Online News: Between Market and Public Subsidy

Stig Hjarvard (University of Copenhagen) and Aske Kammer (University of Southern Denmark) have published an article in Media, Culture & Society on the changing economy of online news: the introduction of subscription for online news media and a new law on press subsidy.

The main findings are:

• The various ’pay walls’ in Danish news media have generally not reduced web traffic but the subscription income may not compensate for the declining circulation of print news.
• The new ‘platform neutral’ subsidy law for the press is seen as a first step toward rethinking the entire press subsidies system.
• Taken together, developments pose serious challenges to the printed press: on the one hand, no viable business model seems ready to replace the old one; on the other hand, a reorientation of the regulatory system, which subsidizes the press, seems under way.
• Despite the global nature of ongoing transformation (digitalization and commercialization), national particularities continue to influence developments and reflect continued support for the Danish media model (exemplary of the so-called ‘democratic corporatist model’).

CLICK for direct access to the article:
Stig Hjarvard and Aske Kammer: “Online news: between private enterprise and public subsidy”, Media Culture Society, Sage, published online 19 November 2014. DOI: 10.1177/0163443714553562

Contact the authors:

Stig Hjarvard, Professor, Ph.D., Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen, phone: + 45 23477861 / +45 35328113, email: stig@hum.ku.dk

Aske Kammer, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Centre for Journalism, University of Southern Denmark, Phone: +45 65508362 / +45 30295261, email: kammer@journalism.sdu.dk