| Code | 316Y |
| Title | Substitute or Complement? Hong Kong Students' Motives And Patterns of Using Online and Print Newspapers |
| Author |
Janice Ka Yee
WONG Peter Yui Chi YUEN |
| Affiliation | School of Journalism and Communication, New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Abstract | Before the rise of online news, readers needed to wait for news to be delivered according to well-defined cycles of news gathering and publication. News editors and publishers also took the role of gatekeepers, setting the news agenda for readers. However, with the rise of news on the Internet, readers can actively search for online news without previous limitations of time and space. Consumption of news on the Internet is active and readers can visit sites they want any time of the day to receive up-to-date information on any topic they choose. Furthermore, they can receive different news angles from a variety of sources. This demonstrates McLuhan's famous thesis that "the medium is the message" (1964), which proclaiming that the psychosocial effects of media on audiences far outweigh the effects of message content. In 2000, there were over 4,000 online newspapers worldwide and by 2002, this has risen to over 5,000 daily, weekly and other online news sources. Cyber Daily in Hong Kong and Salon.com in the U.S. are examples of Web-only news services. On the demand side, the use of online services and information resources has also increased rapidly with an estimated 167.9 million people in the Asia/Pacific region going online by the middle of 2002. In recent years, online newspapers have been considered either a threat to existing print newspapers or as a complement to them. However, the relationship between online and print newspapers has not been studied in depth. A quantitative survey of 991 university students in Hong Kong was conducted to ascertain whether online newspapers serve as complements or substitutes to their offline counterparts based upon self-reported changes in usage patterns as well as an examination of the uses and gratifications of both media. Students were chosen as the target sample as they consisted of a computer literature trend-leading group, who represent the probable future of news consumption. A number of questions were addressed in this study: 1.) What are the demographic determinants of online and offline newspaper reading? 2.) What are the gratifications readers associate with online and print newspapers? 3.) What are the usage patterns for online and print newspapers? 4.) How do readers' online newspaper reading affect the use of other traditional media? Work in progress suggests that based on the uses and gratifications framework, nine (9) gratifications for online newspapers were found: interactivity, pass time, escape/relaxation, fashion, convenience, economy, readability, up-dating frequency and entertainment and eight (8) gratifications from print newspapers were found: escape/relaxation, mobility, pass time, fashion, entertainment, habit, tangibility and surveillance. Additionally, usage patterns showed little evidence of substitution, with the use of online newspapers and print newspapers satisfied different needs. Such findings suggest that online and print newspapers are complementary and the use of online newspapers might not lead to a decreasing demand for print newspapers in the longer term. Instead, the two kinds of newspapers will exist together to provide more satisfactions to readers. |