ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPERS ON THE INTERNET:

A study of the production and consumption of

Arab dailies on the World Wide Web.

Thesis submitted for the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy

to the Departmentof Journalism Studies
University of Sheffield

By

FayezA. Alshehri

July 2000
 Dedication

This thesis is dedicatedto fond memories of my mother,

to
and my father for his in
steadfastsupport all my endeavours.

ii
Abstract

With the spreadof the Internet in the Arab world, many Arab publishers and governments'

media bodies have begun to utilise websites in their outreach programmes. This thesis
examines the subject of Arab e-newspaperson the Internet. Specifically, it focuses on
readersof these publications and explores their use of this new news medium and their
overall satisfaction with it. To supplement this analysis, data were also collected from
e-newspaperpublishers about their practices and about the content of their Internet news
services. The methodology included online surveysof readersand publishers, content and
format analysis of newspapers' websites, and face-to-face interviews with some Arab
journalists. The researchwas restricted to Internet daily publications published by Arab

publishers in Arabic and English, though its results may have wider implications. It was
also restricted temporally to a specific time period, meaning that events in this rapidly
changingnew technology environment may quickly overtake the situation as elucidated in
this work. In this respect,the findings do not reflect the impact of the new browsers that
were introduced in late 1999, such as Microsoft's multi-language browser (Internet
Explorer version 5), which will revolutionise the way people, read Internet content. The

most important trend that has been identified is the major move of eNisting Arab printed
newspaperstowards online publishing in most Arab countries. Some of them just present
part of their printed product (a selection of the daily content), others offer all of their
content but, in most casesthey appearin the sameoptical format as in the printed version.
Yet, despite the urgency to get on the Internet, the findings reveal that most publishers did

not have clear online publishing strategies and most of them were unaware of the
seriousnessof the Internet to their traditional business. This study revealed that the
demographic profile of Arab e-newspapers' readers was similar, in many ways, to

readership profiles found for Internet users in the non-Arab World, in terms of age,
occupation and level of education. The keys to reader loyalty and satisfaction are found in
the easewith which online news can be accessedand explored, and the extent to which it
is updated.

iii
 Acknowledgments

As this chapter of my life comes to an end I praise Almighty 411ahfor giving me the

strengthand patience I neededto accomplish this project.

There can be no doubt but that this thesis would not have been possible without the

generouscontributions of the following people:

First and foremost, Professor Barrie Gunter my supervisor: thank you very much for

your thoughtful guidance and encouragement.Without your support, boundlesspatience

and constructive criticism this work would never have been achieved. A good share of
any strengthsin the thesis can be traced to your influence. I am ever grateful to you.
My thanks extend to all the lecturers, secretaries,and colleagues in the Department of
Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield, for the excellent help I received
throughout my years in Sheffield.
Obviously, the project could not have been implemented without the cooperation of many

other people. I am delighted to acknowledgetheir contributions to this thesis:

Mr. Turki Alsudairi Mr. Nasir Alsirami (al-Riyadh newspaper), Mr. Abdulaziz
,
Almansour Mr. Abdulatief Alateeq (al-Jazirah newspaper), Dr Emad Bachier Dr.
,
Bijan Kani (al-Hayat newspaper) and Mr. Mohammad Alagha (al-Sharq 41-awsat

newspaper) for their generosity in sharing their views and experience on the online
world. My sincere thanks are also extended to Dr Othman Alhokail and Mr. Saud
Alhjiri, for hosting my readers'survey bannerson their websites. Also, a huge thank you
to all of the 1200 respondentsand the 27 publishers who took time out of their lives to
help form the essenceof this thesis.
Special thanks go to Maj. General Mohammad Altoyaan, General Dr. Ibrahim
Altokhais and General Abdulrahman Alfadda for their kind and continuous support.
Also I would like to thank Mr. Abdullah AI-Nasir, the Saudi Cultural Attach6 in London,

and his staff for their fruitful cooperationwith me throughout the course of my study. And
last, but not least, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my father, my
brothers and sisters and to the many family members and friends who have provided

much emotional support during the course of my degree,and to my wife Um Abdullah,

for her never-failing support and to apologise to my children, Abdullah and Omar, for

spending so many hours in my office away from them. I hope I can make up the lost time
with you.

iv
 Contents
Dedication ii
...........................................................................................................................

Abstract iii
............................................................................................................................

Acknowledgments iv
..............................................................................................................

List of Tables xi
......................................................................................................................

List of Figures xiii

..................................................................................................................

List of Appendices xiv

...........................................................................................................

Abbreviations and acronyms used in the study xv

.................................................................

Preface 20
...........................................................................................................................

ChapterOne: The Internet and News Delivery 25

.................................................................

1.1 Introduction 25
...........................................................................................................

1.2 New Medium, New Businesses 26

.............................................................................

1.3 Electronic Delivery of News and Infonnation ......................................................

32

1.3.1 EARLYHISTORY OFE-NEWS 34

............................................................................................
1.3.2 INTERNET NEwsSERVICES 37
..............................................................................................
1.3.2.1 Push Technology 42
..................................................................................................
1.3.2.2 News Websites (Pull Technology) 44
.......................................................................
1.3.2.3 Electronic Newspapers 46
........................................................................................
1.3.2.4 Growth of Electronic Newspapers 47
........................................................................
1.3.2.5 Differences Between Printed and Electronic Newspaper 52
....................................
1.3.2.5.1 Format and Design 52
...............................................................................................
1.3.2.5.2 Content 53
.................................................................................................................
1.3.2.5.3 Ease of Access 53
.....................................................................................................
1.3.2.5.4 Immediacy 54
............................................................................................................
1.3.2.5.5 Interactivity 54
...........................................................................................................
1.3.2.5.6 Cost 55
......................................................................................................................
1.4 Journalists in the Electronic Era 56
............................................................................

V
I

1.5 Electronic Newspapers- Is There A Potential? 60

....................................................

1.6 Summary 67
...............................................................................................................

ChapterTwo: The Arab Pressand New Technology 68

........................................................

2.1 Introduction 68
...........................................................................................................

2.2 Trends and Developments in Arab Newspapers 70

...................................................

2.3 Stateof the Market 76

................................................................................................

2.4 Internet Technology in the Arab World 80

................................................................

2.5 ObstaclesFacing Internet Usage in The Arab World 81

...........................................
POLICIESAND SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE 82
2.5.1 GOVERNMENT ..........................................................
84
2.5.2 ILLITERACY
.....................................................................................................................
2.5.3 COST85
86
2.5.4 LANGUAGE
......................................................................................................................
INFRASTRUCTURE 86
2.5.5
...........................................................................................................

2.6 87
Arab Electronic Newspapers.................................................................................

2.6.1 POTENTIAL
Ic NEWSPAPERS'
ARAB ELECTRON 90
..................................................................

2.7 Summary 92
...............................................................................................................

ChapterThree: ResearchMethodology 94
............................................................................

3.1 Introduction 94
...........................................................................................................

3.2 Reasonsfor Research 94

............................................................................................

3.3 ResearchProblem 97
..................................................................................................

3.4 ResearchObjectives 98
..............................................................................................

3.5 PrincipalResearchQuestions 99
................................................................................
3.5.1 &NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER WEB-BASED SERVICES QUESTIONS 99
......................................
3.5.2 PUBLISHERS' QUESTIONS 100
..............................................................................................
3.5.3 READERs'GENERAL INTERNETUSE 100
...............................................................................
3.5.4 ARAB ONLINE NEWSPAPERSAND THEIR READERS 100
..........................................................

vi
3.6 ResearchDesign loo
..................................................................................................

3.7 Readers'survey 102

...................................................................................................
3.7.1 MAIN(READERS)SURVEY 105
.............................................................................................
3.7.1.1 QUESTIONNAIRE 107
............................................................................................................
THEONLINEFORM.......................................................................................
3.7.1.2 DESIGNING 110

READERSTOTHESURVEYWEBSITE
3.7.1.3 ATTRACTING 112
...........................................................

3.8 Publishers' and Editors' Survey 113

..........................................................................
3.8.1 IMPLEMENTATION 115
..........................................................................................................
3.9 Websites (Content) Analysis 116
...............................................................................

3.10 Summary 120

.............................................................................................................

ChapterFOUR: Conceptual Issuesand Electronic News Publishing 121

............................

4.1 Introduction 121

.........................................................................................................

4.2 Theory of Communications 122

.................................................................................

4.3 127
The Need for Theoretical Evolution ...................................................................

4.4 Intemet as 'Mass' Medium 129

.................................................................................

4.5 Defining the Communicative Nature of the Internet...........................................135

4.6 The Intemet and Newspapers 141

..............................................................................

4.6.1 GROWTHOF &NEWSPAPERMARKET 143

.............................................................................
4.6.2 OF ELECTRONIC
ECONOMICS PUBLISHING
NEWSPAPER 145
..................................................
4.6.3 ANDPUBLISHERS
VIEWSOF PRACTITIONERS 147
..................................................................
4.6.4 THE CONTENTOF &NEWSPAPERS 159
................................................................................
4.6.5 READERSANDE-NEWSPAPERS 163
.....................................................................................

4.7 Summary 167

.............................................................................................................

ChapterFive: Analysis of Newspapers'Websites and Other Web-basedServices 169

........

5.1 Introduction 169

.........................................................................................................

5.2 Analysis of Newspapers'Websites 173

.....................................................................

vii
 5.2.1 COUNTRIES
OFISSUE 174
....................................................................................................
5.2.2 NEWSPAPERS'LANGUAGES 175
...........................................................................................
5.2.3 ARABICTExTFORMAT 176
...................................................................................................
5.2.3.1 Background 176
........................................................................................................
5.2.3.2 Analysis of Arab Newspapers Text Format 182
........................................................
5.2.4 SERVICES 182
.....................................................................................................................
5.2.4.1Archive Services 183
.................................................................................................
5.2.4.2 InteractionWith Readers 184
....................................................................................
5.2.5 DOMAIN NAMES 184
............................................................................................................
5.3 Online Newspapersand Other Web-basedServices(Research)Questions 186
........
5.3.1 How MANYARAB DAILYNEWSPAPERS
EXISTONTHENET? WHEREARETHEYISSUED
FROM?(Ql) 187
............................................................................................................................
5.3.2 WHAT ARETHETECHNICAL FORMATSOFTHESEPAPERS?How CANTHE USERREADTHEM?
(Q2) 189
............................................................................................................................
5.3.3 Is THEREANY CHARGEFORTHEPRESSSERVICES?How is IT COLLECTED?(Q3) 192
.........
5.3.4 DO THEYHAVECOMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS? HOWARETHEYPRESENTED? (Q4) 194
.....
5.3.5 WHAT OTHERNEWSSERVICESAREAVAILABLETo ARAB USERSOFTHEINTERNET?(Q5)196
5.3.5.1 INTRODUCTION 196
..............................................................................................................
5.3.5.2 WEB-BASEDNEWSSITES 197
..............................................................................................
5.3.5.3 ARABANDARABICNEWSAGENCIESONTHEINTERNET 201
...................................................
5.3.5.4 ONLINETV & RADIOSTATIONS 207
.....................................................................................
5.3.5.4.1 INTRODUCTION 207
.....................................................................................................
5.3.5.4.2 ONLINEARABICTV ANDRADIOSTATIONS 209
.............................................................

5.4 Discussion 211

...........................................................................................................

Chapter Six: Publishers' Survey and Editors Interviews 214

.................................................

6.1 Introduction 214

.........................................................................................................
6.1.1 ARAB NEWSPAPERS FIRSTAPPEARANCE ONTHEINTERNET 216
............................................
6.1.2 ONLINENEWSPAPERS STAFF 217
.........................................................................................
6.1.3 VISITORSMEASUREMENT METHODS 218
..............................................................................
6.1.4 SUBSCRIPTION FEESPOLICIES 219
.......................................................................................
6.1.5 WHAT IS THE IMPACTOF ELECTRONIC VERSIONONTHEPRINTNEWSPAPER?(Q6) 221
..........
6.1.6 WHAT CONTENTDO THEYPUT INTHEELECTRONIC NEWSPAPER? (Q7) 222
..........................
6.1.7 WHAT SERVICESDOTHEYOFFERTO VISITORS?(Q8) 224
....................................................
6.1.8 ARE THEREPRINTEDVERSIONSOFTHESEPUBLICATIONS? (Q9) 226
....................................
6.2 Editors Interviews 228
...............................................................................................

viii
I

6.2.1 INTRODUCTION
.......................................................
228
.......................................................
6.2.2 PARTICIPANTS' PROFILE
.........................................
228
.......................................................
6.2.3 PROFITABILITY
.......................................................
229
.......................................................
6.2.4 NEWSPAPERS OLD AND NEW
..................................
233
.......................................................
a
V. 1)
r-. Ijr Tut= lKrrcoKir: -r
II I" III I "N. - ........................................................................... 235
..................................
6.2.6 OBSTACLES 236
............................................................................... ..................................
6.2.7 STRATEGIES T47
..............................................................................
6.2.8 STAFFING 239
.................................................................................. ..................................
6.3 Discussion 241
...........................................................................................................

244
ChapterSeven: ReadersGeneralInternet Use ...............................................................

7.1 Introduction 244

.........................................................................................................
7.2 SAMPLE ANALYSIS 246
.........................................................................................................
7.2.1 DEMOGRAPHICS.WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICSOF THE READERS OF ONLINE

NEWSPAPERS? (Q10) 247

................................................................................................................
7.2.1.1 Age 247
.....................................................................................................................
7.2.1.2 Gender 248
...............................................................................................................
7.2.1.3 Occupation 248
.........................................................................................................
7.2.1.4 Nationality 249
...........................................................................................................
7.2.1.5 Country 249
...............................................................................................................
7.2.2 CONNECTIVITY. WHAT GENERAL USE Do &NEWSPAPER READERS MAKE OF THE INTERNET?

(Ql 1) 252
............................................................................................................................
7.2.2.1 Experience of the Internet 252
..................................................................................
7.2.2.2 Internet Equipment 255
.............................................................................................
7.2.3 ASA SOURCEOF NEWS
WHAT ARETHEATTITUDESOFARABUSERSTOWARDSTHEINTERNET

ANDINFORMATION?(Q 12) 257

.........................................................................................................
7.2.3.1 Main Use Of The Internet 259
...................................................................................

7.3 Discussion 261

...........................................................................................................

ChapterEight: Arab Online Newspapersand Their Readers 265

..........................................
8.1 INTRODUCTION 265
..............................................................................................................
8.2 WHAT ISTHEFREQUENCY OF READING&NEWSPAPERSANDWHATARETHEMOSTREADABLE
(Q13)
NEWSPAPERS? 268
................................................................................................................
8.2.1 Frequency of Reading Internet Newspapers 268
..........................................................
8.2.2 Electronic and Printed Arab Daily Newspaper Readership 269
....................................
8.2.3 Most Important Thing about Arab Internet Newspaper 271
..........................................
8.3 WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR READING ONLINE NEWSPAPERS 272
............................................

ix
 8.3.1 Most Common Problems Experienced with Online Arab Newspapers (Q14) 273
........
8.4 READERS'SATISFACTIONANDEVALUATION OF &NEWSPAPERS(Q15) ............................ 275
8.4.1 What Readers Like Most and Least about Internet Newspapers? 275
.........................
8.4.2 Overall Satisfaction in Reading Arab Dailies on the Internet 275
.................................
8.5 OF ONLINENEWSPAPER
CORRELATES CONSUMPTION
ANDSATISFACTION 276
.......................
8.6 Predictors of Overall Use and Satisfaction 278
.............................................................
8.7 FREQUENCYOF READING ELECTRONICARAB NEWSPAPERS 279
...........................................
8.8 SATISFACTIONWITH ELECTRONICARAB NEWSPAPERS 280
...................................................
8.9 DISCUSSION 281
..................................................................................................................

ChapterNine: Discussion and Conclusions 284

....................................................................

9.1 Discussion 284

...........................................................................................................
9.1.1 ONLINENEWSPAPERS 288
...................................................................................................
9.1.2 THINKGLOBALLY,ACT LOCALLY 289
....................................................................................
9.1.3 CONTENTvs. DESIGN 291
...................................................................................................
9.1.4 OF &NEWSPAPERS...................................................................
READERS'EVALUATION 294
9.1.5 REVENUE 297
......................................................................................................................
9.1.6 IMPACTOF ELECTRONIC VERSION 299
.................................................................................
9.1.7 SERVICES 300
.....................................................................................................................
9.1.7.1 ARCHIVE 300
.......................................................................................................................
9.1.7.2 CUSTOMIZED NEWS 301
.......................................................................................................
9.1.7.3 INTERACTIVITY 301
..............................................................................................................
9.1.7.4 E-MAIL 302
..........................................................................................................................
9.1.7.5 OTHERSERVICES 302
..........................................................................................................

9.1.8 Future 303

..............................................................................................................

9.2 Conclusions 305

.........................................................................................................

9.3 Limitations 311

..........................................................................................................

9.4 Suggestionsfor Further Research 312

.......................................................................

References 315
.......................................................................................................................

T
Ip endices 344
......................................................................................................................

x
List of Tables

TABLE 1: INTERNETUSERSGROWTHBY REGION 48

............................................................................................
TABLE 2: ONLINE NEWSPAPERSBy REGIONAS OFFEBRUARY 18,2000 51
........................................................
TABLE 3: CIRCULATION OF DAILY NEWSPAPERS IN THE ARAB WORLD COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES 77
...

TABLE 4: ADULT ILLITERACY RATES: ESTIMATESFOR 1995 78

. ........................................................................
TABLE 5: MEDIA ADVERTISINGEXPENDITURESIN THE ARAB WORLD 79
..........................................................

TABLE 6: NUMBER OF INTERNETUSERSIN THE ARAB WORLD 81

......................................................................

TABLE 7: COMMUNICATIONS,INFORMATION,AND SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY 82

...........................................

TABLE 8: ARABIC COMPUTERCODES 178

...........................................................................................................

TABLE 9: TEXT FORMAT 182

...............................................................................................................................

USEOFSIMILAR-SOUNDINGDOMAIN NAMES................................... 186

TABLE 10: ExAmPLES OFNEWSPAPERS

TABLE 11: &NEWSPAPERSCOUNTRYOFORIGIN 188

..........................................................................................

TABLE 12: ARABIC WEB-BASEDNEWSSITES 198

................................................................................................

TABLE 13: ARABIC ONLINENEWSAGENCIES 204

................................................................................................

TABLE 14: ONLINE TV AND RADIO STATIONSAS OF APRIL 2000 208

.................................................................
TABLE 15: ARAB AND ARABIC RADIO STATIONS ON THE WEB 209
.....................................................................

TABLE 16: ARABIC TV STATIONS ON THE WEB 210

............................................................................................

TABLE 17: WHEN DID YOUR NEWSPAPER FIRST PUT UP A WEBSITE? 217
.............................................................

TABLE 18: METHODS USED TO MEASURE DAILY VISITORS TO THE ONLINE NEWSPAPER 219
. ..............................

TABLE 19: SUBSCRIPTION FEES FOR ACCESS TO NEWSPAPER SITE 221

. ...............................................................

TABLE 20: THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET EDITION ON THE PRINTED NEWSPAPER 221
........................................

TABLE 2 1: NUMBER OF STAFF WORK ONLY ON THE &NEWSPAPER AND CONTENT SIZE RELATIONS 223
..............

TABLE 22: NEWSPAPERS TEXT FORMAT AND CONTENT SIZE RELATIONS 224
......................................................

TABLE 23: SERVICES OFFERED IN ARAB NEWSPAPERS WEBSITES 226

.................................................................

TABLE 24: INTERVIEW PARTICIPANTS'PROFILE 229

............................................................................................

TABLE 25: THE APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF DAILY VISITORS TO SOME ARAB &NEWSPAPERS 242
.......................

TABLE 26: NATIONALITIES OF RESPONDENTS TO THE SURVEY 250

.....................................................................

TABLE 27: WHERE DO YOU LIVE NOW? 251

........................................................................................................

xi
TABLE 28: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN USING THE INTERNET? 252
....................................................................

TABLE 29: TOP 12 NATIONALITY OF RESPONDENTS * INTERNET EXPERIENCE CROSSTABULATION

253
............................................................................................................................................................

TABLE 30: Top 12 NATIONALITY OF RESPONDENTS

* TIME SPENTPERINTERNETSESSION 254
..........................

TABLE 3 1: INTERNETEXPERIENCEAND TIME SPENTONLINE 254

........................................................................

TABLE 32: AGE GROUP* ACCESSTHE INTERNETEVERYWEEKCROSSTABULATION 255

....................................

TABLE 33: ATTITUDESTOWARDSTHE INTERNET 258

.........................................................................................

TABLE 34: Top 12 NATIONALITY AND THEIRRATINGOF INTERNETSOURCESIMPORTANCE 259

........................

TABLE 35: IMPORTANCEOFINTERNETSOURCES

ACCORDINGTO GENDERAND LEVEL OF EDUCATION 259
.........

TABLE 3 6: MAIN USEOFTHE INTERNET 260

.......................................................................................................

TABLE 37: NEWSPAPERSREAD MOST OFTEN 270

..............................................................................................

TABLE 38: CIRCULATIONOF,4L-H,4Y,4TNEWSPAPER(1999) 271

.........................................................................

TABLE 39: MOST COMMONPROBLEMSEXPERIENCED

WITH ARAB ONLINENEWSPAPERS 274
.............................

TABLE 40: EVALUATION OF SERVICEQUALITY OF ARAB &NEWSPAPERS 274

.....................................................

TABLE 4 1: CORRELATIONSOF &NEWSPAPERSVS. AND SATISFACTION 277

........................................................

TABLE 42: CRITERIONVARIABLE: FREQUENCYOF READINGELECTRONICARAB NEWSPAPERS 279

...................

TABLE 43: CRITERIONVARIABLE: SATISFACTIONWITH ELECTRONICARAB NEWSPAPERS 280

...........................

xii
List of Figures

FIGURE 1: THE INTERNET THE COVER STORY OF WORLD'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS MAGAZINES 27
- .......

FIGURE2: INTERNETNEWS SERVICES 41

............................................................................................................

FIGURE3: GROWTHOF ONLINENEWSPAPERS

WORLDWIDE 49
...........................................................................

FIGURE4: THE MIT MEDIA LAB's CONSTRUCTOF CONVERGENCE 131

.............................................................

FIGURE5: INTERNETCOMPOUNDANNUAL GROWTHRATES, 1990-1998, AND NUMBER OFYEARS TO REACH

50 MILLION USERS 133

. ............................................................................................................................

FIGURE6: LANGUAGE OFTHE NEWSPAPER 175

...................................................................................................

FIGURE7: DIFFERENTARABIC LETTERSHAPES 177

............................................................................................

FIGURE8: AL-RiYADH NEWSPAPERIN HTML FORMAT 179

...............................................................................

FIGURE9: GIF (SCANNED)FORMATFORTHE FRONTPAGEOFTHE KUWAITI DAILY AL-SEASSAH 180

. ................

FIGURE 10: ALHAYAT IN PDF (PORTABLEDOCUMENTFORMAT) 181

................................................................

FIGURE 11: ARCHIVES SERVICE 183

....................................................................................................................

FIGURE 12: INTERACTIVECOMMUNICATIONS 184

...............................................................................................

FIGURE 13: COUNTRIESWHEREONLINENEWSPAPERS

PUBLISHED................................................................ 188

FIRSTAPPEARANCEON THE INTERNET(YEAR)

FIGURE 14: ARAB NEWSPAPER
.............................................
216

FIGURE 15: No. OF STAFFWORKONLY ON THE INTERNETEDITION 218

..............................................................

FIGURE 16: WHAT CONTENTSYOURWEBSITEINCLUDES? 223

............................................................................

FIGURE 17: AGE GROUPSOFRESPONDENTS 248

..................................................................................................

FIGURE 18: OCCUPATIONSOF RESPONDENTS 249

...............................................................................................

FIGURE 19: LEVEL OF EDUCATION 251

................................................................................................................

FIGURE20: MONEY SPENTON INTERNETSERVICESEVERYMONTH 257

..............................................................

FIGURE2 1: MAIN USEOFTHE INTERNETACCORDINGTO OCCUPATION 260

........................................................

