The result is a valuable contribution to what has so far been an ill-informed debate.... She comes away convinced that there is a future for newspapers in a multimedia world.... Anyone interested in the reasons why should read Nemanic’s comprehensive study."
—Newspaper Research Journal
" This book is full of case studies on five midsize city newspapers, examining how they are adapting to the transition of primarily print to multiple different platforms.... This book is for researchers who love the transitional pieces on newspapers to multimedia or an editor who is trying to transform his newspaper."
—Communication Booknotes Quarterly
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