The Economics of Decline in the Media Industry： Survival Strategies of American Print Media Firms and Implications for a Diminishing Print Media Industry in Nigeria

The media industry plays a central role in the emergence of a politically, socially, and economically conscious citizenry. This role has elevated the industry as a major stakeholder in the political, socio-cultural, and economic development of the people. This essential role, however, has come under serious threat following the emergence of the Digital Age, changing social trends, and a global economy that is in distress. This is the main reason this paper investigates the survival strategies adopted by the US print media industry to deal with the decline and see how the Nigerian print media industry that is facing similar decline can benefit from the strategies. The method of study is qualitative. We gathered data through in-depth interviews and on-site observation of the operations of the selected media organizations. We also reviewed literature provided by the media firms and the ones that are already in the public domain. Our findings confirm recent projections that the American and Nigerian media industries are truly facing economics of decline and that the Nigerian industry is worst hit. The study identified some of the strategies adopted by the American print media industry to deal with the economic recession to include introduction of online editions, use of pay wall, free online views, Search Engine Optimization, Micro-funding, etc. After thorough interrogation of the literature and results, we conclude that the Nigerian print media industry could apply similar strategies used in the US to address its own negative economic situation. We also recommend an upgrade in the media training curricula to address some of these concerns effectively leading to the emergence of ＂Media Entrepreneurship＂ as a course in Communication/Media Departments in Nigerian universities.

The Use and the Effects of Militaristic Elements in the Turkish Printed Sports Media

Football is a sports branch comprising a ＂human＂ factor with different aspects, such as intelligence, intuition, will, character, struggle, spectators, and balance. With the created global economic market, football is an indispensable part of our lives. It entices the masses, plays an effective role in the socio-economic destinies of societies, and directs the mass psychology of societies negatively and/or positively. The success that football clubs in Turkey attained recently in Europe and the third standing that our national football team gained in 2002 have accentuated the relationship between the printed football media and football. Today, Turkish sports journalism sometimes tends to exploit the emotions and encourages the discourses inciting violence and biases to get more readers （to increase the circulation rate） and guarantee the continuation of the attention. Many words expressing militarism are used in the headlines of sports news. In these articles, the footballers are depicted as alert soldiers and the teams as troops conditioned to victory. In the frame of both national matches and the European Cups, the militaristic elements are used through nationalistic discourses in the sports news of the printed media. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the presentation and quantity of the militaristic elements used in the news on football in newspapers. The news in the Milliyet, as a mainstream newspaper, issued in two periods, namely after the 2002 World Cup （November 1-December 31, 2002） and today （February l-March 30, 2008） will be studied through the discourse analysis method with respect to the headlines and contents. Therefore, the comments and the ideas of columnists will be excluded from the scope of this study.

The Fading away of“Asymmetry”:Electronic Media and the School’s Legitimacy Crisis

The“maturity gap”between generations is an objective fact that can only be narrowed through education.The asymmetry between generations is the anthropological base for education,and thus school education originated when this asymmetry enlarged.The print media protects this asymmetry,whereas the electronic media decrease the asymmetry,causing it to quickly fade away.However,when the asymmetry between generations fades away,the legitimacy and attraction of school education will be reduced,which is the primary reason that modern schools encounter so many crises.In the age of electronic media,schools must search for a new legitimate basis and transform into a“learning community.”

Disaster Journalism in Print Media:Analysis of the Top 10 Hydrogeomorphological Disaster Events in Portugal,1865–2015

Disaster communication guidelines emphasize that journalists should be aware of past major disasters and draw lessons from the coverage of those events.The press is an important source for the evolution of historical disaster and risk research paradigms over time.This study explored the top 10 damaging hydrogeomorphological events in Portugal selected from the disaster database,which includes events that caused human damages(fatalities,injured,missing,evacuated,and displaced)reported over a period of 151years(1865–2015)by the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias(DN).News analysis was guided by the news protocol.The analysis of the news published in DN enabled us to identify textual marks that present interconnections in the journalistic coverage and produce discursive standards for these disasters.The textual marks were associated with the hazard and risk paradigms.The discursive standards of DN did not clearly reflect the ruptures in the hazard paradigms.As a rule,the journalistic reports contributed to the naturalization of disasters and the gap in public understanding of risks,by presenting an approach focused on relief actions—ignoring social issues,vulnerability,and population resilience—reducing the discourse of preparedness for future disasters.