FIGURE22: WILLINGNESSTO PAY FEES 272

........................................................................................................

FIGURE23: MAIN CHALLENGESTo ARAB &NEWSPAPERS 309

............................................................................

xiii
List of Appendices

APPENDIXA: ARAB WORLD POLITICAL MAP 344

..............................................................................................

APPENDIXB: ARAB READERSONLINE SURVEYFORM 345

.................................................................................

APPENDIXC: COUNTRIESOF VISITORSTo THE 'ARAB MEDIA GUIDEWEBSITE 351

..........................................

APPENDIXD: PUBLISHERS'ONLINE SURVEY(HARD COPY) 352

.........................................................................

APPENDIXE: ARAB ELECTRONICNEWSPAPERPART I................................................................................. 356

APPENDIXF: ARAB ELECTRONICNEWSPAPERPART H................................................................................ 357

APPENDIXG: PUBLISHERS'COMMENTS 358

.......................................................................................................

APPENDIXH: NEWSPAPER'SWEBSITEANALYSIS FORM 359

...............................................................................

APPENDIX1: EDITORS'INTERVIEWS:QUESTIONGUIDE 360

................................................................................

APPENDIXJ: SOFTWAREAND PLUG-INS 363

.......................................................................................................

BANNERSRATES
APPENDIXK: SAMPLESOF SOME ONLINE NEWSPAPERS 365
...................................................

x1v
Abbreviations and acronyms used in the study

ACROBAT The type of program needed for viewing PDF files.

Arab(s) The term 'Arab' refers to the (Semitic) people living,

nowadays,in the vast areaextending from the Arab Gulf

to the Atlantic Oceanwho are linked by a common

(Arabic) languageand historical ties to the Arabian

Peninsula.However, Arabs are not a homogeneousgroup;

they consist of people from different nationalities,

religions, customs,cultural interests and socio-economic

backgrounds.They constitute most of the population of

the Arab World (seeArab World). Arab communities are

also found in
elsewhere the world. Estimatesof the total

Arab population range from 220 to 250 million. The great

majority of Arabs are Muslims.

ARAB WORLD Includes members of the Arab League which is a pan-

ARAB COUNTRIES Arab regional organization set up on 22 March 1945 in

ARABLEAGUE
response to Arab aspiration for unity and independence.

Its seven founder members are Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon,

Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Yemen, the only

independent Arab states at that time. Over the years the

League's membership expanded and now includes 22

xv
 members,including; Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti,

Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine,

Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, and United Arab

Emirates.

BANNER The graphic that appearsat the top of a Web Page

BROWSER A Client program (software) that is used to look at various

kinds of Internet resources.

CGI Common Gateway Interface -A set of rules that describe

how a Web Server communicates with another piece of

software on the samemachine, and how the other piece of

software (the "CGI program") talks to the web server.

CYBERSPACE Currently used to describe the vast range of infonnation

resourcesavailable through computer networks. The term

was coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel,

Neuromancer.

DOMAIN NAME The unique name that identifies an Internet site.

DOWNLOADS Typically sound, image, or video files that are

downloaded from a page and transferred to a user's

computer from the server.

E-MAIL (Electronic Mail) -- Messages,usually text, sent from one

person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent

automatically to a large number of addresses(Mailing

List).

E-COMMERCE: (EC) Electronic commerce; the use of computers and

xvi
 electronic goods and communications in business

transactions.

ELECTRONIC All these terins have been used interchangeably

NEWSPAPER, throughout the study but give in general the same meaning

&NEWSPAPER,
which means (broadly) any (daily) newspaper containing
INTERNET NEWSPAPER
public news on current events, or reports of general
ONLINE NEWSPAPER
interest, published periodically on the Internet.

GIF Graphic Interchange Fonnat common fonnat for

-A

image files, especially suitable for images containing

large areasof the samecolour.

HIT A single user request for a document on a web server. Hits

are used as rough estimates of the traffic on a server.

HOMEPAGE - HOME PAGE The main web page of a set of pages, which then lead you

to any others set up by that person, directly or indirectly.

HOST A computer connected to a network that provides data and

services to other computers. Services may include data

storage, file transfer, data processing, email, bulletin

board services,World Wide Web, etc.

HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) -- The coding language

used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World

Wide Web.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) The "command" used by a

browser to get HTML documents. All URLs begin with

this abbreviation.

xvii
INTERNET, NET, WEB, All these terms have been used interchangeably

www throughout the study but give in general the same

meaning, which is, the global network of the Internet

unlessotherwise stated.

ISP Internet Service Provider -- that provides accessto the

Internet in some form, usually for money.

LEXISO-NEXISOD An American online database that stores and makes

available literally millions of records, from newspaperand

magazine articles to legal and medical documents, data

countries and businesses,

etc.

MODEM Modulator, Demodulator. A device that you connect to

your computer and to a phone line, that allows the

computer to talk to other computers through the phone

system.

MULTIMEDIA Multimedia is communication that uses any combination

of different media, and may or may not involve

computers. Multimedia may include text, spoken audio,

music, images, animation and video..

NEWSGROUPS Discussion groups on everything. People with direct and

indirect links to the Internet read and post their opinions

on topics that range any subject.

PLUG-IN A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a

larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins

for the Netscape@ browser and web server. Adobe

xviii
 Photoshop& also usesplug-ins.

PUSH Internet services that automatically update info on your

computer when you log onto the Internet.

SERVER A computer, or a software package, that provides a

specific kind of service to client software running on other

computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of

software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine on

which the software is running.

SGML Standard General Mark-up Language -a standard for

mark-up languages.HTML is one version of ML

URL Universal or Unifonn ResourceLocator. The addressof a

website, such as http://www. cnn.com

WINDOWS The more advanced pc programs (graphic WWW

browsers, video & audio files, etc.) require windows or a

version of UNIX if run on a pc. "Windows NT" and

"Windows 95/98/2000" have Internet software built-in.

Main Sources

Dr. T's Internet Glossary (http: //www. digits. corlio

Glossary of Internet Terms (http: //www. matisse. net/)
Computer Currents High-Tech Dictionary
http: //www. currents. net/resources/dictionary/dictionary. phtml

xix
Preface

The research presented in this thesis represents an examination of the role of the

Internet as a news service, with special referenceto the Arab world. It principal focus

is on the use that Arab readersmake of e-newspapersand their satisfaction with these

new news services. In addition, further data have been collected from publishers,

editors and journalists associated with electronic news publishing. Finally, some

assessmentwas made of the content and fonnat features of Arab newspaperson the

Intemet.

Chapter One provides a general overview of the Internet and the possibilities it offers

for electronic news delivery. It examines the history of electronic delivery of news

and information and plots the first experimentsin electronic news delivery which pre-

date the arrival of the Net. Internet news services experienced a dramatic growth in

the 1990sand are expectedto increasetheir role as news providers even further in the

near future. With an increasingly computer-literate populace and the emergenceof

Internet accessvia mobile telephony, the numbers of potential users of online news

sites can be expectedto grow as well.

This opening chapter will examine the nature of online news output, the implications

for news services of the transferenceof their businessesto the Internet, and what is

known about the readershipsof e-newspapers.Several important differences between

e-newspapersand printed newspapers have been discussed, such as the way they

fonnat the news, the depth of content provision, ease of access, immediacy and

facility for updating news, and implications for the way news businessesare run.

20
There are also important considerations for the profession of journalism. Some

journalists have expressed concerns about their practices becoming dominated by

technology, and about the new blend of skills needed to be part of the electronic

publishing realm. Issues related to readers of electronic news are important because

without these news consumers, an Internet news service has no future. But what

should entice readersaway from hard-copy to screen-basednews? In the absenceof

consistentmarket researchon the Internet, the chapter concludesby exploring crucial

questions about the potential of e-newspapersand what the ftiture may hold for

journalism in this electronic age.

Chapter Two provides a brief background about the Arab press which extends back

to the 19th century and follows the major trends and developmentsthat influenced the

news industry in the region within its historical and political context. Furthermore,the

relatively small newspapermarket in the Arab World has to be consideredwithin the

context of the high rate of illiteracy, and other cultural and economic barriers. The

small number of Internet subscribers in the Arab World representsone significant

difficulty facing Arab publishers who choose to invest in Internet publishing. It is

important therefore to consider the spread of Internet technology in the Arab World

and the obstacles facing Internet usage in the region. This chapter finishes by

providing a summary of the position of Arab online newspaper publishing and its

potential.

Chapters Three describes the research methodology used for this study with an

overview of the rationale and the objectives behind the study as well as the

fonnulation of the research questions. This chapter details the research design, data

21
collection mechanisms, and issues surrounding the use of the Internet as a research

tool. In this respect,an overview is provided of the way the online surveyswere coded

and tested with various operating systems and Internet browsers and the methods

employedto attract readersand publishers to the online surveysare explained.

Chapter Four presents the conceptual framework of this study by analysing

background literature relating to the emergenceof new technology and its relation to

existing communication theory. There is theoretical argument surrounding the

Internet, concerning whether or not it can be considered as a 'mass' medium. Some

scholarshave called for fresh theoretical to

perspectives analysethe use and impact of

the Internet, arguing that the old models built upon traditional print and broadcast

media do not fit this new electronic medium very comfortably. An effective analysis

of the communicative nature of the Internet requires new theoretical

conceptualisations. In addition, this chapter reviews studies that have addressed

e-newspaper-relatedpublishing issues, which is the main concern of the study.

Among the key issues are (1) the growth of the e-newspaper market; (2) the

economicsof e-newspublishing; (3) the views of the producersand publishers; (4) the

content of e-newspapers;and (5) readershipsurveys.

Chapter Five presentsan analysis of all Arab online newspapers'websites in order to

shed some light on the determining factors behind the views expressedby readers.

This includes an analysis of the distribution of these newspapers' publishing

locations, their languagesand the format and methods used by publishers to present

their Arabic content on the Internet. This part of the investigation revealed that arrays

of online news services are offered to Arab readerssuch as archiving and interactive

22
communication channels.As well as e-newspaperson the net, a range of other sources

of news infonnation can be located. These services include web-based news sites,

national Arab news agencies and Arabic online TV and radio stations. Hence, this

chapterdealswith all news sourcesavailable to Arab users.

Chapter Six presents the views of e-newspaperpublishers in an attempt to draw a

wider picture of issues surrounding Arab publishing on the Internet. Publishers were

surveyed for information on a variety of important questions. When did particular

Arab newspapersfirst appearon the Internet? What were newspaperpublishers' views

about the impact of the Internet edition upon the hard copy version? What methods

were used to track readership of the electronic publication? What subscription fee

policies did they have? And were any additional services offered by their

e-newspapers?Practical insights about Arab online newspapers and Internet-based

publishing were obtained from journalists involved in the online publishing arena

through face-to-face interviews.

Chapter Seven presents the initial, descriptive results from the readers' survey

discussing characteristics of Internet users. This includes demographic profile,

computer and Internet usage behaviour, software used and types of ISPs adopted by

respondentsas well as how long they have been using the Internet. In this chapter

also, readers'responsesabout their main use of the Internet are investigated. Findings

related to the principal researchquestions are also presented,about the characteristics

of users,the generaluse they make of the Internet,and how respondentsevaluated

Internetasa sourceof newsandinformation.

23
Chapter Eight narrows the focus of the research to caste the spotlight on

consumption of e-newspaperson the Internet and turns attention to the users of these

in
news services a more analytical appraisal of the data, drawing comparisonswhere

appropriatebetween the opinions of readers,betweenthe problems of readersand the

nature of electronic news output on the Internet, and relationships between readers'

personal characteristics,Internet usage patterns, opinions about specific elements of

e-newspapersand their overall satisfaction with thesenews services.

Finally, Chapter Nine discussesthe main issues of online newspaper publishing

relating to readers (receivers), the online newspaper and its additional services

(channel), and content and design attributes (message).The chapter considersalso the

implications of this researchfor Arab e-newspaperpublishers (sender).In this vein, it

compares what news publishers and professionals believe they know about their

readers with what direct research with readers has revealed. It also considers the

nature of online newspapersagainst the benefits and problems experiencedby readers

who use them. In addition, the limitations of the study are discussed,with suggestions

for improvement and directions for further investigation.

24
Chapter One: The Internet and News Delivery

1.1 Introduction

The Interneti is on track to becomethe world's premier communicationsmedium. In

lessthan ten years it has progressivelybecomean almost indispensablefeaturein the

lives of private citizens, businessesand governments.Not a day goes by without a

referenceto the Internet in newspaperarticles, radio or TV programmes(see Figure

1). By March 2000, world-wide Internet usersapproached300 million (NUA, 2000).

There are over one billion web pageson five million unique servers,though it is

estimatedthat 70 per cent of traffic goesto less than 5,000 sites (Savage,2000). Tile

prevalenceof the Internet is not just a result of its openand dynamic nature;its rapid

spreadhas been facilitated by its increaseduser-friendlinessto non-computer-literate

people.The adventof the World Wide Web (WWW) and the freely distributedsmart

point-and-clickbrowsers,such as Netscapeand Explorer, have madesurfing the Net,

as a sourceof knowledgeand entertainment,more attractive.Despiteconcernsabout

issues such as privacy, copyright, cultural identity and pornography,the Internet

continuesits expansionrenderingit a mediumthat is impossibleto ignore.As a result,

publishing industries have begun to explore new, Intemet-relatedmarkets,services

and products in responseto the recent advancesin information and communication

technologies(Scupola,1999).

1 Ile Intema is frequently described

as a nctwork of networks,a

25
Today, news and information from any part of the world can be read with just a click

of a button. A new breed of media businesseshas in

emerged association with the

Internet that have becomethe 'information world's obsession'(Nicholas et al., 2000).

Even the newspaperindustry, never one traditionally quick to embracetechnological

change, has looked seriously at new ways of adapting its business to this new

technology (Katz, 1994). Most major newspapers today have a Web presence,

allowing accessto their newspapersand archivesthrough cyberspace.

1.2 New Medium, New Businesses

As the rate of technological changecontinues,the media perhapsmore than any other

industries have been significantly affected by computerisation. Furthermore, perhaps

no other professional practice has been as 'completely reshaped'as has journalism in

responseto the evolution of the Internet (Trench, 1997). New electronic applications

are transforming the way publishers do business.Publishers have found themselvesat

the heart of a technology vortex. Racing to keep up with technological changes,

establishedpublishers are experimenting with many new methods of news delivery

and are anxiously trying to keep pace with newer players competing to get their share

of this young market. There is a 'very legitimate fear' among newspapercompanies

that new electronic publishers will emerge and take away their franchise (Carlson,

1996).

While newspapershave traditionally had to compete for readershipmarkets, the new

competition is of a different kind. Equipped with the latest technology, electronic

news publishers are targeting new markets of younger consumers, not customarily

renowned for their interest in serious news or reading of serious newspapers.The

26
younger generation, however, is interested in the Internet and may therefore be more

inclined to consumenews from a screenthan from the page.

Figure 1: The Internet - the cover story of World's most prestigious magazines.

27
Remarks made by D. Colin Phillips, publisher of the Editor & Publisher, at the

opening sessionof the Interactive Newspapers'98 Conference (February 1998) show

how serious the threat of these new competitors is perceived to be. Phillips observed

that in just one short year, "we have seen a storm surge of new competitors roll over

the media landscapeto competefor ever thinner slices of what had been our business"

(Phillips, 1998, pl).

On this evidence, it seems that traditional newspaper publishing houses have little

option than to jump on the Internet bandwagon. As Microsoft founder and chainnan

Bill Gates observed in his book, the Road Ahead, the future lies with digital,

electronic communications that provide interactive capacity, allowing media

consumersto exert greater control over the content they receive. The years aheadwill

witness a fundamental shift from mass publishing and broadcasting with media

content being transmitted from one to many, to an interactive media environment in

(i.
which content e., infonnation and entertaimuent) will be selected by individuals

according to their idiosyncratic needs and tastes (Gates, 1996; Dusseldorp, 1998). In

parallel with this shift, there has been a move away from a product-basedmarketing

to
approach a more service-based approach in the publishing industry as a whole

(Hayward, 1995). This move reflects what some web gurus have trumpeted as a need

for organisations to fundamentally re-think the way they conduct their businessonce

theyhaveenteredthe world of the Internet(Siegel,1999).

With electronic news publishing, new rules and standardswill be set to inform the

way 'news' should be provided in a world where consumershave much more control

over the process of consumption and different assumptionsand expectations of news

services. New 'cyber-publishers', driven by technology advancements,are seemingly

28
leading the way. The old culture of a newspaperthat presents news once every 24

hours is no longer tenable. On the Internet, it is now possible for content providers to

offer immediate, timely and sudden scoops of news stories around the clock.

Furthermore, Internet users, today, are able to experience a much expandedrange of

choices of news delivery, that enable them to customize their news diet to meet their

personal tastes and interests. Moreover, the Internet is offering all these services 24

hours a day, for free in most cases.

Online newspapershave been observed to have a number of important advantages

over their hard copy ancestry. They are not constrained by space limitations in the

With
sameway as are printed newspapers. hard copy the
newspapers, news copy has

to be edited to fit the available page space.In the latter case,readersare restricted to

the news that is immediate and presented on the page. With e-newspapers,online

stories can be linked to archived news story databases,

enabling readersto go beyond

the current copy and explore the background to the story (Henderson & Femback,

1998). Online newspapers can offer other kinds of flexibility to readers when

searching for the news they want to read about. Key words can be entered to find

stories of interest, both from the current news menu and from archived news (Geier,

1995). These searchesare not tied to the present,but could retrieve stories going back

many years; the electronic news archivesexist for this purpose(Mannes, 1995).

Furthermore, Internet technology allows readers some control over the information

(content)receivedfrom the websitewherebyuserscan customisethe news to their

preferred topics (Williams & Nicholas, 1999).

29
Online newspapershave an interactive quality that goes beyond the physical turning

of the pages of a newspaper.Letter writers can get their correspondenceto the editor

instantly and see their words published almost immediately. Feedback from readers

can be communicated to editors and journalists much more swiftly than with hard

copy newspapers.Readersmay even communicate with each other, by responding to

other readers' commentson news coverage(Henderson& Fernback, 1998).

The immediacy of this electronic publishing medium may add to its credibility. In

future, some writers have envisageda key role for e-newspapersas reliable local news

sources. Sources of stories could also have direct accessto the e-newspaperpage.

Local goverment and other institutions could place notices and releasesabout their

activities directly onto e-newspapersites (Henderson& Femback, 1998).

Technically, reliable and (relatively) user-friendly software enable content providers

to include multimedia files in their website. Also, an important feature that can be to

the advantage of newspapersis "the ability to jump seamlesslyfrom one electronic

file to another, be it on the same computer, the same LAN or on the other side of the

world, [which] is the outstanding (siren) feature of the world Wide Web" (Williams

and Nicholas, 1999, p. 126).

Although the privilege of the printing press as a dominant medium for mass

communication has been challenged many times this century as newspapers have

yielded various functions to radio -and television services(Dusseldorp,1998), the

press have neverthelessremained a major source of information and news.

Newspapershave even successfullymanaged,to some extent, to take advantageof the

30
broadcastmedia to promote themselvesto their target markets. Newspapersfeed off

television, for example, and among the tabloids in particular, much of their copy is

devoted to entertainment news concerned with television programmes and

personalities. The Internet, however, poses a whole new set of challenges for

newspapers (Medsger, 1996; Irish 1997; Orr 1997). To utilise this new

communication technology effectively, newspaper publishers and their editors must

devise a strategy for taking maximum advantageof an electronic, digital environment

that offers new possibilities for the packaging, presentationand consumption of news

utilising multi-media formats. This new medium is virtually unlimited in space and

can be updated or modified instanteously.Lapham (1995) statesthat:

"As we approach the end of the twentieth century, two powerful

forces have emerged to change the mass communication model. The
first is the use of computers as a means ofprocessing, analysing, and
disseminating information. The second is the constantly accelerating
capacity of that technology to enhance communication so it is almost
unboundedby time and space"(p: 7).

This 'digital revolution', according to Katz (1994), has pushed publishers still closer

to the wall, unleashing a vigorous flow of news, commentary, and commerce to

millions of people. Thus, the Internet is reality and its services are widely used,

accessibleand acceptable.This new environmentwill createits own traditions and

values. The fresh thinking required must begin with its concept of the readership

market, which will becomemore fragmentedthan ever before.

Indeed, the only attributes one could confidently expect consumersof this electronic

publishing environment to have in common are that they possess an Internet

connectionand as such have signed up to what one might call "the culture of
freeness" associatedwith the Net. This culture depends mainly on the opennessof

31
hundredsof Internet servicestogether with tens of well-established news sites, as well

as hundredsof daily newspapersthat can be read online for free.

Unlike earlier competitors from broadcasting,the World Wide Web has grown into an

alternative news medium almost overnight. It posesa challenge to all news producers

- whether working in the establishedprint or broadcastingmedia (Lindoo, 1998). For

publishers to maintain some sort of control over their production they have to acquire

new equipment and a range of new skills necessaryto utilise it. It is no longer the

case, as in traditional publishing, that newspaper operators will have all the

production skills they need "in-house" (McDennott & Fay, 1997).

1.3 Electronic Delivery of News and Information

The phrase 'electronic delivery of news and information' refers to a broad concept of

presenting news and infonnation in an electronic fonn. This includes publishing on

CD-ROMs as well as making information available through online services such as

the World Wide Web. One definition of an electronic publication considersit to be "a

publication which requires the user to employ an electronic device at some stage for

its reception and/or its reading" (Vickers & Martyn, 1994; p.4). Thus, with electronic

publishing,informationis distributedand/orstoredelectronicallyso that any one can

accessit, via some form of electronic delivery system. Electronic publishing has also

been envisaged as electronic commerce in 'digital goods' and services that are

intended for consumption by the human senses(Clarke, 1999).

32
According to Salem (1996) no one gave any attention to the 'new' term 'electronic

publishing' when it first appearedin the mid-1970s. By the early 1980s, however, it

started to attain a more serious prominence as a topic of discussion and enquiry. This

changeof emphasisoccurred as somepress organisationsstartedto look to it as a vital

tool for their operations and activities as part of a drive to establish upgraded

computer software to facilitate their daily work.

In tenns of the publishing tools available currently, electronic publishing can be

divided into four main categories: (1) desktop publishing applications, that provide

tools for document creation; (2) portable document software that enables document

to
conversion a format that can be distributed to various platforms such as PDF; (3)

hypertext publishing that allow structure ftee-form information collection ftom

multiple sources for the creation of master documents; and finally (4) mark-up

languages such as HTML and SGML that provide a set standard to describe the

structure and content of an electronic document (Shay 1995; Grenier 1998).

Another fourfold classification system was presented by Lancaster (1995) who

outlined four basic and co-existent steps in the evolution of electronic publishing: 1)

Using computers to generate conventional print-on-paper publications allowing

printing on demand or producing customized publications personalized to individual

needs; 2) Distributing text electronically which is the exact equivalent of the paper

version; this includes full-text articles available through commercial vendors such as

DIALOG; 3) Distribution in electronic fonn of print publications providing "value-

added" features such as search capabilities and data manipulation; 4) Generating

33
publications that take advantage of such electronic capabilities as hypertext,

hypermedia,sound and motion.

In sum, the information delivery world is undergoing profound changesas a result of

the widespread usage of personal computers and the rapid growth of the Internet. A

consequenceof these rapid technological developmentsis that the electronic delivery

of news to significant and expanding readership markets has not only become

feasible, but has also become sufficiently accessiblethat a demand for this form of

news publishing has emergedwith some force. Hence, "in an attempt to stem the tide,

newspapers everywhere, are embracing the new media, attracted by the ever

increasing Internet population, seen as a new and potentially profitable market

segment" (Nicholas at el. 1997,

p.30). Although the publishing industry has a long

history in adapting new technology, the new electronic media may representthe most

significant new direction for newsmakers to date (Ackerman 1993; Bender 1993;

Christopher 1994).

