Page 23 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

How Widespread Is Convergence?

Media companies in Southeast Asia and Scandinavia have embraced
convergence most widely as of mid-2005. In Southeast Asia the leaders
include Star Publications in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital; the
Nation group in Thailand; Joong Ang Ilbo and the Maeil Business Group
in South Korea; the Singapore Press Holdings group, which publishes
the prestigious Straits Times newspaper; and the Ming Pao Group
in Hong Kong. Scandinavian media groups are especially advanced.
Aftonbladet and the Bonnier group are Sweden’s pioneers. Norway’s
leader is the Aftenposten; NordJyske is their Danish counterpart. The
Turun Sanomat Group in Finland represents one of the world’s leaders
in multiple-platform publishing. Editor-in-chief Ari Valjakka said the
key issue in Finland was people’s time: Individuals spent an average
of 7.5 hours a day in media-related activities. “The division of time
between all possible information channels is fierce and that’s why you
need to be involved in more than one medium.”
In Europe, the United Kingdom’s leaders are The Financial Times,
The Guardian, and the BBC. In Spain, the Marca Group captures
62 percent of the daily sports market through a combination of
the daily newspaper (circulation 564,000) and a huge Web site that 13
offered plenty of multimedia content. Other Spanish leaders are
La Vanguardia, Recoletos, El Mundo, and Grupo Correo. Giner states
that the South American leaders include Clarin in Argentina; the
Reforma Group and Televisa in Mexico; O Globo, the O Estado de
S. Paulo Group, and RBS in Brazil; El Universal in Caracas; El Caribe
in the Dominican Republic; El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico; Telefuturo
in Paraguay; El Tiempo in Colombia; and Medcom in Panama. In 2001
just over 100 newspaper companies around the world had embraced
multimedia integration. By 2004 the number had jumped to about 475.
In the United States, the pioneers have tended to be grouped in
Florida: the Tampa Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel, the Sarasota Herald-
Tribune, and Florida Today. Other leaders were The Washington Post,
The Los Angeles Times, and The Chicago Tribune. API’s convergence
tracker showed that, as of late 2004, convergence was happening in
33 of the 48 mainland states, involving about 80 relationships. Also in
2004, Howard Finberg of the Poynter Institute calculated that about
100 of the 1,457 daily newspapers in the United States had embraced
convergence. The Project for Excellence in Journalism, an institute
affiliated with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism,
published a study of the state of the American news media that year.
The study identified convergence as one of eight media trends.