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Solo Project| How the Internet and smart device revolution has changed the way news are written and consumed – JOSHUA KİSAKYE

JOSHUA KISAKYE*
Khas- Data Journalism

A case study of Uganda and Turkey

With the evolution of the internet and smart devices like Laptops, pads, smart phones and Television. The way news is made has been affected by the internet and smart device. What should be noted however is that the elements of the news have not changed but the way the news are made and delivered has been drastically affected by the revolution of the internet and smart devices.

I want to begin on this by giving my personal story, before the internet era, getting printed news in my country Uganda used to be a pain for some people in the far remote districts where the printed news at times could reach there a day or two later. For example a newspaper meant for Friday reaches some places either on Saturday or Sunday. Precisely they could get the news when some of them are already expired.

I remember one time when the university entrance results were released I was deep in the village and there was an announcement over the radio that the results are out and printed in the daily monitor newspapers. I had to board a bus the next morning to get to the nearest town and access a copy so that I could get to know my results. This was a two hours journey but specifically to get a printed newspaper. Imagine the situation. It was a hustle. This kind of scenario was time wasting, expensive and tiresome all in the name of getting a newspaper. Very many other related If not similar cases happened before the internet and smart device revolution in my country.

The personal devices powered by the internet are used to read news, to report news, talk, text, play games, take photos, watch television, play music, shop, exchange emails, do banking, monitor fitness levels, wake us up in the mornings connect you to social media Skype your friends etc. They are designed in an interactive manner so the people like that feature about them.

According to the expert  Mr. Frank Tumwebaze the Minister of information and communication in Uganda, that I spoke to about this trend, he referred me to the quote made by Bill Gates:

“Paper is no longer a big part of my day. I get 90% of my news online, and when I go to a meeting and want to jot things down, I bring my Tablet PC. It’s fully synchronized with my office machine so I have all the files I need. Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO”

The expert was like the way news are being produced now are changing gradually because the recipents are now running for interactive news which they instantly get on their phones. He also said that with the smart phones and devices, they are not only consumers but they are also producers. They are part of the news being produced. (Prosumers).

For example according to the Contemporary Media Use in Turkey  

Nationally, Turkish media consumers fall into three basic groups: About half (48.0%) tend to only watch TV news; about one-third (32.0%) mostly watch TV and use the Internet to get news, and two in 10 (20.0%) are “super users” who get news from a variety of media platforms. Super-users are more likely to be male, young, highly educated, and to live in urban areas. Slightly more than half (51.9%) of this super-user group is made up of 15- to 24-year-olds, more than one-third (35.3%) are aged 25 to 34, while 11.0% are aged 35 to 54.

Source Broadcasting Board of Governors GALLUP.

This is illustrated in the pie chart below for the year 2016

This kind of trend has increased the demand and consumption of smart devices and the subscription to the Internet system.

This trend has been illustrated in the graph below

In the bar graph illustrated below, it shows that the demand and consumption of smart phones world wide is on the raise. for example in 2012, there were 1.57 Billion smart phone users in 2016, there were 2.1 billion smart phone users and by 2018 it is expected that there will be 2.53 smart phone users. it has been escalated to be 2.87 billion smart phone users: This trend shows that the demand is so high and ever increasing. Just the way Bill gates put it in the quote above, people use this smart devices to acces news and some use them report news as citzen journalists.

As of now people are getting news instantly on their smart phones because the journalists are also changing the way the news are being produced and broadcast. This kind of trend has increased the demand and consumption of smart phones and devices especially telephones.

 

The consumption for online news is constantly increasing hence the high demand for smart devices.

As much as the number of people using internet to access news both in Uganda and Turkey is increasing, this seems to be among the elites and the young generation.

According to the expert Mr Frank Tumwebaze that  i spoke to from the ministry of Information and communication, he informed me that as much as the people in the cities are using the internet to access news, there are those in the remote areas who dont even have access to internet services. so they rely on Television, Radio and printed news papers.

 

This trend is illustrated in the line graph below

In the line grapgh below, it shows the number of internet users for the two countries Turkey and Uganda. Despite the differences in population the number of Internet users in both countries is Increasing and according to a focous group of Ugandan students in Turkey (Adam from Istanbul University, Ibrahim from Yeditepe University and Fahad from Haceteppe University) that i spoke to about the way how the Internet and smart device Technology has changed the way news are being produced and consumed,  they comfirmed to me that basing on the way news are being produced, they no longer need to buy a news paper because even when the stories are still being develped, they are ble to access them. Fahad is a journalism student but he said he uses his smart phone to access all the news that he needs.

However, as the methods of providing news have changed, so have the providers. While in the past, journalists and reporters would present stories to the public that were extensively researched and fact-checked to ensure accuracy and maintain accountability, now there is an increasing pressure to distribute news stories as quickly as possible to avoid being pre-empted by the blogs.

Unfortunately, the quality of the news is suffering.( https://sites.google.com/site/newsoutletsandtheinternet/)

My findings are that as the smart device and internet revolution continues, the highest percentage of people will be using their smart devices for consuming news. This can be evidenced from the high consumption and demand for smart phones projected to 2020 as shown in the graph above.

 


REFERENCE AND SOURCES:

  1. Smartphone Ownership and Internet Usage

http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/02/22/smartphone-ownership-and-internet-usage-continues-to- climb-in-emerging-economies/

    1. Goggin ,Gerard (2006) cellphone culture: Mobile Technology in the everyday life
    2. Ministry of information and communication
    3. Uganda Bureau of statistics.
    4. Giddens Anthony (1990) the social consquences of moderanity.
    5. How the internet has changed the way news are delivered.

Source Broadcasting Board of Governors GALLUP

https://sites.google.com/site/newsoutletsandtheinternet/

 

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