1.3.1 Early History of E-News

The first serious attempt to use electronic meansto deliver news (to a screen)was in

the early 1970sand involved videotext technology. The idea of videotext is to deliver

printed information electronically via hard wire (a telephone line or TV cable) either

to a TV set or to a personal computer. BritaiWs Prestel service, which was launchedin

the early 1970s,was one of the first videotext systemsin the world (Beckett, 1994;

Bains, 1996; Carlson, 1996). However, in 1993 the service had to be abandoneddue

to the high cost and weak usagethat ended up in only 30,000 users at the time of the

34
closure (Williams & Nicholas, 1999) .A similar service called Minitel was launched

by the French in the mid-1970s. Minitel tenninals contained the contents of the local

telephone directories and were given free to telephone subscribers. The Minitel

service continued to attract a market for many years. At the end of 1986, more than

2.2 million "Minitels" had been installed, a fourfold increaseon just two years earlier

(Pailliart, 1989). By the early 1990s, one third of French population above 15 years

old used Minitel. The success of the French version was really exceptional for

servicesof this kind. One reasonfor its successwas that Minitel provided a significant

amount of locally relevant content and services. Having said that, other statistics put

the significance of Minitel as a news service into perspective.Although it was firmly

establishedin many households,only a small percentageof users made a significant

proportion of calls on the system. Furthermore, from the mid-1980s, games and

personal messaging surpassednews and information as the major uses of Minitel

(Charon, 1987; Pailliart, 1989).

Videotext (VIEWDATA in its early name) systemswere introduced in a number of

other parts of the world. A Japanesevideotext service, Captain, was introduced in

1979. The sameyear witnessedthe launch of the Canadianvideotext service - Telidon

-a two-way version of the British Prestel system (see European Commission, 1995;

Ryan, 1995; Dusseldorp, 1998; Jones, 1991). In the USA, a number of experiments

were done at about the sametime (Carlson, 1996). The Americans tried to develop the

first system (Startext) to deliver news and information to computers in 1981. Then

came Key Calm, an experiment of the Chicago Sun Times between 1982 and 1986.

This was an idea similar to videotext, designedto deliver information servicesto

television sets via a dedicated terminal that the user had to buy. The whole project

35
 in
closed 1986 after losing an estimated$30 million. Knight Ridder Newspapers,who

own a number of large newspapersin the USA, came up with another experiment

called Viewtron using cable and telephone linked to TV sets to deliver the service.

This ambitious project failed to survive after losing $60 million which forced the

to
company close it in 1986 (Carlson, 1996, Johnston& Carlson, 1999).

Although most videotext ventures failed, the modified idea of 'teletext, ' that delivers

textual content via a broadcast signal instead of videotext hard wires, is still in use.

Teletext services became firmly established across Europe, and especially in the

United Kingdom, during the 1980s (see Greenberg & Lin, 1988). All the major

broadcastersin the UK - terrestrial and satellite alike - provide teletext services

offering news and information on a wide range of subjects.In a sense,teletext is part

news service and part entertainmentmagazine.

The failure of videotext was due mainly to the slow responseto consumer enquiries,

low-resolution texts and the non-interactive nature of the system (McAdams, 1995a).

According to Mueller and Kamerer (1995), of all the videotext experiments, only

computer applications have provided an electronic method of delivery that bears a

sufficient resemblance to printed newspapersto significantly augment or perhaps,

eventually to replace,them.

It is significant that the newspaper industry was involved in most of these (dead

media) experiments, especially in the USA. Newspaperswere driven to explore new

methods of content delivery in responseto declining circulation figures and increasing

costs of production in the early 1980s (Strauss& Schoder, 1994). Early online news

36
publishing ventures representedremarkable efforts at the time. Despite being at the

cutting edge of the available technology, there was little market demand.

A radical shift in market potential had occurred by the 1990s, opening up the

possibility of launching financially viable electronic publishing services. It is worth

mentioning that before the expansion of the Internet in the USA, companiesthat were

providing more general online services, that paved the way for the mass market

potential of the Internet, such as America Online (AOL), and CompuServe, offered

electronic editions of national newspaperson an experimental basis.

By the middle of the last decade in the 20th century, newspaper publishers were

causedto observethat the Internet,once establishedamongthe generalpopulation,

would become a force to be reckoned with. Newspapers would either need to take

advantageof this new medium, or be left behind by it. Phillips (1998) noted that:

" The online news and information businessis exploding at apace never seen
before in the developmentof a new media industry. Current estimatesare that
the Internet will reach critical massfor general acceptance in around five
years. It is already accepted enough to begin draining serious audience
attentionfrom our traditional media" (p. 1).

1.3.2 Intemet News Services

Internet technology, in the way it accessesand presentsinformation, is changing the

rules of publishing and news distribution in many ways. The challenge posed by the

Internet for the publishing industry is unprecedented. In some ways, Internet

applications could provide a fresh impetus to the industry. News publishers are faced

with an ageing readership, declining revenues, sinking circulation figures and a

37
fragmented senseof mission (Orr, 1997). Hard copy newspapersrisk losing a large

segment of their readership that exhibits a particular preference for electronic

information and entertainment sources,namely, the younger generationwho form the

majority of Internet users.According to Nicolas et aL (1997):

"What is even more worrying in the long run is that the young, for whom
newspapersnever played a big role in thefirst place -not being considered a
sufficiently 'hip' medium (and regarded as something associated with their
parents generation) - have desertedthe press"(pp. 29,30)

Similarly, with a different approach,The Financial Times (December 12,1995) noted

that newspaper readers, who are enviably affluent, educated and middle-class, are

getting old and are not being replaced in sufficient numbers. The FT urged

newspapersnot to just stand back and watch the Internet, but to be part of it (FT,

1995).

At the same time as having to consider the best ways of attracting younger readers,

publishers are still wrestling with many broader questions about online publishing,

such as how this be

new medium can most effectively utilised (Powers, 1997). What

is the ideal fonnat for an online newssite?What shouldit contain?What arethe best

way(s) to present online news to attract readers,regardlessof their age, and eventually

advertisers who wish to gain accessto specific markets? What are the best pricing

mechanisms?Lapham (1995) statesthat the only certainty now is that there is no one

right way to do things. Each newspaper must discover its 'niche' and provide

insightful and original content in a format its readers want. Much remains to be

learnedabout the potential of the Internet,and what it could do for publishersand

their customers.So far, though,little is known aboutpublishers'visions and readers'

expectationstowards this new communication phenomenon.

38
In terms of user retention, no Intemet-basednews service can claim that it has yet

achieved a satisfactory degree of customer loyalty or advertiser confidence to be sure

of long-terin market buoyancy. Schudson (1996) attributed [online] subscriber's low

loyalty to new services to the fact that on-line services have not become "a habitual

part of a user's routine". Consequently, on the advertiser side "it is difficult to get

advertisers online before we have a good number of users for them to sell to"

according to McAdams (1995b). Mesing (1998) also found in her study that "because

[online] audience figures are so difficult to define, many advertisers are leery of

paying substantial sums on an unproven technology" (p.3).

The market for electronic publishing is made no easierto handle by the fact that new

software systems for handling online content are being developed all the time.

Problems are createdby the introduction of new devicesto the market virtually 'every

other day' and this meansthat only a few people can make senseof what is happening

(Elderkin, 1996).

A study of the multimedia marketplace in ten European countries revealed that a big

part of the problem faced by the electronic publishing industry is the lack of a clearly

defined businessmodel (McDermott & Fay, 1997). The study statedthat this fact acts

as a damper on the industry's growth as companies operating in the industry are

unsure of their place in the value chain and the best way to profit from their activities.

The study empbasisedthe importance of a well-defined business model that would

help companiesto understandhow the industry operatesand where its clients fit into

the electronic publishing value chain. In addressing'participants and potential entrants

in the area of electronic publishing', the study also assertedthat the Internet is quickly

39
becoming the most significant electronic publishing medium, and that by the year

2000 it will be bigger than all other publishing media.

For users, numerous websites and free software packages are currently available

providing online news and information in different fonnats. For instance,Netscape,

the Web's first browser site, has a service that allows users to create a customised

page on the Web, which displays personalisedinformation wheneverthe user accesses

it. Yahoo, the Web's most accessedsearchengine, has Reuters' headlines and offers

customised free news services for Yahoo subscribers. Infoseek, Excite, and other

search engines provide similar services. Some of these services are offered in a

packagewith software that forms an essentialpart of the content delivery mechanism,

making real-time delivery possible.

One of the major imperfections of some of these packages is that they consume a

large amount of computer screen and memory. The subscriber may therefore miss

important news items becauseof the software's demandsupon computer capacity. In

addition, news and infon-nation can be found also in newsgroups, news discussion

sites and instant chat-rooms (see Figure 2). While these groups tend to discuss and

spreadspecial news about a certain field or industry, they remain a vital news source

to Intemetusers.

In addition,therearewebsitesmaintainedby radio andtelevisionstations,which form

another important set of news sourcesthat attract more and more users based on the

reputations of their providers. Good examples of this kind of Intemet-based news

servicearethe websitesprovidedby the newsservicesof the BBC in Britain, andthe

American television networks, NBC and CBS.

40
Figure 2: Internet News Services

To some, this growth of Internet news services is giving the user more personal

control over his or her daily menu of news and information. The trend has been

referred to as 'news personalisation' (or customisation). According to one writer,

Michael Cunningham, research/project co-ordinator of The Guardian and The

Observer, this development "is shifting power to the people, and threatens the

dominanceof traditional massmedia forms. The 'digital consumer'will be able to pull

out the information and entertainmentthey want, when they want it, in a format they

want - whether images, audio, text or graphics, or a mixture of all four" (cited by

Kwan, 1996).

Boutin (1997) has assertedthat there are some serioushurdles to be cleared before the

new 'webcasting'model will eclipse establishednews sources.Web content providers,

sponsors,and investors all hope 'push technology' will provide the medium to carry

their messagesto audiencesbroad enough to finally turn these new media into 'mass'

41
media. However, it is important to understand and clarify the differences between

in to the
each news service order assess validity of this conclusion about the future of

online news services. These services can be divided into two main categories;push

technology (news tickers, email news delivery) and news websites (pull technology)

(Rademann, 1997). The following sections will examine each online news and

information service in more detail.

1.3.2.1 Push Technology

Despite the many names Push Technology has been given, there is not much

argument about its definition or its function. This service is also known as

Webcasting, Personalized News, Netcasting, Personal Broadcast Applications,

Channel Technology and Internet News Broadcasting. All these names refer to one

type of online news application. With this service, instead of readers looking for

news themselves,it comes to them at times convenient for them and with the content

of their choice, thus obviating the need to go looking for it on the Web.

Users can get all pre-selectedtypes of news and information 'pushed'to their desktops

via e-mail updates,screensavers,tickers and, with the new 4.0 or 5.0 browsers, users

can sign up to have specific news delivered direct to their computer screens.

Individuals no longer have to surf for news and information; instead, news will find

them (Lasica, 1997). This 'Third Wave of Net News' refers to the concept of

delivering [pushing] content to Internet consumersrather than expecting them to seek

out a websiteas in the 'pull' model.The First Wavewas when newspaperslaunched

'primitive' siteswith 'cumbersome'

searchtools hostedby commercialonline services

42
like CompuServe,Prodigy or America Online. The SecondWave started in the early

1995 when the public and mainstream media discovered the World Wide Web and

started to put up their own websites. The impetus behind the Third Wave (Push

Technology) has been conceived as a confluence of three factors: technology, money

and a receptive public (Lasica, 1997).

In one analogy, the 'pushing' model versus the 'pulling' model of news delivery'has

been envisaged as similar to the difference between getting home delivery of the

newspaperand going down to the to

comer news stand get the paper (Lindoo, 1998).

Although there are news 'push' servicesexperimentsto mobile phones and pagers,the

main applications under the umbrella of Push Technology can be divided broadly into

(1) news tickers and (2) e-mail news delivery.

0,- News tickers is an online form of news delivery mechanismwhereby the subscriber

to this service needs first to register to download special software (client program)

that will enable him or her to select from a "channels" menu, the topics of most

interest.News in thoseareasis forwardedto the user'scomputerautomatically.

There are number of companies offering this kind of service. The best-known

example is PointCast' which has five software editions, three of which are in English

(US, UK, and Canadian editions), one in Gennan, and the other in Japanesethat

enable users to download and use the service for free. Although information in this

I On May 1999 Lazinchpad Technologies PointCast is

- acquired and now called EntryPoint offering
the sameservice.

43
service is retrieved in some sort of "pull" mode becausethe user initiates access,the

'push!mechanismdelivers the data stored in the Web (server) to the user desktop.

0. News summaries by E-mail. Subscribers to these services can receive a daily

message (the server initiates distribution) of news briefing in standard (plain text)

e-mail message or in HTML format that enables those who want more in-depth

information to follow links to more extensive reports and news archives. News

to
providers sendnews via e-mail subscriberswho have chosentheir news preferences

while signing up for the service (Sands, 1999).

An example of such services is InfoBea (InfoBea.com) which claims to have 3.5

million subscriptions to their e-mail news services. Subscribers can personalise the

by
services choosing only the information they want to receive via text or graphically

rich HTML e-mail provided by its 100 staff members.

1.3.2.2 News Websites (Pull Technology)

With Pull Technology, the consumer is required to go to the news source rather than

wait to be sought out by that source.Even with thesenews sources,however, a degree

of personalisation of services can occur. With Customisable News Websites,

a service is offered to users to set up tailor-made news profiles that contain keywords

and similar queries identifying the fields of interests of individual subscribers.Several

websites offer such news custornisationsfor free. CNN Interactive is one example of

this type of service. It has one of the most popular free news websites on the Net

(cnn.com). CNN's decision to offer news for free was taken in the light of the amount

of free information circulating on the Internet anyway, according to Clare O'Brien,

44
account executive of Turner Interactive Broadcast (Liu, 1996). CNN's slogan 'the

world's news leader' has meant that besides its successful TV news station and the

news websites on the Net, CNN has been forced to lead the way in offering

customised news services via e-mail, pagers screens,mobile phones (CNN Mobile

launched on February 1999), and via small obtrusive frame (ticker) at the bottom of

Intemet Explorer 5 browser. The latter service which has some 'push' features (also

known as Explorer Bar) is a Web accessoryfor Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 that

provides interactive information directly from the sourceswhile the user browses the

Intemet.

Traditional newspapers are trying to join this race by experimenting with news

customisation servicesand Explorer Bar on their own in the Internet. For instance The

Times (London) and The Wall Street Journal Interactive allow their readersto set up

such (personalised) services on their online editions. The New York Times Explorer

Bar offers the day's top stories, breaking news updates every ten minutes, market

informationandaccessto stockquotes.

A similar free service to these is a Web-basednews site called CRAYON (cryon.net -

CReAte Your Own Newspaper) that describes itself as "a tool for managing news

sourceson the Internet and the World Wide Web." CRAYON uses a simple analogy

that lets the user create customised news pages with daily information from a

collection of links to mainstream news sites such as the Associated Press,Time, and

PC Week.

45
1.3.2.3 Electronic Newspapers

The decline of print newspapers and the accompanying rise of Web-based news

services have been the subject of much discussion among academics and news

professionals who have explored the potential impact of these new technologies upon

the public and publishing industry. Newspaper publishers have been encouragedby

market pressuresto adopt the new medium and to conduct experimentsin online news

provision, despite uncertainty about how profitable such ventures are likely to be in

the future.

The long-established business model for print newspapers,in which revenues are

generated mainly from subscribers, newsstands and advertisers, is no longer

applicable in the new online marketplace. While there may be a market (readers and

advertisers)for Internet news, the big question is whether this market will pay off and

how. According to a survey conducted by a leading American market researcherin

1997 (NPD Group), sixty per cent of consumers who use the World Wide Web

frequently read newspapersand/or magazines online. The survey also showed that

newspapersare the most popular type of publication on the Internet with nearly 40%

of those polled saying that they frequently read a newspaper online (NPD Group,

1997). Among the factors that make e-news a good (alternative) news delivery

channel is its ability to employ technology to deliver the same content as traditional

newspapersto a larger readershipwith less cost and in real-time distribution. Elderkin

(1996) forecasts that " as we will seen,the newspaperindustry is no more dead now

than the buggy and carriage industry was when the world shifted to cars and trucks"

(p: 4).

46
Today, e-newspapersare a reality and one that is growing rapidly and can be read all

over the world. The recent rate of growth and penetration of e-newspaperssignifies

that they are a phenomenon that is here to stay. Literally hundreds of newspapers

have enteredthe online publishing arena.This trend or 'migration of news to the Web'

already marks a major shift of news delivery from conventional formats (Williams &

Nicholas 1999).

In tenns of accesspractices, e-newspaperscan be separatedinto three categories:(i)

completely free accessto the information, (ii) free accesswith prior registration and

(iii) access for a charge (Angevine et aL 1996). An overwhelming majority of

e-newspapers,however, offer unrestricted free access.This concession reflects the

high degree of uncertainty among conventional newspaper publishers about the

robustnessof the market for subscription e-newspapersand their lack of experiencein

this new commercialmarket.

While it is true that, in theory, anyone can set up a website and call it an e-newspaper

(.Akinfe, 1997), producing a news site that is likely to attract readersin large numbers

and over time requires more than simply putting up a standardwebsite with the name

of a newspaperon the top.

1.3.2.4 Growth of Electronic Newspapers

Newspapers'websites are growing at a rapid pace, but the rate of changein the online

is
world acceleratingeven faster. There were just a half dozen Intemet-newspapersin

the early 1990s (Riley et aL, 1998), 100 at the beginning of 1995 (Outing, 1996), with

the number expanding rapidly to 5,400 worldwide by April 2000 according to

47
NewsLink's online Database (ajr.org). Clearly, it is the global growth of Internet use

(see Table 1) that has pushed a similar growth of online newspapersworld-wide (see

Figure 3)1,which indicates that it is no longer true that Internet publishing is primarily

an American phenomenon.

Meyer (1998) warned that in spite of the trend toward online publishing, which began

among larger U. S. dailies, and has since extended its spread to smaller U. S.

newspapers and to newspapers abroad, hard questions remain about long-term

viability in in
a market which less than one-third of all online newspapersexpect to be

profitable.

Table 1: Internet users growth by region

Internet Users by Region 1995_ 2000 2005
Worldwide Intemet Users (#K) 44,324 181,789_349,242 765,776
Worldwide Intemet Users/1,000People 7.79 30.65 57.49 117.95
30,771 _
93,650 150,850 231,451
North American Intemet Users (#K)
North American Intemet Users/1,000People (#) 104.9 311.2 492.6 720.6
W. Europe/ScandinavianIntemet Users (#K) 8,713 42,006 87,743 213,670
W. Europe/ScandinavianIntemet Users/1,000People (#) 22.1 105.8 220.5 529.9
East EuropeanIntemet Users (#K) 375 3,800 10,806 145,472
EastEuropeanIntemet Users/1,000People (#) 1.28 13.01 37.2 157.7
Asia-Pacific Intemet Users (#K) 3,547 33,656 72,066 189,651
Asia-Pacific Internet Users/1,000People 1.09 9.93 20.73 50.88
South/CentralAmerican Intemet Users (#K) 410 5,647 19,629 56,051
South/CentralAmerican Intemet Users/1,000People (#) 0.87 11.37 38.40 101.2
Middle East/African Intemet Users (#K) 508 3,030 8,160 129,481
10.55 .13.03 .17.88 126.07 1
Middle East/African Intemet Users/1,000People
SourceComputer InditstryAlnianac Inc (http://lvivw. c-i-a. conilinde-v.htm)

1Thestatisticsdiffer from onesourceto anotherdueto differentcalculationmethodsadoptedby

Newslink-(ajr.org) andEditor & Publisher(mediainfo.com)the two mostcitedsources.The latterdid
not cataloguecampusnewspaper servicestill late 1996while Newslinkignoredsomenewspapers that
canbe readvia BBS.

48
Meyer quotes a 'plaintive note' on the front page of a still-active online edition of a

small newspaper from Georgia that 'summed up' the problem: "unless advertisers

begin supporting newspaper websites, publishers will have to start cutting their

losses".

Figure 3: Growth of online newspapers worldwide

2000- NTt,, "* 5400

1998 4925
jr,
FN96 1600

1994 100

1992

1990

1988 6 Number of online newspapers

1986 5,

Sources: Editor andpublisher (Mediainfo.com) & American Journalism review (Ajr. org)

Likewise, Chyi and Sylvie (1998) discussedthe hard questions that accompany the

growth of e-newspapers,most of which focus on profitability, as publishers wonder

whether sufficient advertising revenue exists to support the new medium and whether

online newspaperscan adequatelydistinguish themselvesfrom other online services.

Although these points are important, the political and technological orientations are

towards a digital future in which (perhaps)only digital goods will survive. In the case

of newspapers,Eldrekin (1996) noted that within 20 years the newspaper business

will be in the middle of the greatestchange in its history. Thus, it is just a matter of

time before newspapersare transformed becauseof two 'basic' reasons 1) they cannot

continue to make revenues on paper, and 2) they can make a killing when they go

49
digital (p. 6). In an attempt to turn this media evolution into an opportunity, Randy

Bennett, NAA's (NewspapersAssociation of America) New Media director, advised

publishers to establish an electronic presence early, and to start an electronic

relationship with readers and advertisers as soon as possible (Bennett,I 996).Yet

Rodgers et aL (1999) observed that most e-newspapersare using a trial-by-error

approachto addressthe question of advertising effectiveness.

Putting aside the economic issues associated with setting up a publishing venture

online, e-newspapersare enjoying an increasedpresencein many parts of the world.

According to Eric K. Meyer of 4JR NewsLink, in the UK, for instance, by March

1999 there were 294 online newspapers (national and local) and other regular news

resources(Meyer, 1999). In Gennany, there were 81 daily newspapersby May 1997

(Neubergeret al, 1998). Europe was the secondmost wired continent for newspapers

in the world after North America, with 728 online newspapersites. After the United

Kingdom, Norway has the next most online newspapers(53). Asia (led by India) has

223 online newspapers,South America (led by Bolivia) has 161 and Africa (led by

South Africa) has 53. Australia and Oceania have 64 online newspapers (Meyer,

1998),(similar statistics from Editor & Publishers, see Table 2). Thus, Intemet

newspapershave achieved a significant world-wide presenceand penetration. Yet the

main question is whether the new 'e-newspaper' will replace the conventional 'hard

copy' one, and how the outcome will affect j ournalism.

Some researchersand critics argue that e-newspaperswill not replace traditional, hard

copy publications, at least in the foreseeable future (Boulter, 1995; Bains, 1996;

Kwan, 1996; Lindoo, 1998; Nicholas et aL. 2000). Many publishers treat their

50
 e-newspapersas additions, not replacements, to their print versions (Orr, 1997).

Indeed, some commentators have observed that e-newspapers are supplemental

services with little in common with print newspapersand that they could not replace

print (McDermott and Fay 1995; Trench, 1997; Thiel, 1998).

Table 2: Online newspapers by region as of February 18,2000

Region Newspapers Magazines
U. S. 2,889 2,547
Europe 625 746
America 268 76
_S.
Canada 254 164
Asia 214 187
Africa 58 62
Middle East 47 48
1 Ocean 47 1 118
a1
1 Caribbean 128 1 13
Source: Editor & Publisher lnleractive database(Mediainfo.com)

The local technology presents further restrictions on the use of e-newspapersand

therefore upon the growth of the e-newspapermarket. It has already been noted that

limited computing capacity, coupled with the screen and memory demands of

e-newspapers,mean that the provision and formatting of electronic news is not as

flexible or user-friendly as it could be. E-newspapersare not readily transportable

onto laptop computers either (Kwan, 1996). These limitations will delay the time

when e-newspaperstotally replace their hard copy ancestors. In contrast, Nielsen

(1998) observed that this is just about the end of legacy media (Newspapers,

Magazines, Books, TV Networks) and predicted that most current media formats will

die and be replacedby an integrated Web medium in five to ten years.

51
1.3.2.5 Differences Between Printed and Electronic Newspaper

The simple fact is that printed and e-newspaperscover the same areasof interest and

will gratify many of the same needs of their readers and advertisers. Even though

there are differences betweenthem, electronic and hard copy newspapersstill perform

the basic function of informing their readersand selling advertising space. Since the

Internet is getting bigger both in the size of its subscriber or user markets and in the

volume of its content and applications, this is bound to have a spin-off benefit for

embryonic e-newspapers.Electronic and hard copy news provision places different

financial requirements on producers and consumers(Elderkin, 1996). The traditional

hard-copy newspaper requires expensive equipment on the production side and no

equipment on the reader's side. Conversely, the e-newspaperrequires less expensive

equipment on the production side and sophisticated reception equipment on the

consumer side, which requires more investment on the part of the consumer upfront.

