Online journalism as market-driven journalism.
by Elisia L. Cohen
Beginning in the mid 1990s, the news media latched onto the ability of the World Wide Web (WWW) to illustrate news stories once left to magazines, newspapers, and television news programs. News organizations and television networks built virtual newsstands carrying up-to-the-minute headlines (Lasica, 1996). Given this move toward online news production, how does the medium that enables interactive and flexible text change the way news producers disseminate information, initiate discourse to cultivate a readership, and satisfy commercial interests? Traditionally, news media have operated with a logic that treats news as a commodity that sutures audiences with established content and known sets of producers (e.g., Alger, 1998; Anderson, 1995; McChesney, 1997; Webster & Phalen, 1997). The extent to which this logic will transfer to online journalism is uncertain. Additional theorizing on patterns of news production and reproduction is important as changes in audience consumption and viewing patterns alter the news environment.
In his book, Market-Driven Journalism, John McManus (1994) predicted that technology would significantly alter the news environment and the news values journalists bring to new media. McManus maintained that the development of new media would continue to change the way information flows from information producers to consumers. Part of the technological change McManus describes has been realized in the convergence of print and broadcasting technology and advances in digital and interactive media.
The development of new communication technology vis-a-vis the Internet affords scholars the opportunity to again consider how new media will influence the ethos of professional journalism. In order to address this concern, I explore tenets of market-driven journalism to illustrate how theories of market competition and journalism production fare in the commercial environment of the WWW. By examining structural qualities of the WWW, McManus' explanation of market-driven journalism is reconsidered in light of how new technologies are being used for producing and delivering news. In the case of the WWW, it is my argument that tensions between traditional news values of print and broadcast journalism and market values become more apparent. I conclude by considering how these tensions can be reconciled with the pressures of online publishing, and I identify areas for future research.
Tenets of Market-Driven Journalism
In McManus' (1994) account of market-driven journalism, viewers and readers are transformed into customers, news into products,...

11 Of September
Walk honors Pentagon fallen
Thousands of somber marchers moved through historic Washington and across the Potomac River last evening to the Pentagon, where 184 died five years ago today when terrorists crashed a hijacked airliner into the nation's military headquarters. Shortly after sunset, 184 beams of light were projected into the clear, dark sky above the Pentagon. The lights will stay on through tonight. "When you're with people who went through the same thing you did, it's very cathartic," said Danielle Lamana, 32, of Louisiana, whose brother, Navy Lt. Michael "Scott" Lamana, was killed at the Pentagon, where he was a briefer for the chief of naval operations. "You cannot say thanks enough to the people," she said. "We remember him every day, but when other people memorialize him in some way or another, it makes you feel good." A flight officer from Baton Rouge, La., Lt. Lamana was working his usual job as a briefer for the chief of naval operations when the terrorists struck. The second annual event, called the America Supports You Freedom Walk, was led by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Marchers gathered in the afternoon at the Washington Monument, where a military chaplain led them in prayer. "I am proud to represent 2.4 million servicemen and women," Gen. Pace said. "We are here to tell the terrorists: 'Not on our watch.' " Among those joining the general were students from three D.C. schools -- Ketcham Elementary, Bertie Backus Middle and Leckie Elementary -- that lost classmates and teachers aboard American Airlines Flight 77 when hijackers crashed it into the southwest side of the Pentagon. "It is so important for us not to forget the impact that this had on our school community," Leckie Principal Clementine Homesley said. "This walk has been a wonderful experience." Of the dead, 59 were on the jetliner and 125 were in the Pentagon. "When you organize an event that brings together 15,000 people, that says we will not forget," said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense.