How has the newspaper industry maximised profits in response to technological changes?

How has the newspaper industry maximised profits in response to technological changes?

The newspaper industry maximises profit through ownership. Rupert Murdoch , who owns The Times, also owns a lot of other companies. Here we could apply the theory of Media Institutions by Hesmondhalgh, this states that the idea that cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise their demographics through vertical and horizontal integration. Rupert Murdoch does this effectively in horizontal integration through The Sun and The Times. This allows him to influence the gatekeeper in his political bias and publish this in a broadsheet and a tabloid, which targets a more middle class audience but also a working class audience. Ownership doesn't only influence the print based sector but online and television sector. As Murdoch owns Sky, this allows him, again, to influence the way the news is broadcasted on Sky News, this is vertical integration as the same message is being portrayed through a different medium. During the breaks of the broadcasts, Murdoch promotes more of his other products through adverts, (convergence).

Another way that the newspaper industry maximises profit through technological changes is online technology. As technology is advancing , the newspaper, print industry is loosing profit. Social media has had a huge impact as it is more flexible and has more availability. This targets a wider demographic as a lot of people don't have the time to buy newspapers and can access the news everywhere from a device they always carry everywhere. The negative impacts of having an online resource of news, means they have less control on what is published and they make less profit. Newspapers are forced to have a "perfect" website or app but also keep the formal lexis they have in their print based work.

The Times battles the social media craze by making their online website a similar format to a conventional print broadsheet newspaper. They have kept their lexis formal and haven't compromised it to become more informal due to the way the text is distributed. The layout is quite simple and doesn't have many options to navigate the site. The downside of this is that there is a lack of audience feedback, this can effect the views of the broadsheet. As The Times's target audience is 40 years or above, having the website can damage how many of these view the broadsheet as conventionally people around that age don't know how to use technology.