In other words, becauseof the dynamic nature of technology which is the backboneof

the e-newspaper production and distribution system, and the different formats in

which they appear, several important differences can be identified between

e-newspapersand printed newspapers.

1.3.2.5.1 Format and Design

In terms of reading, e-newspaperscan be read on a small screen in a horizontal

scrolling format, whereastraditional newspaperinformation is organisedvertically in

large pages. With the latter, it is easy to scan an entire page in seconds,while that is

difficult when reading on screendespite the fact that online newspapersusually have

52
an index facilitating links to other pages and related stories. Electronic newspapers

have the advantageof being able to employ multimedia files to support stories, while

with traditional newspapers,the reader is restricted to the information on the page

(Hutton, 1997).

1.3.2.5.2 Content

One of the best things about online publications is their ability to publish a larger

amount of content that provide greater depth of news coverageunlimited by spaceor

time restrictions, as well as enabling readersto refer to back issuesand instant online

archives. According to Williams and Nicholas (1999)"The sheer 'space'afforded by

the electronic environment is a major factor in the design and content of online

newspapers"(p.124). In the traditional newspaper, the reporter is bound by the

available page space and may experience cuts to stories to accommodatethe space

available. With a traditional, hard copy newspaper,updating the content can only be

achieved by bringing out fresh editions. With e-newspapers,updating text is much

easierand can be done almost as a continuous process.

1.3.2.5.3 Ease of Access

With a computer and Internet connection, online newspapersare accessibleany time,

anywhere, while a printed newspaperhas certain times for circulation and the reader

must go to specific placesto get it. However, a printed newspaperdoes not require the

reader to purchase special devices before it can be read. A hard copy newspapercan

also be carried out by the individual, whereas its online counterpart can only be read

53
where a computer is available and plugged into the Intemet (Orr, 1997). Most readers

are accustomedto reading news from a page rather than a screen.Furthermore,

computers bring their own idiosyncratic problems. The machine may go wrong or

crash. It needsto be free from viruses that may require the user to reinstall the whole

operating system (nearly 45,000 known virus and Trojan files move from one

computer to anothernowadays).

1.3.2.5.4 Immediacy

"Immediacy is the key defining element of what constitutes news" (Williams &

Nicholas 1999, p. 127). Thus, one major advantageof e-newspaperslies in their high

news update frequency that can take place any time around the clock. The editor or

reporter of a certain section of the e-newspapercan provide timely updated content

throughout the day, by uploading updated stories to the e-newspapersite from their

PC or laptop. Immediacy, however, is limited by the constraints on labour to update

newsandstoriesasthey unfold &

(Strauss Schoder,
1994).

1.3.2.5.5 Interactivity

There are several ways offered by Internet applications in which readers and

e-newspaperstaff can interact in an exchangeof opinions. One approachis by sending

e-mail messagesto the news organization, or exchangemessagesin online discussion

forums. Another form of interactivity is (text-based and audio) chat which allows

of between
exchange messages two or moreusersin realtime (Quintana,1997).

54
According to McAdams (1995b), readers "are eagerto let their opinions be known -

not just in public discussions,but in personal e-mail to specific individuals (p.78)".

"This aspectof the Internet has led users to demanda degreeof interactivity from the

web that simply would not be possible elsewhere" (Williams & Nicholas 1999,

p. 130). Riely (1998) noted, however, that unlike other types of online news

providers, newspapershave been slow in recognizing that a fundamental condition of

effective Web communication is interactivity. Riely further noted that most of the

news reporters he interviewed were horrified at the idea that readerswould sendthem

e-mails about a story they had written and might even expect an answer.

1.3.2.5.6 Cost

In an early phase of the Internet, Rawlins (1992) noted in his report about

Technology'sImpact on the Publishing Industry Over the Next Decade, that over the

past two decadesthe cost of the basic elements in traditional (newspaper)publishing

such as printing, paper, and transportation rose "while their electronic counterparts-

computing, electronic storage, and communication costs--halved roughly every four

years" (p.5). Rawlins foresaw that both trends 'are expected to continue for at least

two more decades.In less than a decadefrom Rawlins estimate, new technology has

significantly decreasedcost and increased flexibility of electronic publishing maybe

beyond what he has to expect. Yet, as noted earlier, the absenceof a reliable business

model to accommodate online newspapershas hindered publishers' plans for future

investments. However, online newspapers generally cost less than the hard copy.

There is no paper or ink and no need for large warehousesfor paper storage and

55
trucks to make the daily j ourneysto distribute the paper to subscribersor news stands.

The relatively low cost of publishing and distributing e-newspapersmeanseven small

publishers can afford to take a chance and compete on the online world. Thus, in

many ways, e-newspapersare more economical than their printed counterparts and

more and more publishers are expectedto recognize the cost-saving service-provision

benefits of online publishing.

1.4 Journalists in the Electronic Era

The developmentof online publishing has led some observersto question whether the

traditional form of journalist and journalism will be needed any more. McAdams

(1995b) asked this question when she started a sixteen months mission to build an

online version of The WashingtonPost. To pose such a question indicates the degree

to which online news publishing is causing a re-think of journalism practice and may

in
explain, part, why somejournalists 'have so little faith in the future of journalism'

according to Schults & Voakes (1999). Their survey revealed 'signs of pessimism'

among newspaperjournalists that has increased since the 1980s, even among those

who are basically contented with their own jobs. The researchersfound that fifty five

per cent of newspaperj ournalists believe newspaperswill be a 'less important part of

American life' in the next 10 years.

Yet signs of optimism are still strong. Hoagland (1997) envisagedthat for any young

journalist looking aheadto a careerin reportingover the decadesto come,the new

areboundto havean impact;andfor thosejournalistswho

technologiesof cyberspace

are willing to learn new methods, professional opportunities will grow rather than

56
diminish. In a different approach, Williams and Nicholas (1998) argue that newly

qualified graduatesOoumalists) do not have "the same information seeking skills as

their older colleagues who acquired them at the local face on the tide of the IT

revolution" (pp. 146-147). These researchersconcluded that despite the arrival of the

Internet to the newsroom " we still await the chargeof the young brigade" (p. 147).

In the journalism profession, whether electronic or traditional, the human factor is the

cornerstone of any success.However, fears of the technology domination causedby

the unbalanced advancement, the non-stop publishing technology, and modified

journalistic skills is apparent.

Trench (1997) noted that j ournalists have accumulatedenough experienceof what he

calls false promises. One of the promises held out in the earlier phaseof the adoption

of IT in the print media, was that journalists would acquire greater control over the

editorial process and product. Yet that promise is far from having been realised.

According to Trench, journalists missed the opportunities to influence the agendain

earlier phases of technological change. However, strategies for online news in the

future are now developing and lessons are to be learnt from experiencesin the past

decade.

If the agendais missed,journalists' rights can be guaranteedeven if it takes industrial

action. On the 14th of June, 1996, the Associated Press spread a news story from

Norway about a planned strike by journalists demanding their electronic publishing

rights. However, they reachedan agreementbefore the strike started having obtained

57
guarantees that they would be paid extra when their articles or photos were

reproducedonline.

In their investigation of how the Internet is impacting the information environment in

the newsroom, Williams and Nicholas (1997) statedthat journalists 'cannot ignore the

Internet' simply becausethey are in the 'information front line' where 'information is

the commodity with which they worle (p.217). Thus, to be part of the electronic

publishing realm, journalists have to master a new set of tools to be able to make use

of the online medium in the most relevant way (Dusseldrop, 1998). Yet, the question

remains, how is journalism education preparing future journalists to enter online

journalism? The skilful journalist can benefit from many electronic services like the

newswires and the public databasesthat can send daily feeds directly to aj ournalist's

computer. The Internet itself can provide a rich source of news stories. The Net can

provide thousands of research and marketing opportunities for freelancers (Gach,

1994).

Joumalists can do more than simply accessthese databases;they can be part of the

daily production by maintaining their own news sections,interacting with readers,and

even conducting video conferencing with guests from different parts of the world.

While the effective deployment of this new technology, by itself, poses challengesto

journalists who must acquire new skills in data base management, software

application, and the production of text for a screen environment, basic journalistic

principles must not be forgotten. According to Ellen Hume (1995) in her special

report called "Tabloids, Talk Radio and the Future offews, " the journalist's challenge

is not the medium but the message,an oppositional dictum to that popularised by

58
Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s. Fulton (1996) agreed with Hume's argument and

stated that winning new audiences and holding onto old ones, required more than

simply using a new medium to do the sameold things.

McMillan (1998) noted that the audience(user) is a critical factor that determineswho

pays for content in CMC (computer mediated communication). In turn, Smythe

(1977) argued that the primary business of content creators is not the creation of

content, but the creation of audiences.Audiences attract advertisers and advertisers

are the major source of funding for most mass media. Smythe, however,
stressed, that

for audience to adapt to new (media) technologies they must be designed to serve

their real needs(see Smythe, 1994). Thus, as computer technology becomeseasierto

use and more affordable, increasednumbers of People will go online and the market

for electronic publishing will expand (Powers, 1997). Readers of online news will

grow, but they will bring them their own terms and conditions.

From the foregoing review, it is probably fair to say that the Internet is not the main

reason behind the decline of newspapers readership, but it does present a serious

challenge for the news industry. One of the major problems facing newspaper

publishers is that of gathering a mass market, and selling the accessto that market, in

an environment in which consumers expect free information and free services

(Duseeldorp, 1998; Mings, 1998). According to one forecaster,media audienceswill,

in five or ten, years, derive as much of their information and entertainment from the

computer as they currently do from the establishedpublishing and broadcast media

(Trench, 1997).

59
1.5 Electronic Newspapers - Is There A Potential?

The future scenario for the traditional newspaper market is not very bright. New

electronic publishing is not the only reason for this gloomy prospect, and it may even

bring fresh hopes and breathe new life into the news industry (Mings, 1998). In the

UK, according to a report releasedby the EuropeanJournalism Centre (1999) the total

sales of national daily newspapersare nearly 14 million, and of national Sundays

nearly 15 million. The report noted, however, that "thesefigures are well below peaks

reached in the late 1950s, and despite the expansion of both sectors, national

newspaperreading continues to decline" (EJC, 1999). In America too, a significant

decline in the public's newspaperreading has been observed over the past 25 years

(Minges, 1997). The NewspapersAssociation of America (NAA) validated this with

statistics showing that newspaper circulation has been in a steady downward curve

since 1988 (NAA, 1997).

Another major problem is that online publications are largely unprofitable at present.

High-profile online publications are still struggling to turn a profit. Even large

subscriber bases such as that commanded by The Wall Street Journal Interactive,

which has 150,000 subscribers,have failed to turn in a profit (Dusseldorp, 1998). The

unwanted solution may come from large companiesoperating global monopolies that

will eventually control the electronic publishing industry.

The past decadehas already witnessed an evolving tendency among the larger media,

software and telecommunications companies towards joint ventures, mergers and

acquisitions. These companies are attempting to acquire both the distribution

channelsand the rights to the content (McDermott & Fay 1997).

60
So what does the future hold for journalism in this electronic age?For the moment,

this is a difficult question to answer in any definitive way. To some, the Internet is

merely a new channelof communicationin parallel to the more traditional print forms

(Giussani, 1997). Othersarguethat the net opensup the possibility for everyoneto be

a publisher,though to make a profit out of it is the real challenge.Thus, an important

elementfor an online newsserviceto be a viable commercialalternativeis to generate

a profit (George,1997).

According to Kats (1994), the publishing industry should not ignore its past in

figuring out how to respondto burgeoningcompetition in the electronicenvironment.

Likewise, Jim Chisolm, the international advisor on newspaperstrategy advises

publishers to differentiate between what is threat and what is opportunity on the

Internet. According to Chisolm, if publisherstry to fight the Internet, it will not go

away.Thus, they needto exploit it and ask how it can be usedto improve their service

to readers,advertisersand other potential customers(Chisolm, 1999).

What newspapersneedto changeis not the delivery technology,but ratherthe content

of their editions. Even if electronic publishersbecomevery skilled in their use of

information technology software, this will represent a marginal solution to a

fundamentalproblem, and a diversion of resourcesthat could be put to much 'wiser

use'(Katz, 1994).T11iswiser use of the Internet for news purposesstill embracesthe

needfor skilful journalism.

In the absenceof reliable and comprehensivemarket researchdata on the Internet,

publishersare faced with having to deal with largely underinedmarkets,unknown

readerships,in addition to the special challengesposedby a new technologythat is

61
constantlyevolving. The potential of electronic news publishing to generaterevenue

is, however, already being defined by the precedentsbeing set by establishedfree

news services.Electronic publishersmust therefore reconfigure their thinking about

revenuegenerationin the future. They must also conceiveof their marketsdifferently.

News consumersin the future may utilise electronic news in a variety of different

ways - some of which may model traditional news consumptionhabits, but othersof

which will representnew styles of news consumptionfacilitated by the new delivery

and reception technologies.Future generationsof news consumersmay prefer more

sophisticatedmediato the daily ritual of the morning newspaper(Lapham,1995).

In order to competeand maybe even to survive, newspaperpublishersmust develop

new strategies,adopt new ways to attract customersand take the initiative by re-

thinking their industry (Lapliam,1995). Lapham explains her idea by assertingthat

newspapersmust start by analysingand paring down the essentialsof journalism as a

craft and a profession.Once this has beendone,the 'real essence'of the industry will

emergeand a predictive model will begin to take shape.This point was illustrated

further by Michel Hooker, the former presidentof the University of Massachusetts

whenhe wrote Come1heMillennhan, Interviewson 1heShapeofour Future, a project

of the American Society of NewspaperEditors. Hooker stated that the newspaper

publishing industry is in the midst of a pivotal time in its history. The reason:the

World Wide Web. He assertedthat:

"The challenge for you will be perhaps your greatest ever. As a producer
of newspapers, what you must do first is determine how you conceive
yourself Are you an organization that supplies newspapers or are you an
organization that supplies information? Remington and Undenvood saw
themselvesas being in the ljpewriter business. IBAlsmv itselras being in
the word-processing business. The rest is history" (cited by Lapham,
1995).

62
Forecasting the attitude of the American public towards electronic news, George

(1997) noted that, culturally, Americans are too accustomedto the printed newspaper

to rely on a computer as their primary source of news. A similar reaction came from

Tony Ridder, chainnan and CEO of Knight Ridder, who argued that the US

newspaperindustry is basically healthy, despite the advancesof television news and

the impact of the Internet. He pointed out that even with the Internet providing endless

information, 80 per cent of American adults still read either a daily or Sunday

newspaper(as cited by Dusseldorp, 1998).

Printed newspapers may face an increasingly challenging future in holding on to

readers,especially younger readers(Bogatr, 1989; Kats, 1994, Sundin, 1998). This, in

turn, will have a knock-on effect on the advertising revenues they are able to

command. Going online is undoubtedly an option more and more establishednews

publishers will be encouragedto pursue as the Internet becomesestablishedas a major

news sourcethat the public become accustomedto using. Making money out of online

news services will not be easy, however. Early adopters have become accustomedto

many free information services being made available through the Internet. Consumers

already have to pay for access to the services of Internet companies who provide

search facilities to explore the plethora of information that is now available on the

World Wide Web. Nevertheless,with their reputations and trusted brand names,long-

establishednewspapershave a unique advantageover new online news sites, with no

historical reputation as credible news providers. Their brand image could therefore

help hard copy newspapersto build a successfulonline presence.

63
It was noted earlier that electronic journalism could open up exciting possibilities for

news provision as the Internet is not restricted in terms of spaceand time in the way

that the printed page and television and radio broadcastsare. Cyber news also gives

news consumersmore choice over news selection. It can provide greater variety and

the dynamic facilities that enable users to explore news archives as well as to

consumefrom the contemporarynews menu (Lazarus, 1997).

The fact that many Net users are accustomedto receiving information servicesfor free

may appear to be a stumbling block that may hold back the transition of hard copy

newspapersto the electronic publishing environment. Business strategieswill need to

be re-thought. Net revenuesmay not derive primarily from the sale of information to

consumers.Instead, information may be supplied free of charge to entice consumers

who then become the commodity that electronic news publishers sell on to

advertisers.

With advertisers the issue is more complicated. The measurementof audiences for

Internet advertising is still in its infancy. There are insufficient data available to

establish how effective such advertising is, compared to advertising in other longer-

In
establishedmedia. consequence,advertisershave been slow to free up revenue for

online placements. Although Internet advertising in the USA alone grew to nearly

$600 million in 1997, of the top 10 websites in terms of advertising revenue

generated,only one newspapersite, for USA Today, made the list at the very bottom

(Phillips, 1998). So far then, the sums of money flowing into online newspaper

services have been modest. This aspect of online businessis going to take some time

to build. In the meantime, the communications infrastructure is developing very fast

comparedwith the slow movement of electronic publishing software.

64
According to Jeff Boulter, the founder of the first custornised online newspaper in

1995 CRAYON (CReAte Your Own Newspaper),there remains much to explore and

learn about the online publishing business.Although traditional print newspapersare

rushing to claim their space online, most offer online news services that comprise

electronic copies of their hard copy publications. Few have yet taken advantageof the

interactive capabilities of the medium. Only a select number, like Hoffired, the

online service of Wired magazine, have begun to explore the more dynamic

infonnation delivery possibilities of the Net (Boulter, 1995).

In one series of interviews with journalists and media managersin the USA, mixed

opinions emerged about the future of journalism (Degen & Sparks, 1997). Some

suggestthat over time, we are likely to seenewspapersthat will have multiple formats

while others foresee that there will be a continuation of newspaperswe know them,

and audienceswill determine the directions. Although most Net news observersagree

that technology will have an enormous impact, they believe that traditional

newspaperswill not disappear(Degen & Sparks, 1997).

Some writers have predicted that the commercial prospectsof the Web newspaperare

considerable. As research techniques improve within this electronic information

environment, advertiserswill be better able to target specific promotional messagesat

specific readership markets. Eventually, e-newspapersmay turn out to be a far more

effective advertising medium than current newspapers,television or home shopping

schemes (Angevine et aL 1996). Electronic publishing may bring about a need for

new marketing models, since the consumer marketplace covered by the Internet will

not be the same as the markets covered by traditional media. Market structure is

65
usually determined by geographiclimits, nature of commodity, number of competitors

and barriers to entry (Chyi & Sylvie, 1998). While thesefactors may still be important

in the context of the Internet, the way they are utilised in this new context may not be

the same as the way they have been used in relation to print and broadcast media.

Understanding the electronic publishing industry will require a fresh structural

analysis of the market.

In sum, there are many areasstill unclear for both publishers and readersof electronic

newspaper, including clear and understandablepricing methods, suitable electronic

fonnats, coPyright issues, availability of back issues, guaranteed accessibility and

other issues.Despite the growing market of online news services,many studiesreveal

that users are unlikely to pay for content, even for news they consider valuable, if free

content can be accessedelsewhere (McMillan, 1998). So it is unwise to rely on

subscriptions to generate revenues on the short-tenn plans. On the other hand,

publishers should examine carefully the needs of the other important customer for

newspaper - the advertiser - who may find it easier to advertise directly on the

Internet, to put his adverts with other popular sites like searchenginesor to set up his

own website.

66
1.6 Summary

Electronic media have successfully played a vital role by making information easy to

reach at lower cost, offering impressive benefits to the public. Today with the help of

this technology, the provision of news and information has become big business.It is

the Net and its facilities that have made possible the publication and dissemination of

information, regardlessof any boundariesand helped almost everyone even with little

knowledge in computer to do so. The traditional newspaperindustry has found itself

in the front line of this new media challenge. A digital revolution is going on with

new rules, new products, new standards, and even new audiences in a dynamic

environment where myriad (online) information and news resources are offered

almostfor free.

Some publishers are likely to view e-newspapersas threat, while others may view

them as a complementary electronic alternative to traditional newspapers.Although it

is too early for a profitable market to emerge, publishers are going digital in

increasing numbers because it (arguably) makes sense-both creatively and

economically. Yet questions remain, is there a potential and will print and

e-newspapercomplement or competewith one another?

67
Chapter Two: The Arab Press and New Technology

2.1 Introduction

The history of the Arab press extends back to the nineteenth century. Most Arab

countries at that time were under the rule of the Ottoman Caliphate or European

mandate.Prior to that, newspaperswere 'unnecessary'becauseof the 'generalpolitical

stability' under Ottoman rule and conventional communication channels sufficed for

society's needs (Aylon, 1995). In that environment mosques and bazaars acted as

media of masscommunication (1\4owlana,1998).

These traditional media were flexible and timely; they did not operate on a fixed

schedule, but rather whenever there was news. With this type of communication no

license was neededto operate. It was a folk culture, basedin the community. It was

pluralistic. Furthermore, this mode of communication flow through interpersonal

channelswas uncontrolled by any centralisedpower (Mowlana, 1998).

In the early 1930s, a four-volume study about the history of the press in the Arab

World, compiled by the Arab historian Philipe Di Tarrazi, indexed names and brief

descriptionsof 1,639newspapers
that werepublishedin the Arab World from 1800-

1929. Tarrazi also found that Arabs in exile published 205 newspapersand magazines

in (north and south) America and 107 in Europe during the sameperiod.

The overall number of all-Arab newspapersand magazinesthat appearedin the

period covered by Tarrazi was 3,023 publications. Although the real hold of the

68
Ottomans over most Arab countries was to last only until the late 19'hcentury, when

European colonisation occurred, most countries remained nominally part of the

Ottoman Empire until its collapse after the World War 1.

In this fickle political enviromnent the first newspaperto appearin the Arab World in

1798 was al-Hawadith al-Yaumaiah (the 'daily events') printed in Arabic with two

French editions, all of which were published by the French troops in Egypt. The aim

of the French-language editions was to "inform and instruct French expeditionary

forces and improve their morale " (Adib Marwah, 1961 as cited by Rough, 1985p. 6).

When the French left Egypt, the Egyptian government published Journal al Khdaiwi

(1827) and al-Waqi' al- Masriyyah (Egyptian records) (1829). Some historians,

however, refer to a daily bulletin that appearedin Iraq called Journal al Iraq in 1816

as the first Arabic newspaperto be published by and for Arab readers (Abdurhaman,

1989). It is noteworthy that most of the newspapers,which appearedat this time,

were official organsof governments.

In the western part of the Arab World, the press, according to Azzi (1998), was the

product of at least two historical components: (European) colonialism and post-

independenceconditions. Although his study focused on the Grand Maghrib (Algeria,

Tunisia and Morocco), it can be applied - to an extent - to many Arab countries that

witnessedsimilar historical events.Azzi dividedthe history of the Arab mediain this

region into four historical periods. The first period extendedfrom the era of colonial

rule that startedfrom the first half of the I gthcenturyuntil the end of World War 11,

marked by the introduction and the growth of purely colonial papers. Then came the

69
secondperiod that lasted until the 1930swhen Arab nationals started to publish their

papersunder strict control of the colonial administrations.

The third period began in the 1930s and lasted until the statesof the Grand Maghrib

(and many other Arab countries) gained independencein the 1950s and 1960s, a

period that saw the rise of nationalist press (many were underground). However,

European colonial powers did not totally give up their hold over the area until the

1970s when the British relinquished the Arab Emirates in the Gulf (1971) and the

French left Djibouti (1977) (Kazan, 1993). For a political map of the Arab World, see

Appendix A.

2.2 Trends and Developments in Arab Newspapers

In order to understand the present status of the dissemination of information and

media practices in the Arab World, it is important to examine its historical and

political dimensions as well as the socio-economic transformations that have affected

the whole region over the years.

From an historical perspective, Mowlana (1998) has provided an overview of how

information has traditionally been disseminatedin the region over the past 200 years.

He examinedthe developmentof information disseminationand media in the Arab

World in ternis of five historical traditions.The first startedwith 'traditionalsources

(such
of communication' asmosquesandbazaars)that occupiedthe kind of newsrole
filled by the mass media in modem times. This traditional mode of media flow had

the potential to promote democracy due to its flexibility and its freedom from

70
govenunent interference. Then came a phase labelled the 'colonial tradition'.

According to Mowlana (1998), after 200 years (since the publication of the first Arab

newspaper),the Arab World is still living in the age of colonial media. The colonial

mode of communication stood in opposition to the traditional mode. It brought with it

the ideology of the West, including the concepts of nationalism and modernity. The

colonial-styled media were characterisedby Western values and a hierarchical and

elitist structure (seealso Rough, 1987; Abdelrhman, 1989).

The third tradition was the 'exile tradition' or 'trans-national media'. This referred to

the second wave of Arab media presenceoutside the Arab World. Over the last 20

years, exile or trans-national media have emerged as a critical force in Arab media.

The Arab trans-national media in London, for example, can be regardedas the centre

of Arab media today according to Mowlana (seealso Abdelrahman, 1989).

The fourth tradition comprised the 'nationalistic media', a tradition of information

flow in nation-states that can be controlled by government or the private sector and

has its roots in Arab nationalism. The main characteristicsof this type of media are its

loyalty to the government, its secular nature, and its basis in Western models of

(Mowlana,
communications The
1998). last modeof mediatradition was the 'Islamic

tradition', a mode that had a closetie to the traditionalmode.It was more universal

than the national media. According to Mowlana, the four most important recent

influences on Arab media are: (1) the development of modem information

technology; (2) the Islamic revolution in Iran; (3) the collapse of Soviet Union; and

(4) the Gulf War. Kazan (1993) endorsedtheseinfluences,addingthe impact of the

71 ,
oil boom in the Gulf Statesas an important factor that has influenced media content

and growth.

From another angle, it is important not to forget the aftermath of World War 11and the

important events that occurred in the region, in the post-war period, that helped

enormously in shaping many aspectsof the Arab life. Among the most significant of

these events has been the deep-rootedArab-Israeli conflict, which greatly influenced

the Arabic literature and press.This complex developmentalcontext has spawnednew

media forms, including the resistance literature and the resistancepress, whose only

theme is to resist Israel and incite Arabs to fight to free Palestine and the Arab-

occupied territories. This orientation was crystallised in the titles of many publications

throughout the Arab World, that carried names such as al-Kifah, al-Nidal (struggle),

al Thawrah (revolution), al-Huryyah (freedom), and al-Istiqlal (Independence).

Thus, the Arab press has passed through several distinct phases of change and

transformation, and existed (up to the present day in most cases)under exceptional

circumstances represented by an unstable political enviromnent where autocracy,

coups' and martial law (in Egypt since 1981 to date) have characterisedthe political

climate. The press have played a critical role as an effective national weapon,

sometimes directed against the enemy of the nation (Ottomans, European colonists,

America, Israel) and on other occasionsagainst brother Arabs, as the press have been

subjugated in many cases to participate in organised recriminatory campaigns

launchedby one faction against another in the region.

72
After achieving political independenceand emancipation from foreign domination,

however, many Arab stateslaunched ambitious plans to improve living standardsand

to develop society's educational and economic status. While the political relationship

between governments of the region and the Arab media has ebbed and flowed, the

media have, nevertheless, kept pace with most technological advancements and

utilized the latest technology.

Yet, Al-Qadi (1999) states that, in recent years government censorship is becoming

meaningless,and even ineffective as more and more people are buying satellite TV

2,
dishesthroughout the Arab world. This led Micke Stine and Barbi Weinberg in their

forward of the Alterman (1998) study about new media in the Arab World, to state

that "despite the government heavy hand that has long controlled media in the Arab

World, new technologies are making their mark" (p: ix). This observation is largely

true and no better illustrated than by the use made by Arab publishers of new satellite

technologies.

The SaudibrothersHisham.andMohammadHafiz publishedthe leadingArabic daily

al-Sharq al-Alawsat (the 'Middle East') in London in 1978 and transmitted it to

publishing housesin the Arab World via fax and satellite (technologies), enabling the

newspaperto be published on the same day in many Arab countries. The successof

al-Sharq al-Alawsat encouragedother publishers to follow suit, including al-Hayat

(Tife') in 1988 and tens of other less significant publications that began the second

In the last 50 years there have been more than 20 military coups in Iraq and Syria alone and in one
ear (1969) three coups occurred in three different countries Libya, Sudanand Somalia.
Mike Stine is the president of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy and Barbi Weinberg is the
chairman.

73
wave of Arabic newspapersemigration'. The model of al-Sharq al-Alawsat and al-

Hayat or the 'satellited daily newspaper',as Schleifer (1998) called it, is consideredto

be the first major impact of new (satellite) technologiesupon Arab media.

Although newspapersin many countries of the region are generally privately owned,

they neverthelessreceive some public subsidy. They are also subject to censorship

restrictions in some countries. For instance, they have to follow written guidelines

provided by the authorities or practice strict self-censorship to comply with some

governments'restrictions.In most cases" editorsknow the dosandthe don'tsof their

trade" (Khazen, 1999,p. 88).

Radio and television stations are mainly government-ownedand operate according to

strict official guidelines, offering only officially endorsednews and views (see Boyd,

1993; Rough, 1987). Even in Qatar, the most liberal of the six Gulf States, that

adopted an open media environment and dissolved the state's censorshipin 1995, the

only liberal voice to be heardis the state-ownednewssatellitestational-Jazirah(see

Al-Kasim, 1999). This station regularly airs controversial news and interviews, and

discusses sensitive issues, especially about neighbouring countries (Bums, 1999).

Nonetheless,when it comes to Qatari issues,the media tend to toe the official

governmentline.

Indeed, in most Arab countries (notably Syria, Iraq, Tunisia and Egypt), the governing

party has power over all the major media and they are permitted to present only

goverment views (Kalb and Socolovsky, 1999). Even the six-year-old Palestinian

1The first wave was in the 19thcentury to

escapecensorshipfrom (colonial and Ottomans.) authorities.

74
National Authority of the West Bank and Gaza practises "authoritarian-style tactics

against independent-minded journalists [that] have forced most to steer clear of

sensitive topics such as corruption, mismanagement,or any news that would cast

Arafat or his authority in a negative light" according to the 1998 report by the

Committee to Protect Joumalists (CPJ) (Campagna,1998).

Yet, the status of press freedom varies from one Arab country to another and also

from time to time. Some countries have passedlaws in recent years claiming more

opennessof the media, such as the Jordanian Press and Publications Law (PPL) of

1993 (replaced with more restrictive law in 1997) and the Lebanese 1994

broadcasting law, but, in practice, press freedom in these countries has been just as

restricted as ever (Altennan 1998, Aylon, 1995 ).

Regarding journalism education, Awatef Abdelrahman (1991), in a report to

UNESCO, identified nearly 30 institutions for journalism and communication

educationdistributedacrossArab states.Shefoundthat someof theseinstitutionstake

the form of a faculty, as in Cairo University, or of an independent institute, as in

Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan and Yemen. Others are departmentswithin a faculty as in

Egypt (universities of Al Azhar, Suhag and Zagazig), Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Jordan,

Lebanon, Saudi Arabia (five departments),Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates,

Morocco, Somalia, Mauritania and Libya.

Considering publishing software, Salem (1996) noted that most Arab newspapersuse

foreign language software packages after 'Arabising' them. For instance, the Apple

Macintosh desktop software packageswere 'Arabised' (by the London based Arab

75
company 'DIWAN') in two versions, the first named al-Nashir al-Maktaby (desktop

publishing) and the secondversion named al-Nashir al-Sahafy (desktop publishing for

the press).

Although there have been some technical problems in dealing with the Arabic

language structure, semantics and syntax, the two packagesare the main publishing

software in the Arab publishing market. Salem, however, commends an Arabic

publishing package that has been created completely by Arab professionals and

introduced by the leading Arab computer company Sakhr. This promising package

offers some solutions in handling Arabic text as well as technical support and is now

widely used.

2.3 State of the Market

During the last decade,the business environment has become more challenging for

all over the world. Their two customergroups- readersand advertisers-

newspapers

are being exposed to new electronic publishing media that can often provide a more

convenient source of the gratifications traditionally supplied by established

newspapers. The newspapermarket in the Arab World, however, is still very small in

comparison with its counterparts in America and Europe. Table 3 shows that Arab

countries fall behind western markets in terms of daily newspaper distributions. In

Egypt (62,000,000 inhabitants), for instance, every 1000 people share 38 copies

compared to 332 copies per 1000 people in the UK and 324 copies per 1000 in

Singapore.UNESCO statistics for 1994 show that the total number of daily

newspapersissued in Arab countries is smaller than most other regions of the world

76
with 139 daily newspaperscompared to 1199 daily in
newspapers Latin America and

Caribou and 2854 daily newspapersin the USA alone.

Table 3: Circulation of daily newspapers in the Arab World compared to other

countries
Circulation of dail Newspapers per 000 Inhabitants 1996
Algeria 38 Morocco 26
Australia 297 Oman 27
Bahrain 117 Qatar 161
Canada 159 Saudi Arabia 59
Egypt 38 Singapore 324
France 218 Somalia 1
Iraq 20 Sudan 27
Japan 580 Tunisia 31
Jordan 45 UAE 170
Kuwait 376 United Kingdom 332
Lebanon 141 United States 212
JLibya 13 Yemen 15
Source: UNESCO 1996 Yearbook

This relatively small newspapermarket can be explained in a number of ways. The

majority of Arab countries suffer from a high rate of illiteracy that exceeds50% in at

least four countries (see Table 4). Another factor is that newspaperreading has not

become an important and regular part of the lives of the vast majority of the educated

(and mostly young) people in the region. Newspapers have failed to attract this

market, most of whose membership, in any case,suffer economic hardships.

There may still be some hope for an increased newspaper readership in the Arab

World, however,with the rise of new regionalmediafirms that have're-invigorateda

senseof commondestiny among'manyin the Arab World' (Alterman, 1998). The

combination of the growing regional print media and satellite television stations has

given an impetus to the creation of a new regional media market - known to marketers

77
as the "pan-Arab market"- which is becoming increasingly influential. Mowlana

(1998) has warned of the consequencesof this dramatic rise of corporate media in the

region, becausethey are mostly owned and controlled by a few influential people.

The growth of advertising has representeda further important factor underpinning

media growth in the region. The new player in the market, Pan Arab Media, took the

lion's share of the combined local and regional advertising on television alone in

1997, according to report published by the Jordanian English daily The Star (15

January, 1998). The report noted that the Arab television advertising market has

continued to grow ahead of the media norm with Pan-Arab satellite channels

attracting bigger audiencesand more advertisers.The report indicated that newspapers

improved their advertising market sharefrom 56% in 1996 to 63% in 1997.

Table 4: Adults illiteracy rates: Estimates for 1995

Country Adult illiteracy rates stimates for 1995%
Male & Female Male Female
Algeria 38.4 26.1 51.0
Bahrain 14.8 10.9 20.6
Comoros 42.7 35.8 49.6
Djibouti 53.8 39.7 67.3
Egypt 48.6 36.4 61.2
Iraq 42.0 29.3 55.0
Jordan 13.4 6.6 20.6
Kuwait 21.4 17.8 25.1
Lebanon 7.6 5.3 9.7
Libya 23.8 12.1 37.0
Mauritania 50.4 73.7
Morocco ._62.3
56.3 43.4 69.0
Qatar 20.6 20.8 20.1
Saudi Arabia 28.4 19.9 40.7
Sudan 53.9 42.3 65.4
Tunisia 33.4 21.4 45.4
United Arab Emirates 20.8 21.1 20.2
Source: UNESCO Handbook 1996

78
Even with the onslaught of the Pan Arab satellite television, the advertising activity in

the local Arab Gulf Countries Council (AGCC) newspapers is estimated at $466

million, registering a healthy I I% nominal growth over 1996. The overall statistics

also show steady growth on the region's advertising market for the years 1995,1996,

1997 and 2000 (seeTable 5).

Table 5: Media advertising expenditures in the Arab World

Million US $ 1995 1996 1997 2000
Saudi Arabia 269 328 328 334
UAE 149 187 189 191
Kuwait 117 149 160 179
. 42
Bahrain 19 18 25
Oman 21 23 25 27
Qatar 17 22 26 36
Pan Arab 155 209 308 533
Sub-Total 750 939 1060 1342
Egypt 177 204 275 395
Lebanon 168 173 172 240
Jordan 23 23 24 34
Syria Yemen 110 110 19 110
rrotal 1111311351 11543ý021
Source: Arabad com This column is the Statistics as ofFebruary
.*
2000ftom PARC (Pan Arab ResearchCentre -Arabresearch.com)

79
2.4 Internet Technology in the Arab World

"It had to happen eventually. Kings, princes, sheikhsandpoliticians arefalling over

one another in the Middle East in a mad scramble to announceInternet initiatives.
The Internet does not run on oil and the Arab World doesnot want to be left behind in
the new economy". (FoleyK., March,2000)

Although the population of the Arab World today exceeds250 million, inhabiting an

area approximately one and a half times the size of the USA, less than 1% of this

population have Internet access.In April 1999, the Dabbagh Infonnation Technology

Group released a report showing that the online population of the Arab World was

less than one million (923,000), with Egypt, UAE, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia leading

the region. The latter scored the highest growth with 140.6% over a four- month

period betweenDecember 1998 and April 1999 (seeTable 6).

Computer use even in the rich Gulf States, along with most other Middle Eastern

states,is well below international averagesin the numbers of computers in use and in

the number of Internet hosts (Rathmell, 1997). However, the Domain Survey

(http://www.nw.com/zone/WWW/top.
html) found that the numberof hostsidentified

by country identifiers from the Arab League rose from 2,797 in January of 1996 to

11,209 in July of 1997. This increase of 300% is almost three times the rate for all

hostsduringthe sameperiod(an increaseof 106%).

Despite this rapid growth, the World Bank development report of 1999/2000 showed

that Arab states are still far behind other nations in tenns of individual share of

Internet technology facilities (seeTable 7).

80
Table 6: Number of Internet users in the Arab World
Subscribers Subscribers Users %Growth in 4 months
Ran k Coun t ry
Dec 1998 April 1999 April 1999Dec'98- April'99
I UAE 61,200 81,700 204,300 33.5%
2 Lebanon & Syria 30,700 52,900 132,200 72.3%
3[ Egypt 36,400 51,800 207,200 42.3%
ISaudi Arabia 18,700 45,000 112,500 140.6%
5I Kuwait 22,000 25,100 62,800 14.1%
6 ýordan 16,600 20,100 50,300 21.1%
7 Oman 12,700 16,000 40,000 26.0%
8 Tunisia 4,700 6,000 15,000 27.7%
9 Morocco 11,200 14,100 32,500 25.9%
10 Bahrain** 11,700 13,000 32,500 11.1 %
II Qa ar 8,500 111,000 R7,500 29.4%
12 Yemen 2,200 500 _16,300 13.6%
Fotal 236,000 ý38,200 023,10
Source: Dabbagh Information Technology Group Put7usneaMay I YYY.

in sum, public access to the Internet is growing rapidly in the region, especially

following the introductionof the Internetin January1999to the Saudipublic. Saudi

Arabia and the rest of the Gulf Statesare seenas the most lucrative Arab online

markets,with the highest level of online and

presence growth.
subscriber The basic

components for Internet access (telephone line + computer + Internet services

provider), however,remainbeyondthe reachof many Arab citizens,as doesthe cost

of Internetconnection.

2.5 Obstacles Facing Internet Usage in The Arab World

Despitethe fact that the Internet is growing very quickly in the Arab World, many

barriersdeny the vast majority of the region'scitizens accessand benefit from this

new medium.
communication Broadly, thesebarriersare economic,technical,social

and political. To understandthe wider picture, the following factors are the most

obvious obstacles facing Internet spread in the region.

81
Table 7: Communications, information, and science and technology
Per 1,000 eople Internet hosts
Telephone Personal computers Per 10,000 people
main lines
Economy 1997 1997 Jan-99
Algeria 48 4.2 0.01
Belgium 468 235.3 162.39
Denmark 633 360.2 526.77
Egypt 56 7.3 0.31
Japan 479 202.4 133.53
Jordan 70 8.7 0.8
Kuwait 227 82.9 32.8
Lebanon 179 31.8 5.56
Morocco 50 2.5 0.2
Saudi Arabia 117 43.6 0.15
Syrian 88 1.7 0
Tunisia 70 8.6 0.07
UK 540 242.4 240.99
JUSA 1644 406.7 11,131.52
IYemen 113 11.2 10.01
Source: World Bank -World developmentreport 199912UUU

2.5.1 Government Policies and Social Acceptance

Many Arab countriesconsiderthe Internet as a possiblethreat to national security,

cultural identity or religious sanctity. This threat is especially significant in a country

like Saudi Arabia where Islamic Sharia! is the country's constitution. Boyd, Al-

Makaty, and Tubergan,(1994) discussedwhat they called the Saudi 'complexity' in

acceptingnew technologyand statedthat this Islamic state was "one of the most

religiously conservativein the world" (p.55)". From this perspective,Saudis'fear of

the Internet may have its justification becausesomereligious leadersthink that the

Net will destroywhateverremaininggood valuesthe societystill has by propagating

twisted ideas and pornographicmaterial which would corrupt the end users.These

leaderscite in defenceof their fear, the repeatedcomplaintson theseissuesvoicedby

82
people in countries like the United Kingdom, Singapore and Germany regarding the

content of the Internet (Alshehri, 1997).

When reviewing Internet usage in the Arab Gulf countries which contain more than

half of all Arab users (51.90/o),Rathmell (1997) observed that the infonnation

revolution posed perhaps the greatest challenge to the six Gulf States (GCC). The

governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates

(UAE) and Oman regardedthemselvesas under considerablethreat from the 'Net.

The main concern of these nations can be classedin psychological warfare terms as

'Net war'. One part of this concern is the easewith which Immoral' material, such as

pornography, can enter these countries via the Internet. Rathmell (1997) argued that

this threat does not representan active offensive directed against the 'country'. What

was absent from Rathmell's argument was acknowledgment of the importance of the

religious dimension and social acceptancein this part of the world. There is still a

strong presence of Islamic rules and a very strict concept of family values in most

Gulf societies.Hence,governmentsmust ensurethat the concernsof families about

such an open medium as the Internet are acted upon. It is true, to some extent, that the

use of the Net for spreading dissident political opinions is another concern to Arab

goverm-nents,though it certainly has not beentheir main concern.

Of more significance is the nature and extent of unmitigated social acceptanceof this

new medium and the exposure of families to immoral materials that can be accessed

on the Net. The same pattern of social resistancehas previously been witnessed to

occur on two other occasions in the last 50 years. The first of these was the

introduction of radio broadcastingin Saudi Arabia and the secondwas when a group

83
 L--

of people attackedthe first state-ownedTV station in Riyadh in 1963. There was also

a strong response to pressure from the conservative Islamic society after the

proliferation of satellite dishes in the early 1990s, and the Saudi Goverranent was

encouragedto ban satellite dishesfrom entering the country (seeBoyd, 1993).

It is not only the Gulf Statesthat have shown reluctance to encourageaccessto new

communications media. Historically, most Arab countries have been conservative

Muslim societies where all aspectsof life, including new innovations, have to operate

according to Islamic be
guidelines and approved by scholars before their introduction

into the daily life of people.

The ability of Net applications to deal with or present almost any issue, including

those found most sensitive in the Muslim world, has caused great deal of social

concern. What might be suitable in the western culture may be consideredinsulting in

the Arab World. Generally though, most official restrictions apply only to sites that

express unacceptable viewpoints against Islam, pornographic sites and politically

sensitive sites dealing with what governments believe may deleteriously affect the

social order (seealso Durier, 1998).

2.5.2 Illiteracy

The (hope that the) potential role of the Internet in promoting sustainable and

equitable development in the Arab World is hindered by the very high illiteracy rates,

as shown in Table 4. Illiteracy remains the major problem facing Arab countries:

84
impedes the development of the societies, and challenges any governmenfs plans to

benefit from such new technologies.

The role of the Internet as a gatewayto a world of learning is not fully realised where

populations lack the basic educational level neededto become effective users of the

new medium. Even in countries (including some Arab countries) that have succeeded

in securing a basic level of education, the picture is not very positive, according to

Paula Uimonen of the United Nations ResearchInstitute for Social Development. She

observedthat schools are poorly equipped, classesare overcrowded, and teachersare

poorly trained. Furthermore, education is one of the first sectors turned to when

savingsneedto be made in the national budget (Uimonen, 1997).

2.5.3 Cost

The Internet is not a cheap medium in this part of the world. So far, no ISP in any

single Arab country offers free Internet services such as in Europe and America.

Furthermore, subscription fees are very high and act as a deterrent to a large segment

of otherwise potential users. The cost of connections and equipment have "kept the

Internet beyondreach for all but a handful of scientistsand engineersat selected

government research institutes" (Anderson & Eickelman, 1999, p.59). Clearly,

economic hardships remain a tremendous obstacle facing new technology growth in

a region where many countries are considered as being amongst the world's poorest

nations. In Somalia (GNP $171), for instance,Internet connection can cost subscribers

the equivalentof six monthssalary.

85
2.5.4 Language

The predominance of English language over the content and most of its services

renders the Net an English speakers zone. For Arabic-speaking users, in this

overwhelmingly English language medium, slightly more than three hundred

thousand of an estimatedtwenty million "pages" making up the World Wide Web, are

in Arabic. This point was noted by Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, executive director of Sakhr

Software. Dr Hazem's company developedthe sole Arabic program Sindbad for using

Arabic on the Internet (cited by Anderson & Eickelman, 1999).

2.5.5 Infrastructure

The old Arab communications infrastructure is another factor holding back Internet

development.In some countries, telecommunicationsservicesare often expensive and

have too limited a bandwidth to supply Internet services. Furthermore,

telecommunications be or
servicesmay unavailable unreliablea lot of the time.

Many Arab countries maintain trade barriers to imported information technology and

this also hinders serious investment in this sector from local business. Foreign

investors, on the other hand, who wish to establish long-term investment, demand

sophisticatedlocal infrastructures. The problem is that the development of a collective

information infrastructure policy for the region is moving in a fragmented way. Few

specific policies exist and most initiatives relate to the creation of research-oriented

networks. (Alshehri, 1997).

86
Yet, because the Internet depends fundamentally on telecommunications capacity,

many Arab League countries have been working to upgrade telecommunications

structures (Comell Library, 1997). The Saudi goverment, for instance, started a $4

billion project in 1994 (the largest in telecommunicationshistory outside the United

States) to expand and modernize the Kingdom's telecommunications infrastructure.

The project, known as the Telephone Expansion Project-6 (TEP-6), calls for the

provision of a fully digital communications network including 1.5 million digital

lines, thousands of associated network components for switching, transmission,

network management,fibre-optics, wireless, civil works and training projects.

2.6 Arab Electronic Newspapers

Unlike American and European newspapersthat have experimented with electronic

delivery of news and information for two decades,Arab publishers and journalists

beganto move in this direction only in the last few years when they witnessedthat the

Internet was emerging as a new communication medium available to the masses.

The development of easy-to-use Internet facilities has encouraged many Arab

publishers to take the initiative and get online since the early years of the Net. Further

to
encouragement Arab publishers to invest in online publishing has come from the

sharp increase in the number of people connectedto the Internet. It becamea fashion

to read in the headlines of some Arab newspapersthat it was "the first Arab (Saudi,

Egyptian, Jordanian, etc.) daily on the Internet ". This indicates how important these

newspapersvalue the Internet. Alterman (1998) noted that j ournalists and the press in

87
general have been among the earliest beneficiaries of the presenceof the Internet in

the Arab World.

Although Internet publishing remains primarily an English phenomenon, an Arabic

presenceon the Internet is now being felt. The Arab press - like the press industry in

other parts of the world - found itself facing new market pressures,partly emanating

from the Internet, with its electronic publishing potential. This new format for

delivering news and other information to consumersposes a new challenge that news

producerscannot afford to ignore.

According to this study's online media directory' (Fayez.net/media) almost every

major national Arab newspaper has a website, despite the fact that none of them is

making any profit. They are on the Net in most casesbecausetheir rivals have a site.

Among major Arab online newspapers, al-Sharq al-,4wsat is investing significant

time and energy in its online version. This paper was one of the first (in December,

1995) Arab newspapersto establishan online version.

The al-Sharq al-awsat trial provides a good example of the hardships that face Arab

online newspapers, as it has tried without successto make a profit from its Web

edition. Its early editions presented much of the editorial content of the printed

version, but the interactive version was free. The user only neededto register and get

a user ID and password to accessthe site. This arrangementdid not last very long,

however. After nearly a year and a half, the electronic fonn of the newspaperceased

1Also thesecomprehensive
Arab onlineMediaguideswereconsulted:www.sahafa.
com,www.fares.net/news,
wwwAarabs. com (Seealso3.8.1the implementation
of the study)

88
to be free -of-charge and asked its registered users to pay a subscription fee (E9 for 3

months, E16 for 6 months and E30 for 12 months). The publishers argued that this

step was necessaryto cover maintenancecosts and to provide a better service. After

another troublesome year of trialing, the online paper came up with a revamped

appearanceand a policy of providing free daily news sununaries. For those who

wished to read the news in greaterdetail, however, subscription fees were still levied.

Electronic newspapers,the world over, are acknowledging that users are becoming

to
accustomed obtainingfree information serviceson the Intemet. Free accessis a
key part of the attraction of e-newspapers.This factor provides a new kind of

challenge for e-newspapers

whose publishers must re-think their businessstrategiesto

adapt to this new delivery medium. Nevertheless, the Internet market offers new

opportunities for those operating in the online industry. Within the Arab World, most

newspapers have greatly improved their Web versions and made remarkable

improvements in terms of Arabic text format and the content they offer in easily

navigated sites that highlight local, national as well as international news.

The online edition of the Egyptian daily al-Ahram (the printed version appearedin

1876) is one of the outstanding Arab dailies offering rich content and a good

archiving engine. It is one of the few that

e-newspapers provides updated information

on the weather,
prayertimes and links to othermediasites.In addition,the Saudial-

Riyadh presentsa fine and full website with an easyto navigate and simple format. It

also provides a one-week back issues service and full searchablearchive as well as

a (Riyadh) city guide.

89
2.6.1 Arab Electronic NewspapersPotential

Internet business more generally has hardly started in the Arab World. This fact

represents a major problem for electronic publishing and explains why the Arab

World lags behind the rest of the world in this line of Internet business.At present,

there is no critical mass online to support the size of traffic needed for revenue

generation. There is only a small segmentof the Arab population currently connected

to the Internet and compounded with this is the weak telecommunication

infrastructure found in many Arab countries.

Considering the enthusiasm shown by some governments in the region to improve

communications infrastructures, together with wider acceptanceof the Internet among

the public, the future is more promising. For Arab newspapers,nonetheless,the future

will remain unclear if they do not shift from old businessstrategiesover the next few

years. Arab news Publishers must recognise that they are entering a new type of

marketthat hasits own termsandconditions.Somehopeis offeredby newsprovided

from foreign sources.The BBC, for instance,offers a rich daily contentand world-

wide in-depth coverage in Arabic for free. Also, most major news agenciesprovide

similar services for free. It is doubtful that Arab userswould turn to electronic Arabic

newspapers,especially if only made available on a subscription basis, when they can

get better content from the longer-establishedBBC or Reuterswebsites.

Another part of the problem is that Arab publishers have not conducted marketing

studies that could help to assessthe market potential. Most newspapershave no clear

plans for the future or no clear reasonsfor putting their newspaperonline. Abdul Aziz

90
AlMansour Editor-in-Chief of the first Saudi online daily al-Jazirah, summarisedthe

problem by stating that the purpose of his paper's presenceon the Web was to register

precedencebefore other newspapers,so that the newspapercould take the lead in this

new market. Making profit or finding new ways to generaterevenue had not been the

target of the primary adopters of the Internet. The online version was just a trial that

might or might not eventually a

attain position of prominence in the newspaper's

future plans (Abdulaiz Al-Mansour, personal communication, February 1,1999).

91
2.7 Summary

There are several good reasonsfor Arab publishers to be getting online, regardlessof

the current status of the market. First, they have to establish a presenceand obtain

experience in electronic publishing as the market becomesmore firmly established.

Second, the Internet and its widely used applications offers an uncensoredmedium

that could enable publishers to reach Arab readersthroughout the region and all over

the world. Such is the potential of this communication network, that it could help

publishers build bigger Arab readershipsand generatemore revenue from advertisers.

The Internet newspapermarket could therefore captureArab usersresiding outside the

Arab World who may enjoy a better standardof living than most of those inside the

region, as well as advertiserswho might want to reach that particular readership.

A third reasonfor getting on the Internet is to save money. Publishing a newspaperon

the World Wide Web is not very expensivein comparisonwith producing a hard copy

publication. For significantly less money, a publisher can maintain a daily content that

is easyto accessand easyto update.No distribution costs are involved.

Although Internet accessis increasing in many countries, it is still limited by poor

infrastructure. For most people in the Arab region, the cost has remained prohibitive,

but for those who can afford it, the Internet servesas a medium for otherwise

unavailable regional and international news. Arab newspapers,however, are advised

to invest in marketing researchto get to know their markets. This will enable them

successfullyto deliver their newspapercontent to millions of readers amongst

hundredsof free, competing, and attractive news sites not restricted by Arab censors.

92
In spite of the fact that the Arab newspapersstarted to appear in some parts of the

Arab world since the secondhalf of the 19'hcentury, their real presencein the life of

Arab societies remained feeble due to educational, economic and socio-cultural.

factors. Thus any evaluation of the Arab press must begin by acknowledging its

historical context and the political phasesthat have shapedthe entire region in the last

century. On the surface, the Arab press industry appearsto have changedsignificantly

in the last decade. With the technological advancements,publishers had recognized

the extent of these changes and were beginning to adjust. As demonstrated, this

transformation was evident in newspapers' content, their production methods,

economic strategies, and their relationship with governments. The most significant

trend during the last decade was the movement toward new technology in the

publishing and the distributing of the publications. In coming to terms with the

Internet, Arab newspaperswere quick to adapt. In spite of the deep and in some cases

incurable obstaclesfacing Internet spreadin the region and although online publishers

face an uncertainfuture there are more than 65 dailies, 40 weekliesand nearly 20

monthlypublicationsfrom all partsof the Arab World on the Internet

today.

93
Chapter Three: Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction

Computer technology is playing an increasingly prominent role in journalism. The

past decade has witnessed the growing use of modem communications technologies

within the newsroom in relation to news-gathering and presentation. Through this

new technology, efficiency, speed, and production volume have been increased

dramatically. Many newspaperpublishers, including those from the Arab World, have

taken the initiative and started experimenting with the Internet as a communication

channel through which to reach new as well as existing markets. This development

represents a challenge for old concepts of communication, with theories of

communication needing to be redefined.

3.2 Reasons for Research

The newspaper industry faces serious challenges, occasionedby circulation decline,

decreasing advertising revenues, and difficulties in attracting younger readers.

A further threat is posed to the traditional newspaper publishing industry by the

emergenceof new communications technologies that provide new forms of electronic

news delivery. Although nearly 45% of U. S. media workers (publishers, editors and

advertising directors) expressedworries about the long-term impact of the Internet

(AOR & FACS, 1996), this challenge is often met with no clear strategies from

newspapers. Rogers (1996) maintained that many publications have been rapidly

94
setting up websites without considering the implications or consequencesfor their

businesses.Such developmentsoften representlittle more than a 'reflex action' (cited

by Lindoo, 1998). In the academy, where all those who are concerned about mass

communication issues often turn to learned journals for answers (Perry, 1996), "few

scholarly pieces have been written about the newspaper industry and the problems

they currently face" (Lindoo, 1998 p. 19).

The growth of the Internet and related communicationstechnologiestherefore posesa

challenge to communications theorists as well as to journalism practice. There

remains much work to be done to understand online journalism and to explore its

potential for news publishing. As the Internet becomes more widely and firmly

established among the general population, it becomes increasingly apparent that no

dedicated conceptual models exist that can effectively explain its significance as an

information system.

Although a steadily growing body of work has emerged in the 1990s on issues

to in
relating e-newspapers many parts of the world, particularly in the United States,

very little is known about the applications, potential and possible challengesthat may

face newspapersthat go online in the Arab World. There has also been a general

dearth of work that has attempted to develop theoretical models to analyse the

business and production of online newspapersor the way they are used by readers.

The existing literature "offers a number of often contradictory views on interactivity

and online j ournalism" (Massey & Levy, 1999 p 139). Part of the problem may be due

to the fact that the field of Internetapplicationsanduserbehaviouris changingalmost

95
daily. The Internet is a relatively new communication medium that has very dynamic

nature. Researchin this areahas so far been exploratory.

Exploratory research is usually conducted because a research problem has not yet

been clearly defined, or ".. when not much is known about the situation at hand

[And] to better comprehendthe nature of the problem, since very few studies might

have been conducted in that area" (Sekaran, 2000 p. 123). This type of study is

important to gain familiarity with a new phenomenon and to understand what is

occurring. This chapter presents the researchrationale and key questions addressed

this research.It then presentsa description of the design of the study and the multi-

method approachused in investigating the statusof Arab online newspapers.

An important reason for choosing Arab online dailies in this study is due to the fact

that in the Arab World the presence of the Internet has expanded the daily news

menus of ordinary newspaperreaderswho can now read (verity of) newspapersfrom

other Arab countries on the same day as the news breaks. Readersin the region now

have direct access to their preferred newspaper(s), unaffected and unmediated by

governmental censors.News reception is no longer delayed ineffective delivery and

distribution networks. Over many years, prior to the Internet, censorship restrictions

linked to ideological conflicts limited the flow of news. Thus, Arab publishers have

lookedto the Internetas a ubiquitousandunfetteredway to offer their publicationsto

the Arab and internationalcommunity.Yet, there has not beenany research(at theý

time of writing) that has analysedthe production or use of electronic Arab

: ýj
newspapers.The researcher noted the potential significance of such a study while

conducting interviews with a number of Arab journalists who emphasisedthe

96
importanceof researchthat could provide systematicdata on the use of the Internet by

Arabnewspapers
andtheirreaders.

3.3 Research Problem

By the end of the 20"' century, hundreds of daily e-newspaperscould be reached

through the Internet by millions of readers world-wide. The Internet now offers

regular updatednews around the clock. With the Internet, the old businessculture of

newspaperpublishing is no longer tenable.Thus, the Arab newspaperindustry found

itself facing a new kind of businessin content, format and delivery to markets, in

which skills were neededin new technologicalmethodsand new information handling

strategies. Mechanismsfor presentingthe news have becomemore sophisticatedand

different consumption options are provided to news consumers,meaning that the

traditional stylesof newspaperreadingare changingas well.

Despite the growing number of academicstudies about the daily e-newspapers,the

limited Arabic literature on this subjectderivesmainly from newspaperand magazine

articles that lack the in-depth analysisassociatedwith academicinvestigations.Theý

current study is an attempt to examine a subject so far largely neglected by Arab ý,

I
scholarsin an effort to answersome basic questionsabout e-newspapersthrough an

exploratory study of Arab e-newspapers,their readersand publishers.This study is

the first of its kind to examineArab e-newspapersincluding publishersand readersof

thesepublicationsworld-wide.

The aims of this study are to provide a better understandingof e-newspaper

publishing in the Arab World, and more generally to contribute to the research

literatureon electronicnews publishing. In a more practical senseit is hopedthat the

97
findings from this researchwill provide the e-newspaperindustry with insights into

future strategies and uncover certain technical issues that may obstruct Arab

from readingonlinenewspapers.
audiences

3.4 Research Objectives

The generalaim of study is to examineArab e-newspapers'presence,readershipand

style in order to draw conclusions to help to assesscosts, revenues, and profit

strategiesfor the Arab newspaperindustry. Although this study focuses on Arab

e-newspapers,many of the issuesconsideredby the researchcan be extrapolatedto

online newspapersaround the world as they share the same evolution and use the

samemedium to reachtheir audiences.

This study examines publishers and readers' attitudes to Arab electronic dailies

available on the WWW as well as analysing specific online newspapersfor their

contents and format characteristics. The term Arab users (readers)here refers to

membersof the Arab community who use the Internet and to those who have the

ability to readArabic newspapers,regardlessof their backgrounds.

The study will explore the nature of this new news delivery forum, the behaviourof

its users(readers)and publishers'strategiesin order to explore what are the correlates

of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with online newspaperspresented by Arab

publishers.The study also highlights the advantagesand disadvantagesof the Internet

in generaland the use of the World Wide Web the

- most widely usedapplicationof
the Internet - as a new form of news delivery. The researchwill also move towards

the development of a conceptual framework within which the analysis of

98
e-newspaperscan proceed. This study will also help to bridge the gap in the Arabic

literature with regards to new media usage and future plans for e-newspaper

publishing.

To achieve these goals, specific questions have been formulated to cover relevant

issues about Arab dailies on the Internet. Through the analysis of responsesfrom a

sample of 800 Arab readers,27 Arab publishers, and by examining editions of all the

48 online Arab newspaper sites, it is hoped to produce a valuable, descriptive and

analytical account of theseInternet newspapersand their readers.

3.5 Principal Research Questions

The following questionsform the core of each stageof the study.

3.5.1 E-Newspapers and Other Web-based Services

Questions

1. How many Arab daily newspapers exist on the Net? Where are they

issuedfrom?

2. What are the technical fonnats of these papers? How can the user read

them?

3. Is there any chargefor the press services? How is it collected?

4. Do they have commercial advertisements?How are they presented?

5. What other news servicesare available to Arab users of the Internet?

99
3.5.2 Publishers' Questions

6. What is the impact of electronic versions of print newspapers?

7. What content do they put in their e-newspaper?

8. What servicesdo they offer to visitors?

9. Are there printed versions of these electronic publications?

3.5.3 Readers'General Intemet Use

10. What are the characteristicsof readersof online newspapers?

11. What generaluse do e-newspaperreadersmake of the Internet?

12.What are the attitudesof Arab userstowardsthe Internetas a sourceof news

andinfonnation?

3.5.4 Arab Online Newspapers and their Readers

13.What is the frequencyof reading e-newspapersand what are the most

readablenewspapers?

14. What are the difficulties readersexperiencein reading e-newspapers?

15. To what extent are the readerssatisfied with e-newspapers?

3.6 Research Design

The 'essenceof news publications'on the Net accordingto Deuze (1998) is their

integrated character.The convergenceof sound, image and text in online journalism is

100
the combination of all 'journalistic genres' and therefore requires an integrated

research approach. As online journalism is still very young, research into the

profession should be guided by the samenotion that makes the 'Net' a massmedium:

its global nature. Given the global nature of the Internet and the multi-media formats

adopted by many electronic news services, this research adopted a multi-method

approach.

The researchcomprised three main parts: (1) an analysis of the websites of all the 48

Arab e-newspapersavailable at the time of the study as well as collecting data about

all major web-based news resources targeted Arab audiences; (2) a survey of

publishers of these newspapers; and (3) a survey of readers of Arab e-newspapers.

Both surveys were conducted online using questionnairesto which respondentscould

reply electronically. Content analysis of websites was used to examine a number of

published
generalcharacteristicsof e-newspapers in the Arab World.

Although these three parts represented distinct and separate stages to the overall

researchprogramme, there was a certain amount of cross-referencingbetween these

different elements. Thus, some reader survey questions asked about aspects of

that
e-newspapers were also examinedin the content Questions
analysis. were asked

of publishersabouttheir marketsthat could also be linked to data obtainedfrom the

readers'survey.

Furtherinformationwasobtainedfor this studyfrom visits to two Arab (international)

daily newspapersin London and to two (national) Saudi newspapersin Riyadh. All

these publications have an online presence. During these visits, the researcher

observed the daily work of e-newspaper production and completed in-depth

interviews with key personnel.

101
3.7 Readers'survey

Why a Web-basedsurvey?

Unlike readers of print media, readers of e-newspapers on the Internet remain

undefined especially in the Arab World. This means that reaching such markets

through conventional methods of audienceresearchmay prove ineffective. One of the

first challenges for this research was to design a research methodology and data

collection procedures through which to reach the consumers of Arab e-newspapers.

To undertake reader research of relevance to the particular news medium under

consideration, it would also be necessary to reach respondents with the linguistic

skills and computer literacy necessaryto utilise electronic news delivery by Arab

publications.

Smith (1997) noted that at any given moment there are thousandsof surveys and polls

being conducted on the Web, yet 'surprisingly' little scholarly research is reported

using this data gathering technique. The Internet has been increasingly endorsed as

offering exciting possibilities as a researchtool, especially in the sphere of customer

satisfaction measurement (Slevin, 1997). One advantage of Internet surveys over

traditional survey methods is that "customers can complete questionnaireswhenever

they choose from wherever they choose. Keyboard, mouse, and computer screen

make answering surveys easier than handwriting responses,especially open-ended

ones,andfasterthanbeingreada questionnaireoverthe phone"(p.1).

As a manager of field quality engineering at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Slevin

pointed out that Web surveys have several advantagessuch as, radio buttons, check

102
boxes, and data entry fields, which are possible in HTML but not in ASCII text the

standard coding for e-mail. Furthermore, Web surveys keep respondents from

selecting more than one choice, where only one is meaningful. These factors can

make completing the survey faster and more interesting, and result in higher quality

data. These advantageshave drawn increasedattention to the use of the Internet as a

research tool from among academic and commercial researchers(Sheehanand Hoy,

1999).
The present study representsa further continuation of this developing trend. Given the

widely dispersed market for e-newspapers,it was reasoned that an Internet survey

might prove the most effective way of accessing relevant respondents. Moreover,

since the survey was concerned with investigating issues connected with news

provision on the Internet,it madesenseto utilise that samecommunicationsmedium

to accessconsumersof that content.

This method provided a form of responding that targeted participants were expected

to find easy to handle and offered them anonymity. So far, Web page-basedsurveys

have proven effective in collecting broad-based data from individuals who are

geographically widely dispersed and who may self-select to respond to surveys

(Sheehanand Hoy, 1999). A number of studies have now emergedthat testify to the

benefits of Web-based surveys (Zikmund, 1991; Pitkow & Recker, 1994; Kehoe &

Pitkow, 1996; McCullough, 1998; Schillewaert, Langerak and Duhamel, 1998). The

main benefits cited by these studies are listed below.

Design Fiexibility: A Web page-basedsurvey can take advantage of the graphic

power available through programming languages such as HTML and JavaScript to

createan attractive, interesting, and compelling survey.

103
Reach: Web page-basedpolls have been noted for their ability to generate a high

number of responses

Time: A high volume of responsescan be collected very quickly. This time factor

alone suggestshuge benefits over traditional surveying techniques.

Cost: The costs of both data collection and analysis can be minimized by the use of
Web-basedsurveys.

Anonymity: Web page-basedsurveys allow for anonymity in responses.Previous

research has indicated that anonymity may affect response rates positively, as

respondentsmay be more willing to respond without fear that their answers may be

identifiable to them.

Minimized intervieiver error: Since respondentstype in their answers directly to a

form on a Web page, there is no need for an interviewer to have contact with the

respondents. Therefore, survey responses will be free from errors caused by

interviewers, resulting in cleanerdata.

Minimized interviewer bias: The lack of an interviewer eliminates any potential for

bias that the interviewer brings to the survey. An interviewer's mood, prejudices or

be
opinionswill not reflectedin the data.

In addition to these advantages,however, Internet survey users have noted that Web-

based surveys have limitations that researchers must recognize when they are

consideringthis method. Web page-basedsurveysmust attract respondentsto the

104
Web page with messagesposted in news groups, links on other Web pages, banner

ads, and other types of methods.

3.7.1 Main (Readers) Survey

A quantitative study was carried out on Arab users of e-newspaperspublished in

the Arab World. The overall aim of the survey was to obtain a wider picture about

readers of the Arab e-newspaperson the Internet. Although there is no reliable

numberor mechanismto know exactlythe total numberof all Arab users (inside

and outside the Arab World) as is the case in the total number of users of the

Intemet world-wide, some speculativeestimates,at the time of the fieldwork, gave

the total number of Internet subscribers in the Arab World as being between

73,830 - 236,000 (Husaini, 1998) However given the nature of administration of

this survey, via the Internet, and the dearth of established,nonnative statistics on

distribution or readershiplevels of electronic Arab newspapers,it was not possible

to construct a sampling frame to determine sample structure.

In their 10th survey of December 1998 which was endorsedby the World Wide

Web Consortium (W3C), the Graphic, Visualization, & Usability Centre stated

that since there was no central registry of all Internet users, completing a census,

where an attempt is made to contact every user of the Internet, was neither

practical nor feasible financially. However, to simplify the problem, the GVU

notedthat most surveysof the Internetfocuson a particularregionof users(GVU,

1998).

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This was, therefore, an exploratory survey placed at a website with an open

invitation to any readersof electronic Arab newspapersto respond. Abela (1997)

researched Internet users in Malta and argued that any instrument that can be

posted in the mail can also be transmitted across the Internet and still have a

degree of interactivity, which mail surveys do not. For example, it is much easier

for a respondentto send feedbackto an electronic questionnairevia email than for

a mail respondentusing a standardpostal questionnaire.

A critical advantageover other interactive modes of researchis that responsecan

occur at the participant's leisure (Abela 1997). The main disadvantageof using

the Internet to conduct researchis that not everybody is connectedto the Internet.

This is not regardedas sucha seriousproblemfor the currentresearchbecauseit

is directly concernedwith e-newspaperreadershipand publishing on Internet use.

Some survey questions were technically designed to be in radio buttons that

allowed only one choice to be made if only one answer was required, such as the

question of gender. Some were designedto offer check boxes when more than one

responsechoice was possible.

Prior to the distribution stage, the questionnaire was pilot tested to measurethe

loading time and duration of completion. This was done to check that all questions

andinstructionswere clearandto ascertainthat differentmakesof computersand

WWW browsers handled the website in the same way. This was important to

check, since different browsers might show the page in different ways.

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Forty individuals took part in the pilot study. These comprised 20 students (15

male and 5 female), five male journalists and 15 male Arab readers of

Completion
e-newspapers. time for the survey from initial loading was determined

to take an averageof 3-8 minutes. This dependedon the type of computer, Internet

connection, and the time of accessing.Analysis of the pilot study showed that

technical improvements were needed and some questions should be placed in a

differentfon-nat.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire (see Appendix B) was produced in English and Arabic versions.
The questionnairecomprised four principal sections:

Demographic: The first section obtained personal information from respondents

concerning their age, gender, occupation, nationality, country of residence and

education. This background information would be used to analysepatterns of use and

to differentiate among readersof electronic Arab newspapersdemographically.

Connectivity: These questions dealt with the type of Internet connection participants

had, what service provider they were connectedto, what type of computer they had,

and various questions about how long they had been using the Internet, with response

options comprising: "less than 6 months," "more than 6 months - less than one year,"

'catleast a year but less than two years," "at least two years but less than three years,"

at least three years but less than four years," and "four years or more." Information

wasalsoobtainedaboutthe kinds of softwareused.

107
One question asked about the operating system used by respondents(e.g., Win. 3x or

Win 95 [English or Arabic versions], WinNT [English or Arabic versions], Macintosh

[English or Arabic versions], other). A further question examined the type of browser

used (e.g., Netscape [English], Netscape with SINDBAD [Arabic], Tango Alis

[Arabic], Internet Explorer [English or Arabic versions]. Respondentsalso provided

information about where they accessedthe Internet (at work, school/university, at

home,Intemetcaf6or similar outlet).

Volume of use of the Internet was also investigated in terms of frequency of usage

C'everyday," "4-6 days a week," "2-3 days a week ..about once a week," "less
...

often") and in tenns of the length of an average Internet session ("less than 5

"
minutes, "6-10 minutes," "11-30 minutes," 31-60 minutes .. 1-2 hours,
" "2-5
...
hours ..5+ hours").
....

Attitude: The third section of the questionnaire explored users' attitudes towards the

medium. They were asked to rate the personal importance of the Internet, their

concern about the Internet, how much Internet information sourcesmeant and

mattered to them, and the significance of Internet information sources in their lives.

Each evaluation was made along a unipolar, seven-pointrating scale (1-7).

Readership: The fourth section of the questionnaire comprised a series of 15

questions that examined readership of and opinions about Arab newspapers.

Respondentswere asked to narne the printed (hard copy) Arab newspaper, which

electronic Arab newspapersthey read at all, and which electronic Arab newspaper

they read most often. They were askedto estimatehow often they read Internet

108
newspapers ("every day ..most days of the week," once or twice a week," "at the
...

weekendsonly," "no regular time").

Opinions about electronic Arab newspapers divided into items about general

satisfaction with these services and self-reported likes and dislikes concerning these

publications. More specific ratings were then obtained about the quality of

navigational systems, downloading of content and updating of news in relation to

electronic Arab newspapers. In each case, e-newspaperswere rated on a five-point

scale "
C'excellent, "good," "fair, " "poor, " and "very poor"). Respondentswere asked

to indicate what was the most important thing, in their personal opinion, about reading

the particular electronic Arab newspapersthey logged into. Six specific responses

options were provided here, together with a catch-all "other" option. The pre-

determined options were: "it is free," "always available when I want to read it, " "I

can't get its printed copy where I live, " "Its printed copy is not permitted in my

country," "I prefer to read online "

newspapers. On the other side of the coin

respondentswere asked to indicate any common problems they had confronted when

reading electronic Arab newspapers.Respondentswere invited to provide their own

responses to this question and these were subsequently content analysed and

categorised.

One further indicator of the importance of Internet newspapers to their users is

whether they are willing to pay from the privilege of accessing such publications.

Respondentswere therefore asked, "Would you be willing to pay a fee to cover the

cost of reading your favourite online "

newspaper? The basic options were "yes" or

"no". However, respondentswere asked to qualify further their choice of the "no"

109
option. In some cases,respondentsmight not be prepared to pay for reception of

e-newspaper content when already paying for an Internet connection. There might

also be a possibility that respondentsmight believe that such newspapersshould be

free or that the news coverage supplied can be obtained freely elsewhere. Some

respondents might simply have economic reasons for any lack of enthusiasm for

paying for e-newspaperaccess.A further question was therefore also included on how

much respondentsalready spend on Internet usage.The significance of e-newspapers

might also depend upon the principal reasons for using the Internet at all. Thus,

respondentswere asked whether they used the Internet for work, pleasure, research,

education or news. Finally, a free space was offered to respondents for any open-

endedcommentsthey might wish to add.

3.7.1.2 Designing the Online Form

The online forms were written in HTML language free of images with very limited

tables. This technically means easy access and fast downloading for visitors

regardlessof different browsers' capabilities or operating systemstype they are using.

After filling out the survey form and returning it by hitting the submit button a short

'thank you' messagepage automatically loaded. The method utilized to collect the

completed online forms was a Cgi-Bin basedmail protocol that forwarded the survey

results straight to the researcher'se-mail inbox.

As some researcherswarn that users of Web-basedsurveys should consider that not

all Internet users use the same browsers, and different browsers may not present the

110
text on Web pages in the same manner " (Sheehan& Hoy 1999). The forms were

testedby using the following Internet browsers:

Netscapenavigators version 2.2, Gold and Communicator 4.1

Sindbad-Communicatorversion 4(Arabic enabledbrowser).
Tango Alis Arabic version 2 (Web browser supportsArabic fonts)
Internet Explorer versions 3.2,4.0 Arabic, 4. English.

All tests were done with the following operating systems:

0 Windows 3.11 and Windows 95 Arabic and English versions.

9 Macintosh Arabic and English.

In all these tests, 14 & 15-inch monitors were used to make sure that the question

pages were in the right order and the questions were viewable in both 1024X768 and

80OX600 screen resolution. The speed of possible PCs used by visitors was also

considered by using older processorsthat run most of the University of Sheffield's

network in 386 and 486 models, as well as Pentium computers. These tests worked

successfully and helped in solving some minor problems in the HTML programming

of the forins which prevented difficulties during the process of downloading, filling,

and posting the completed forms by visitors to the researcher'smailbox.

The survey questionnairewas coded into HTML fonnat using Homsite3 and Webford

2.01 and uploaded at first to Geocities.Com free serversand then to the researchown

domain name site (www. Fayez.net/research).

III
3.7.1.3 Attracting Readers to the Survey Website

One point that benefited this study was that Arab readers are not heavily surveyed

and, therefore, respondent resistance was very low. However in order to attract

visitors to the questionnaire,a number of stepswere followed.

First, a comprehensivemedia site was designed by the researcherand posted to the

Net containing links to almost all Arab media and links to major Arab media

directories. This site was linked to the survey site through an animated banner. This

website, called Arab Media Guide, attracted more than 100,000 hits over a 14 month

period (August 1998- September 1999) from nearly 80 countries (see Appendix C).

This site was also registeredwith most major searchengines.This helped in attracting

to
more visitors who were used searchingthrough searchengines for Arab media and

related keywords. Through this Guide the reader could click the survey icon and fill

out the fonn.

Second, some popular Arab media directories showed animated banner-adswith an

to
appeal participate in the survey. The animated banners were designed by using

Arabic text and Arabic art effects. Two bannerswere designedfor the readers' survey

and one for the publishers' survey. These bannerswere placed on specific Arab media

pages on high exposure sites and linked to the survey sites. By clicking a banner the

user could accessthe survey page.

Third, announcement messageswere posted on Arab-related Internet newsgroups

(e.g., soc.culture.arab, soc.culture.egypt, soc.culture.iraq...., etc.). In addition, several

112
Arab and Islamic Chat Rooms were informed about the study and severale-mail

with Arab e-mail lists were utilised in order to captureusersfrom different

databases

locationsandbackground.

Fourth, a short messageexpressedthe aims of the study and gave a URL that was

usedas an e-mail signatureby 25 friends of the authorin the UK, USA, Qatar,Egypt

and SaudiArabia who offered assistancein circulatingthe surveyaddress(URL) to a

wider readership.

Fifth, e-mail messageswere used to contact operators of some Arab popular sites who

agreedto take part in the studyandwereforwardedby themto all their subscribers.

3.8 Publishers'and Editors'Survey

Basedon Mensing(1998)modelan online questionnairewas designedboth in Arabic

andEnglishto targetpublishersand editorsof Arab online newspapers(seeAppendix

D). While it is importantto know the market for e-newspapers

through systematic

reader surveys, the views of media professionalsare also important. Newspaper

ownersandeditorsarethe driving forcesbehindthe developmentof e-newspapers.

By

the mid-1990s,surveysof print mediaeditorsin the United Stateswere showingthat

the great majority expectedto have electronic versions of their newspapersor

in
magazines placeby the turn of the century(e.g., RossandMiddleberg,1997).

Many surveysof editors and journalists revealedthat while there was widespread

recognitionof the need to go online, there was concernabout the implications of

doing so both for newspaperpublishingas a businessandjournalism as a profession

(Alexander, 1997; Ruggiero, 1998; Brill, 1999; Schultz & Voakes, 1999). Some

113
commentators,however, have offered a word of comfort by arguing that even though

online journalism is destined to become a widespreadphenomenon,the publishing of

news print will not become totally a thing of the past for some time to come

(Lawrence, 1993). When journalism experts were invited to engage in futurology,

much emphasis was still placed by professionals on the continued importance of the

traditional skills of journalism as well as the need for computer literacy (Massey,

1996).

For the editors' and publishers'survey,the author consulteda number of Internet

experts before setting out on the survey instrument. From the consultations it was

obvious that in order to get usable responsesfrom Arab online newspaperowners and

editors,the questionsshouldbe as conciseand as brief as possible.Onceagain,the

questionnaire forrn was designed to provide a simple interface for respondents.This

helped in reducing downloading and navigation time so that the respondent could

complete the form easily.

The main questions consideredhere were the length of time for which their

publication had been online, the services it offered, staffing requirements, impact (on

print edition), content size, and future fees strategiesof online newspapers.In order to

make the analysis and comparisons between variables as uniform as possible, the

population was carefully defined: the online newspaper had to be updated daily,

producedby an Arab publisher, and appearsin Arabic or English.

114
3.8.1 Implementation

The survey was put online and several e-mails were sent to editors and publishers

according to e-mail addressesthey put on their sites. In some caseswhere there was

no e-mail address found for publisher, the emails were sent to the maintainer

(webmaster) of the site. A list of all Arab online newspapersmeeting the defined

criteria was compiled by cross-referencing these comprehensive lists of online

newspapers:

9 Sahafa(press) Directory [http://www. sahafa.com],

o Faresnet Arab media site. [http: //www. fares.

net/news]

9 4Arabs searchengine list. [http: //www. 4arabs-com/links/Mediaý

9 Arab Media Guide (the author's online directory) [http: //fayez.net/media/]

e Saud Alhajiri's website, the first popular Arab media online directory

[http://www. Iiii. com/-hajeri/newsstanM (offline)

The final list of selectedsites included 48 online newspapers.

The survey instrument was based on the key researchquestions of the study and on

topics discussedwith some Arab journalists in London and Riyadh. Some themes in

this survey were first posted to CIOS.ORG (Communication Institute for Online

Scholarship) list members, publisher of The Electronic Journal of Communication

and gained much positive feedback and comments from academicians and

professionalsin the field of online newspaperpublishing and were then reviewed and

approvedby the researchsupervisor.

115
At first, each qualified site was visited to record the name, Web address(URL) and

electronic mail addressesof the editors and publishers. If the site failed to provide

either a usable name or email address, an electronic mail address was sent to the

Webmaster of the site asking for the name and email address of the appropriate

person. A personalized electronic mail message,describing the survey and inviting

participation, was sent to all qualified Arab newspapers'editors.

After two months, each contact who did not respond to the first invitation was

contacted again via email, with an invitation to complete the survey online through

the Web-basedfonn. Although the URL of the one-pagesurvey was sent to all the 48

Arab newspapereditors in early December 1998 and the stated cut-off date was April

1999, completed survey forms were accepteduntil the end of August 1999. Surveys

from 27 newspaperswere returned,yielding a responserate of 56 per cent.

3.9 Websites (Content) Analysis

In addition to obtaining the opinions of producersand users about online news

services, it is important with a new phenomenon such as e-newspapersto examine

them more directly. The personal views of readersand editors are significant, but are

subjective.A more objective assessment

of the subjectmatter under investigation

might reveal evidenceabout the characterof Internetnews sites that could then be

comparedwith the commentsof readersand the intentionsof editors. The current

research therefore included an analysis of news websites using a content analysis

approach.

116
Content analysis has been a staple of media researchfor many years. Indeed, since

1965, content analysis has been used as the primary methodology in roughly one-fifth

of the articles published in mainstream media researchjournals (Cooper, Potter, &

Dupagne, 1994; Potter, Cooper & Dupagne, 1993). Content analysis has frequently

been used to assessmedia news - covering such topics as crime (Barlow, Barlow &

Chiricos, 1995); foreign policy (Wells & King, 1994); military conflict (Fico, Ku &

Soffin, 1994); biotechnology (Priest & Talbert, 1994); and AIDS (Gozenbach &

Stephenson, 1994). Content analysis has also played an important role in research

programmes that have explored the relationships between news content and public

opinion and behaviour (Noelle-Neumann, 1993; Protess & McCombs, 1992;

Viswanath & Finnegan, 1995).

Berelson (1952) defined content analysis as "a researchtechnique for the objective,

systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest or surface content of

communication"(p. 18). Kerlinger (1973) emphasised the need to examine the

relationship of the manifest content to underlying and often abstract meanings.

Krippendorff (1980) described content analysis as a research technique for making

replicable and valid inferences from data to their context (see also Gunter, 2000 pp.

55-92). Stempel (1981) offered a broader view of content analysis as "a formal system

for doing something that we all do informally rather frequently, drawing conclusions

from observationsof content (p. 119).

Some writers have argued that traditional content may be unsuited for assessingthe

role of news in the era of interactive media. News content is traditionally produced in

discrete units called "stories" that are packagedinto large units called "newscasts" or

117
"newspapers". News consumers could then selectively attend to these news 'units'.

They could not, however, readily override the constraints of the isolated story as the

basic news unit. They could not readily find or qeate links across stories or locate

additional infonnation related to the story to which they were attending.

Another important assumption of early content analysis researchwas that the news

audience was a mass audience that shared a relatively common culture. Content

analysts assumedthat the symbolic environment was relatively homogeneousand that

the social context of news production and consumption was relatively unimportant

(Evans, 1998). The methods of content analysis have changed little since the 1950s.

Traditional content analysis is ill-equipped to document and explain news content in

an interactive environment. Online news users may select from dozens of news

sources,can explore links acrossnews stories, and accesstext and video databases.In

this context, it may make little senseto conceptualisenews stories as the basic content

unit. When each consumer can create his or her own path through online news

resources,there may be as many news "stories" as there are consumers(Evans, 1998).

Despite the above reservationsand caveats,an analysis of the fonnat of news websites

was undertaken.The concern here was centred on the ways in which Arab

e-newspaperspresent information to their readersrather than on the types of news that

werefeatured.

Based on a technique used by Poynter Institute team in their study; Newspaper

Publishing and the World Wide Web (www. poynter.org) an independentlist of Arab

online daily newspaper websites was compiled over a period of three months by

cross-indexing various online media indexes provided by the same Arab news sites

118
referred to in relation to the publishers' and editors' survey. All newspaperwebsites

identified by one or more of these resourceswere visited in order to verify the final

list (see Appendix E and F). Links to publications other than Arab dailies or produced

by non-Arab publishers were disqualified. In some cases, the referring URL was

inaccurate or modified and various investigative techniques were used to identify the

correct site location, including the use of search engines and contacting the

publication by fax or telephone. Many websites that did not meet study criteria were

disqualified. This processyielded the same a final list of 48 online daily newspapers

offering online editions. The 48 papers were content analysed to identify prominent

thematic and technical characteristic of electronic Arab newspapers. The 'units of

analysis were all Arab Internet newspapers.

119
3.10 Summary

This study attempts at first to gain a solid understanding of the potential of the

Internet and its communicative nature as a mass medium. In choosing the subject for

this dissertation, the general aim is to draw a wider picture and to explore the

potentials and the challengesbefore Arab e-newspapersto both academic world and

newspaper industry. Specifically, this study seeks empirical evidence about levels of

e- newspapersuse and satisfaction amongst Arab readers.Also the formats, services,

staffing and the amount of content published on Arab e- newspapersare examined via

websites content analysis and questionnaire survey responses and interviews with

Arab publishers and editors. Online survey forms that targeted publishers and readers

were placed solely on the Internet. By employing this method, especially for readers,

it was possible to obtain directly responsesfrom Arab users with Internet accessand

this assuredthat the study investigated specifically those individuals who could read

e-newspapers.

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Chapter FOUR: Conceptual Issues and Literature Review

4.1 Introduction

The widespread penetration of the Internet and the establishmentof the World Wide

Web and digital forms of communications, facilitated through a merger of computers

and telecommunications networks, has been envisaged as the sixth major

communications revolution (Fang, 1997). The 'information superhighway' that has

been constructed out of the convergence of text- and image-based systems of

electronic communication represents a key milestone in the development of

communications- an important aspectof history in the making.

Fang divided the history of communication into six revolutions. The first revolution

began with the invention of writing in Greece around the eighth century B. C. The

second revolution was the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in Europe in

the secondhalf of the fifteenth century. The third revolution began (in Western

Europe and the eastern United States in the middle of the 19'h century) with the

convergenceof advancesin paper production and printing press technology, enabling,

for the first time, the massproductionandcirculationof communications,in the form

of newspapersand magazines. During the same period, an entertainment revolution

emerged as the fourth phase towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the

emergenceof the affordable camera and motion photography. The fifth revolution

was the creation of what Fang called the 'Communication Toolshed Home', which

evolvedduring the middle of the twentieth century,transformingthe home into the

121
central location for receiving information and entertainment, courtesy of the

telephone, broadcasting, sound and video recording technology, improvements in

print technologies,and cheap,universal mail services.

4.2 Theory of Communications

With the establishment of mass communications, in the form of print media, sound

broadcasting,and audio-visual broadcasting,film and video recording, scholarsturned

their attention to explaining the social, psychological and political significance of

these technologies and the messagesthey conveyed. Accordingly, " media research

has evolved over time, in part refiecting paradigm shifts and the evolution of

analytical models in the wider social sciences" (Gunter, 2000 p.9) Reviewers noted a

number of distinct milestones in the development of mass communications theory (De

Fleur, 1970; De Fleur and Ball-Rokeach, 1982). Theories of mass communication

focusedvariously on media production, the way the media representedvarious aspects

of society, the structure and organisation of the media, and media effects (McQuail,

1987). Much theoretical developmenttook place during the era of Fang's (1997) fifth

communications revolution.

Initial mass communications theory development focused on the role of the mass

media as propagandamachinery, especially, though not exclusively, during wartime.

Early film-makers and the printing presseswere co-opted as arms of the dominant

political ethos within countries at times of internal or international conflict, during the

early part of the 20th century (Gunter, 2000). Later on in the century, radio and

television came to be used in similar roles, as their penetration of societies grew. An

122
early assumption was that mass communications could exert direct effects upon the

populace at whom they were aimed. The impact of such media messageswas

powerful enough to shape public opinion and influence patterns of behaviour -

especially behaviour linked to the political process,such as voting. During the time of

the First World War, there was a generalbelief that masscommunications could act as

a magic bullet. Propagandamessageswere fired at mass audiencesand readerships

and exerted a direct influence on the public's thought processes(see De Fleur and

Ball-Rokeach, 1982; Lasswell, 1927). This all-powerful concept of media effects,

however, was to be found wanting when put to more serious test in later years, as

researchmethodologies evolved.

Further tests of the media as a key aspect of political propagandamachinery during

the Second World War led to a more moderate view of the impact of mass

communications (Hovland, Lumsdaine and Sheffield, 1949; Lazarsfeld, Berelson &

Gaudet, 1944; Star and Hughes, 1950). A revised notion of media effects dropped the

idea that they acted directly upon individuals to change them, and instead

that the mediaoperatedupontheir audiencesandreadersin a lessdirect

hypothesised

fashion. The impact of mass communications was modified by the social context in

which media and audiences interfaced, by the functions the media served for their

users, and by other influential interpersonal forces. Indeed, in many ways, the media

came to be regarded less as forces for change, and more as reinforcers of the status

quo (Klapper, 1960).

One important model that emerged in the 1950s, conceived of media influences

in
operating more than one stage.A two-step flow idea emergedto explain the effects

123
of mass media in the political context, whereby the media were believed to act

initially upon opinion leaderswithin the community, who then in turn influenced the

political thinking of the remainder of their community (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955).

The apparently weakenedposition of mass communications as sources of social and

political influence was not universally accepted. A number of prominent writers

observed that there were occasions on which the media could be seen to exert direct

and quite powerful effects upon the public. On some of these occasions, however,

such influences were quite subtle (Lang and Lang, 1959; Blumler, 1964; Halloran,

1965).The 'minimal' effectsmodel thereforecameunder serioustheoreticaland, in

due course, empirical challenge during the 1960s and 1970s. One commentator

observedthat fashions in media effects models, and the tendencyto veer from

maximal to minimal effects orientations, reflected to some extent the stability of

society at different times (Carey, 1978).

During the economic depressionyears of the 1930swhich led to international tensions

and war, there was a need to the

understand role of the increasinglypopular mass

media in this process.During the period of stability of the 1950s and 1960s,there was

less reason to view the media as sources of social upheaval. Changing economic

conditionsand civil and political discordthat the

characterised late 1960sand 1970s

onceagaindrew attentionto the mediaasarbitersof unrest.

The effects of the media were distinguished, however by the level at which they

occurred. Thus, while powerful effects of mass communications were conceived to be

they
possible, did not occur indiscriminatelyat anypsychologicallevel. The ideathat

124
the media could shapepeople's behaviour was supportedby an accumulating body of

evidence concerned in particular with media effects upon antisocial conduct. There

remained a dominant school of thought, nevertheless, that media influences upon

public opinion and behaviour needed to be understood in the context of mediating

factors. Direct effects of media operatedat a more superficial, level such as by setting

the public agenda or telling people which issues were the most important ones for

them to think about (McCombs & Shaw, 1972).

As communications theory continued to evolve in the 1970s and 1980s, there was

growing recognition that relationships between masscommunications systemsand the

public are circular. The media can act upon their audiences and audiences can act

upon the media they chooseto consume.It is no longer informative nor helpful to our

understanding of the role and impact of mass communications in society to think

about media effects as operating in one direction - whether such effects are deemedto

be powerful or minimal.

Regardlessof whethermedia effects are envisagedto occur in the form of agenda-

setting, the cultivation of social beliefs, learning of new information and knowledge,

attitude change or behaviour modification, they are, for the most part, likely to be

moderated by users' reasons for media consumption, the cognitive information

processing systems brought to bear on interpreting media content, and social

contextual factors that represent other forces of influence on public knowledge,

opinion and conduct (Gunter, 2000).

125
With the developmentof communicationstechnologies,the public are experiencing

new kinds of relationships with information and entertainmentmedia. The Internet

revolution has changed the face of media provision and patterns of media

consumption. The key aspectof changeis increasedinteractivity betweenthe senders

and receiversof messagesand the re-definition of media consumersas sendersas well

as receivers.This meansthat traditional theoriesof masscommunication,groundedas

they have been in the fifth communications revolution, characterised by

a communicationsenvironment in which there is clear distinction between senders

and receivers,may be inappropriateto explain the significanceand possibleimpact of

the new electronic communicationssystemsoperating through mergedbroadcasting,

telecommunicationsand computing technologies. Instead, there is a need for an

evolution in conceptualmodelling in which theory groundedin a one-directionalflow

of information context embraces thinking that can accommodate bi-directional

messageflows.

This kind of thinking was reflected in a model put forward by Kincaid (1979). This

ConvergenceModel defined "communication" as a process in which participants

create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual

understanding.Information sharedby two or more participantsin the communication

processmay lead to collective action, mutual agreements,and mutual understanding

andthe communicationprocesshasno beginningand no end. The convergencemodel

representshumancommunicationas a dynamic,cyclical processover time.

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4.3 The Need for Theoretical Evolution

The new interactive communications media require new theoretical

conceptualisations.Interactivity between communicators, such as those using the

Internet,can occur at a numberof levels. In varying instances,communicationscan be

from one to one, from one to many, from many to one, or from many to many. In

somesituations,therefore,Internet communicationscan be conceptualisedas forms of

6mass' communication. In other instances, however, they represent a form of

interpersonalcommunication.

The need for fresh impetus and direction in communicationsresearchhas already

been noted by eminent scholars who have made a point of following theory

developmentsacrossthe decades.A pessimisticview has surfacedthat, of late, there

has been a lack of creativity in theory development.In his examinationof this issue,

DeFleur(1998) arguedthat researchin masscommunicationin generalhas stalled.He

asked:'where have all the milestonesgone? DeFleur'smain argumentwas basedon

his belief that there is a decline of significant research(milestones)on the processand

effects of mass communication.DeFleur noted that most of today's theories on the

processand effects of mass communicationappearedbetween about 1930 and the

early eighties, "since that time, few studies have made significant theoretical

contribution" (p.85). He assertedthat since that 'golden' period of " well-funded,

large-scaleefforts' conductedwith 'important objectives'and basedon 'standardsof

methodology,there has not been a similar level of production of such seminal

studies"(p.86).

127
Even the most 'noteworthy studies'of recenttimes have focusedon restrictedtopics or

haverepresentedefforts to explore issuesraisedby the earlier milestones.When asked

by a publisher to produce an update on his earlier review of milestones in mass

communications, DeFleur claimed that he "could not identify even one [new

milestone] that fit the same criteria as the earlier investigations" (DeFleur 1998,

p.86). The reasonshe outlined for this state of affairs included a changein social

sciencesresearchagenda,a lack of a programmatic approachby media scholars,a

shift to qualitative and critical modesof analysis,and changesin the work conditions

of the academy.

Likewise, Wilbur Schramm,one of the founding fathers of communication theory,

wonderedrhetorically whether "we have producedonly ingredientsof communication

theory " (as cited by Mancini (1994) p. 108). Mancini commentedthat Schramm's

statementimplicitly singled out how much his fellow researchersfelt a lack of

legitimacy.According to Mancini, scholarsin this field had beenunableto producean

exhaustive,completetheory of communications.

Shoemaker(1994) attributed the problem of masscommunicationresearchto the fact

that most of the theoretical work is derived from other sciences.Media researchers

must find ways to build more theory themselvesrather than relying on theories

borrowed from other disciplines. The field lacks a systematictheory-building effort

andevenexisting researchinterestgroupsoften explicitly deal with neithertheory nor

methodology.Shoemakerdiscussedthis 'crisis of theory' and suggestedthat "we must

be more theoretical in our researchand

more scholarly in our curricula" (p.389).

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Shoemakeranalysedthe 'communication crisis triangle'-theory, curricula and power-

in demonstratingresentmentof somemedia scholarsabout the statusof their field.

4.4 Internet as 'Mass' Medium

In continuing the debate about theoretical approachesto the study of new media,

Jankowski and Hanssen(1996) noted that "one of the frequent points of discussion

amongcommunicationscholarsis whetherexisting theoreticalmodelsand notions are

adequateto the task of understandingand explaining new communicationtechnology"

(p.7,8). They arguedthat masscommunicationmodels and theories- in general- fail

to consider the distinct features of many new communicationtechnologiesbecause

they are conceptuallytied to the dominant characteristicsof massmedia. Even recent

theoretical developmentshave tended to be 'captive' to the inherent limitations in

empirical databasedon traditional massmediausestudies.

To move forward in this theoretical debate,it is important to identify the stage of

developmentthat has been reachedwith the emerging media technologies(Filder,

1997).Part of the problem is that there must also be some idea of how information

technology innovations are likely to be affected by other technological and social

developments.To achievethis, accordingto Filder (1997), "we must first enlargeour

perspectiveand discard most of our commonly held assumptions,particularly about

the speedof change"(p.9).

The Internetand relateddigital technologiesare advancingso fast, however,that it is

difficult for anyoneto predict future developments.Researchneedsto deal not just

with technologies, but also with technological systems, consisting of physical

129
artefacts (e.g., electric power grids, railroad lines, computers and networks),

institutions (manufacturers, distributors, regulatory agencies, universities), people

(designers,managers,consumers),and culture (Pang, 1998).

It hasbecometrivial to statethat the Internet and its applicationshave had a profound

effect on modem society especially in the last few years. Although some describe

new media as a big puzzle (Skies, 1997),the Internethaswithout doubt emergedas an

effective form of communicationthat offers accessto and exchangeof information,

linking communities in ways never before possible. Furthermore,it arguably offers

opportunities to contribute to the fulfilment of four basic needs: power, freedom,

belonging, and pleasure (Glasser, 1986). Hence, the academic world as well as

businessessector have found themselvesfacing a new challenge in defining and

examining this hybrid communications system. The term 'hybrid' is used here

because the information superhighway represents a confluence of merged

technologies that had previously been categorised and used as separate

communicationsand information processingsystems.

This concept of convergence of formerly disparate communications systems was first

popularised by Negroponte (1979) who argued that all communication technology

should be treated as a single subject. To explain his concept of convergence,

Negroponte drew three developing circles labelled "broadcast and motion picture

industry, " "computer industry, " and "print and publishing industry" as shown in

Figure 4 (as cited by Filder, 1997).

130
This schematic presents a clear visual representationof a complex technological

marriage,but still does not add significantly to the theoretical problems surrounding

the need to understandthe implications of this media technologiesmerger for users.

The phenomenalgrowth of the Internet and related technologieshas to some extent

perplexedresearchersand business.Traditionally, media theorists have dealt mainly

with one-way communicationssystemsin which membersof the public are passive

receiversof information.

Figure 4: The MIT Media Lab's Construct of Convergence

1978 2000
Print and Broadcast Print and
eBroadcastand and Motio Publishing
Publishing
Motion Picture Picture Industry
Industry
ustry Industry
Industry

Computer
Industry
Computer
Industry

Source:Mediamorphosis UnderstandingNew Media (1997)P.26.

-

The interactivenatureof the Internetrequiresa different form of conceptualmodel to

explain its use and its impact. Its ability to bring together elementsof the printed

page, graphic, photographic, cinematography,including video, film and animation

into a dynamic and interactive environment that requires specialisedhardware and

softwareto function has put media researchersin a real dilemma. The complexity of

the 'Net' stemsfrom the volume and variety of content that it makesavailable, and

the way in which that contentcan be accessed.

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The Internet can provide content in a 'multi-media' format and its software allows

consumers more control over reception than is available with traditional mass

communications.The Internet in one senseresemblesa huge shoppingmall that users

can peruseat their own pace.They seekout the items they wish to consumeand do so

at their own conveniencerather than that of the producers.The Internet is more than a

technology,however.It is a potential cultural force that can be usedby consumersnot

just to obtain information, but also to sendit (Stranglove,1994).

In someways the growth and increasinguse of the Internet in recentyearsis believed

to be the trigger of a true revolution that is the driving force behind the definitive

transformation of a post-industrial society into an information society. Whereasit

took many years after the invention of their founding technologies, for the

conventionalmass media to emergeas significant social forces, it has taken only a

few years, since 1991 (when the US government opened the Internet to private

enterprise),for the Internet to reachbetween100-150(1998 figures) million usersall

over the world (see Figure 5). This raisesan important question about the need for

moreIntemet-communicationstudiesto meetthis tremendoustechnologychange.

To many observers,the diverseelementswhich shapethis new structureare changing

in their totality the basic notions of many social, economic, political and

communicationmodelsdominantuntil now. Media scholarshave only recentlybegun

to look at the Internet as a form of "mass" communication and to start to evolve

conceptual and theoretical approachesfor studying the Net' and its audience.

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One of the most significant contributions to the search for appropriate theoretical

modelling within the context of studying the Internet has been produced by Morris

and Ogan (1996). In a paper titled, 'The Internet as Mass Medium, they examined a

number of approaches to the study of communication on the Internet, considered

constraints on Internet research, and emphasised the importance of regarding the

Internet as mass medium. They also examined possible ways of applying theories of

CMC (computer media communications) to the Internet.

Figure 5: Internet Compound Annual Growth Rates, 1990-1998, and Number of

Years to Reach 50 Million Users.
Compound Annual Growth Rat I Years it took to reach 50 million users
90-98
6% Telephone
Telephone lines
Radio 38
62% Mobile M
PC 16
Subscribers
Television M 13
nternet hosts 1%
WWW 14

Note: The growth rates shown are annualised rates.

Source: ITU World Telecommunication indicators Database, Network Wizards, Compaq, RIPE.

According to Morris and Ogan, with millions of people communicating on the

Internet, its potential as a mass medium should not be ignored. They also warned that

if mass communications researchers continue to largely disregard the research

potential of the Internet, their'theories about communication will become less useful'.

They argued that more flexibility was needed among 'those researchers who have

traditionally organised themselves around a specific communications medium as

technology changesand media converges (see also Singer, 1998).

133
The use of traditional theoretical models in Morris and Ogan, view has constrained

research on new interactive media, and the most basic assumptions behind

researchers'theoriesof massmedia effects have kept them from being able to seethe

Internet as a new mass medium requiring a new theoretical perspective. They

illustrated this point with referenceto DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach's attitude toward

computersin the fifth edition of their book TheoriesofMass Conimunication(1989),

as typical. DeFleur and Ball-Rokeachcomparedcomputersto telephones,dismissing

the idea of computercommunicationas masscommunication.Theseauthorsassumed

that to "have a new systemof masscommunicationthe averagepersonwould have to

have both the hardware and the skills to be able to use computers in daily life"

(p.335). Nevertheless,Morris and Ogan's contentionthat De Fleur and Ball-Rokeach

totally rejectedthe idea of the Internet as a massmedium is not a true reflection of

their, ideas in that they predicted in the samebook that "computerswill becomethe

cornerstoneof future modesof masscommunications"(p.331).

Morris and Ogan drew attentionto the Internetas a multifacetedmass-medium,that

is, one that contains different configurations of communications.Its varied forms

show the connectionsbetweeninterpersonaland masscommunicationthat has been

an object of study since the two-step flow theory first associatedthe two. "The

Internet plays with the source-message-receiver

features of the traditional mass

communicationmodel, sometimesputting them into traditional patterns,sometimes

putting them into entirely new configuration" (p. 42). This may explain why Morris

and Ogan urged scholarsto rethink their terminology. One key distinction between

the Internet and traditional mass media is the interchangeabilityof producersand

134
receiversof content. One of the Internet's most widely touted advantagesis that an

audience may also be a messageproducer. This representsa departure from the

traditional distinction betweenproducersand receiversin the massmedia context.

Likewise, Strangelove (1994) observed an entirely new form of human

communication--massparticipation in what he called bi-directional, uncensoredmass

communication, created quite by accident because of the open and distributed

technology of the Internet. Mass communication is a relatively new phenomenon

anyway that has always involved controlled broadcaststo passive audienceswho

neverhad any significant input, or control, over the contentof communications. With

the Internet, these characteristics of mass communication have been radically

changed.For Strangelove,the Internet is a new form of mass communicationwith

massivenumbersof peoplebroadcastinginformation to massivenumbersof receivers.

The Internethas empoweredits users,turning them into producersas well as receivers

of content.

4.5 Defining the Communicative Nature of the Internet

The key debate about the Internet at this time centres on whether to classify this

relatively new communicationstechnologyas a massmedium. There is little to doubt

that the Internet has becomea widespreadform of communicating,with the numbers

of people linked to the 'Net' already in the hundredsof millions world-wide, and

growing all the time.

135
The way in which communicationhappensin the Internet,however, is not the sameas

with traditional mass media such as newspapers,radio and television. While the

Internethas the capacityto transmit messagesfrom one personto many receivers,this

is not the way it is invariably usedby people.The Internet is a hybrid communications

technology,the use of which can switch between 'mass' communicationand one-on-

one or Iinterpersonal' communication.In developing theories to explain the way the

Internet is usedand the impact it can have upon consumersof its content,researchers

must therefore be mindful of the distinct nature of the medium and the switching

natureof its usage.

Although the Net has the basic four elementsof communication, which include a

sender,a receiver, a messageand a medium, the sender,in this context, is different

from the usual senseof that term in that it could be a computerusing an automated

user ID and may not needsomeoneto operateit. Thus, the traditional conceptof the

senderis no longer tenable.

Part of the dilemma concerningthis new (mass)communicationmedium is how to

define the 'person' on the receiving end of a messagein a global network that

comprisespeople and machines. Is the receiver a customer doing some online

shoppingor a member of an unknown audiencevisiting a website with information

about holidays, university courses, the corporate activities of a large global

conglomerate,or the latest movie releases?Is the receiver downloading a popular

computer-basedgame or the readerof an e-newspaper?In thesedifferent cases,the

relationship between sender and receiver varies. In some of these instances,the

Internetperformsmuch like a traditional mass

medium.

136
A significant point of difference lies in the interactive nature of the communication

process. Furthermore, the receiver can only make a link to this communications

medium provided he or she has accessto the necessaryequipment. If individuals

decideto createtheir own websites,which can be visited by others,they then become

messagesenders as well as receivers. Where individuals can not only link into

Internet sites, but also inject their own content directly into them, and then receive

further feedbackfrom that site, a degreeof interactivity emergesthat is analogousto

holding a conversationwith anotherperson.

As Stuart Brand (1988) pointed out in The Media Lab, instead of "broadcast"the

situation is changing to one of "broadcatch." Here the consumeractively seeks or

"catches"information being disseminatedby or availablefrom a variety of sourceson

the Internet. So it is clear that among the consequencesof the new communication

technologyand its quickening pace," it is no longer quite so easyto say what is mass

communicationand what is not " (Severin and Tankard, 1992, p.8). Severin and

Tankardarguethat the boundarybetweendifferent forms of masscommunicationis

no longer so clear and that "communicationtheoriesmust be developedor revisedto

keepup with the change"(p.12). Similarly December(1996) discussedthe wide range

of facilities suppliedby the Internetand askedresearchersto rethink the practicality of

usingthe currentnotions of mediato define communicationon the Internet.

Nevertheless, in studying media processes

and new technology, one must draw a

distinction between classic mass media such as

radio, television, and newspaper

which carry infonnation in one direction and what Poster(1995) calls a 'secondageof

137
mass media! with online servicesthat operate in two directions. Users of an online

newspaper, for example, expect commitment and responsesfrom the producers.

Online newspapersalso allow articles to be available for months or years with large

collectionsof datathat would never appearin the print product (Alshehri, 1997).

From the mass media literature, one fundamentaldefining characteristicfor a mass

medium is the "one (few)-to-many" communication access model. But now the

Internethas emergedas a "new interactivemedium" which follows a "many-to-many"

communication model (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). Jurdi (1995) argued that an

electronic medium is "a medium that offers 'random access';it has no physical

beginning,middle, or end" (p.393). Jurdi looked to this new communicationform as a

'combination'of multiple media that opensup such 'exciting possibilities for radically'

new ways of communication.Online news is read on screensinsteadof pages.At the

sametime, it containsmost of the samearticles astoday's paperand can be updatedat

any minute. That flexibility explainsthe raceto adaptold mediato new media suchas

the Net and why "traditional journalism organisations- newspaper,television, and

radio organisations- are moving rapidly to establish a presenceon the Internet"

(Friedlandand Weeb, 1996,p.55).

Randle (1996) states that it is " an especially exciting time for communication

scholarsto be studying massmedia" (p.16). But Jones(1994) noted earlier that most

major researchuniversitieshave guidelinesfor researchers,basedon the 'Nuremberg

Codeand/orthe Belmont Principles'. He observedthat ".. researchin cyberspacewas

clearly not on the minds of those drafting theseguidelines" (p.31). Morris and Ogan

(1996)noted that until recently,masscommunications

researchershave 'overlooked'

138
the Internet and the entire field of computer-mediatedcommunication, staying instead

with the traditional forms of broadcast and print media that fit much more

conveniently into models for appropriateresearchtopics.

Arant (1996) observed that "the information superhighway is dangled before

educators as a fount of unending educational benefits"(p. 1). Immediate accessto the

work of colleagues and a "virtual" library of millions of volumes and thousands of

papers affords them the ability to incorporate a body of knowledge heretofore

unthinkable (Arant 1996).

Electronic publishing is one area of contemporary business that seemsto offer rich

opportunities for the fruitful application of academic theory (Pang, 1998). There is a

tendency,however,to overstatethe differencesbetweenelectronicandprintedmedia.

The rhetoric of disruption, of total difference, of an imminent conflict between old

media and new leads to an oversimplified view of both electronic and print media.

This kind of debateblinds us to the many importantand subtlecontinuitiesbetween

them, and obscuressome very promising avenuesof future study.

Clearly, the Internet is challenging the concept mass communication process long

held by established communications theories. Research into new communication

technology applications faces two major problems. First, the accelerating pace of

change in new technologies means that academic research models are constantly

struggling to keep up. Second, communication scholars have, for the most part, been

reluctant to gamble with their reputations by joining in an unpredictable research

arena. Third, the Internet is a new phenomenon advanced mainly by young

139
(professional) researchers who may be lacking the necessary theoretical and

philosophical knowledge and experience.

Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly acceptedthat the Internet is a legitimate area

for research and that as this new communications technology becomes even more

widely established,it is vital that we understandmore about its operation. Attention

needs to be given to appropriate paradigms and models to investigate and understand

the communication processeswithin this new media arena, and to study their impact

upon individuals, society and businessperfonnance.

There is a need to establish some sort of common conceptual framework and general

principles to know exactly what communication type(s) we are referring to when

talking about the Internet (seeNewhagen & Rafaeli, 1996). This meansthat there is a

need to identify, at the very least, the broad answers to questions such as: what

communication theory could be used to examine the use of the Internet by both user

(consumer, reader) and provider (publisher, producer) of the content? What is (are)

the economicmodel(s)that could be evaluatedand examinedwhen investigatingthe

production of online news content? What are the relations and the impact of early

media to new media? We are witnessing a medium that is rapidly permeating daily

life. This medium is dynamic, disorganisedand yet widely acceptedby the masses.In

terms of researching this new technology, it is unwise to cling only to a "no says

what" doctrine. This doctrine may need to be re-phrased and turned around into an

analysisof who receiveswhat.

140
4.6 The Internet and Newspapers

This thesis is primarily concerned not with the Internet in general, as

a communications medium, but more specifically with the Intemet as a vehicle for

newspaper publishing. The wider concerns about establishing an overview of the

argument surrounding communication theory in this chapter was an attempt to provide

an essential backdrop to this research.However, the main theme of this work centres

on the production and use of e-newspapers.More specifically, its focus is placed on

the role of e-newspapers in the Arab World. Before turning to examine the

significance of the Internet in this particular marketplace, it will be useful to review

the existing literature that has stemmed from early research on e-newspapers.

Research in this area has experienced the same difficulties, theoretically and

empirically, as those already discussedin relation to the Internet as a whole.

The provision of news information via the Internet may model, in some degree, its

provision through traditional hard copy distribution channels.But there are important

differencesbetweentraditionalpublishingandelectronicpublishing.In the contextof

newspaperpublication,there are questionsabout format, easeof access,rapidity of

informationupdating,and availability of 'back issues'that representthe key areasof

distinction betweenelectronic and traditional hard copy publishing. These are all

that
areas will be examinedin this research.

In addition, there are other important questions about the composition of the

readerships of e-newspapers and their hard copy counterparts, and the specific

patternsof readershipthat characterisethesemarkets,that needto be addressed.

Are

141
readers of the
e-newspapers samepeople as readersof hard copy versions of the same

publications? Do publications that are available in electronic forin only attract a

distinct type of reader? Do e-newspaperssatisfy their readers in different ways from

hard copy newspapers?

When studying electronic publishing, another important aspect concernsthe business

of e-publishing. There has been 'an explosion' in the number of news organisations

publishing online, though it is not always clear whether this move has been driven by

sound business reasonsor simply belief in the hype that surrounds the Internet. One

analysis of the electronic news publishing market in North America found that many

newspapers felt pressured into going online because of declining revenues. This

strategic move was partly contingent on the economic and environmental costs of

newsprintthat makeelectronicpublishinga logical choicefor exploration(Erlindson,

1995).

Since the mid-1990s, electronic publishing activities and, more especially, online

have
newspapers, attractedincreasedattentionfrom academic Much
researchers. of

this researchhas emanatedfrom North America, wherethe Internetmarket is most

advanced.However, interesting researchhas also been conducted in Asia and Europe.

In the Arab World, on which this study has focused, there has been no single study (to

the best of the author's knowledge) that focuses on the practices or readership of the

region's rapidly growing e-newspapermarket.

In the remainder of this chapter, evidence will be reviewed from analyses of

electronic news publishing. This review will examine: (1) the growth of the

e-newspapermarket; (2) the economics of e-news publishing; (3) the views of the

142
producers and publishers; (4) the content of e-newspapers;and (5) the findings of

readershipsurveys.

4.6.1 Growth of E-Newspaper Market

The electronic news publishing market is a recent phenomenon.The initial questions

asked about this new development include what are newspapers doing with the

Internet and what is this new communications technology doing to the newspaper

publishing industry? The opinions of the two key customer groups of newspapers,the

readersand advertisers,must also be considered.How do consumersrespondto

newspaperspresentedin electronic form and do advertisersregard e-newspapersas an

effective medium in which to promote their merchandise?Finally, there are the views

of the practitioners themselves - the journalists and editors who produce the news

copy. Is the e-publishing market regarded as an attractive new direction for

joumalism?

Before answering these questions, however, we should begin by examining the

market itself and how well establishedit has become.As with any new market

venture, it is essential from the outset that there is clarity about the kind of product

that is being developed.In the electronicnews publishing arena,this has been a

contentious issue. Michele Jacksonand Nora Paul (1998) of The Poynter Institute for

Media Studies investigated newspaper publishing on the World Wide Web and

provided 'A Portrait of the Landscape'.According to these writers, one of the major

difficulties that challengedtheir studywas the fact that newspaperpublishershad not

agreedon a single temi for what happenswhen a newspapersets up a site or a "page"

143
on the World Wide Web. To facilitate their investigation, Jackson and Paul used the

broad term "website" to refer to the material a newspaper published on the World

Wide Web for public consumption. Here again, is a further example of the incoherent

conceptualising that has accompaniedthe emergencethe Internet. From the outset, the

newspaper industry failed to take a decision about whether an e-newspaperwas really

a 'newspaper' in the traditional sense,or whether it is something else, and if so, what?

Weir (1998) in his study about U. S. early adopters of the e-newspapernoted that the

evolution of the newspaperis a continuing source of discussion and argument among

publishers; journalists, researchersand other media professionals. He suggestedthat

the inability of conventional newspapersto 'grow' their subscription lists to keep pace

with the population, combined with the loss of traditional support and competition

from non-rational, non-media companies, has spurred interest in computerized

delivery systems. Although the traditional newspaper industry is not dead, it is

nevertheless the case that other media have surpassed the rate of growth in

in
newspapers many ways.

Despite these media market changes, some news publishing organisations have

chosen to wait on the side-lines, before plunging into this new market themselves, in

order to see how the e-publishing industry is likely to evolve, who their competitors

will be and how likely it is that the public will accept such technologies.Weir

examined a sample of early adopters of an e-newspaperand compared them with a

random telephone sample in terms of personality and demography to assess

characteristicsof innovators and early adopters of an e-newspaperand compare those

who had chosennot to adoptnew mediaat the time of the study.The conclusionof

this investigation indicated that the use of an e-newspaperis purposeful and intended

144
to accomplish some specific objectives. However it is not merely an 'outgrowth' of

growing familiarity with computers. There are clear indications that "adopters of

e-newspaperssee the service as a good solution to a very specific problem, and they

will seek it out with less regard for their experience with computers becauseof the

benefits and solutions it offers" (Weir, 1998, p 23).

4.6.2 Economics of Electronic Newspaper Publishing

There is great deal of uncertainty about the economics of online newspaper

publishing. It has already been noted that newspaperpublishers were initially unclear

about the nature of the product they were putting on the Internet. There are other

significant differences between newspaperson the Internet and those that are available

through hard copy that are vital to the economics of e-publishing ventures. Perhaps

the major difference is that of mode of payment. Readers are accustomedto paying

for hard copy newspapers.With the Internet, in contrast, a great deal of infonnation is

available free of charge. Users are accustomed to paying subscription charges to

service providers and telephone charges while linked to the Net, but usually do not

expect to pay additional fees 'on top' for specific content.

Newspaper publishers are therefore faced with re-thinking the economics of their

business once they launch Internet newspapers. Readers may therefore cease to

represent a direct source of income for online newspapers.Instead, they representan

indirect source of revenue. The accumulation of readersby e-newspapersrepresentsa

market to which they can sell accessto advertisers.Internet newspaperswill therefore

be dependenton advertiser revenues in the future to a greater extent than their hard

copy counterparts.

145
Mensing (1998) conducted a mail survey examining the economics of U. S. online

newspapers with daily updated websites. The unit of analysis chosen was the

individual online newspaperand key variables under analysis were the costs, revenue

sources, and profit strategies of online newspapers. The study revealed that few

papers were covering costs for their websites. Display advertising was the single

largest source of revenue, followed by Internet access fees and classified

advertisements.On this evidence, the outlook for Web profitability was murky, with

revenue strategies problematic because of technological limitations, audience size,

consumerdemand and intense competition.

Interesting findings emerged when respondentswere asked an open-endedquestion

about how long they expectedto be in businessif costs and revenue trends remained

constant. More than a third (36.1%) gave an unequivocal "ongoing" response.

Another 12% said two years or more. The remaining respondents,however, were

much more doubtful. Thirty per cent skipped the question and 13.3% said less than

two years (another 8.4% said they were unsure). Many respondentsreplied that being

on the Web was necessaryto stay competitive, even if it was financially unhealthy.

Others said they were finding ways to create a very simple Web presence, with

minimal investment, and they hoped that would suffice until the audience became

large enoughto justify the expense.

In another American study, Peng et aL (1999) examined e-newspapers revenue

sourcesand businesspotential. This analysis covered national, metropolitan and local

newspapers.Publishers of all three types of newspaper opted for online editions to

generate more advertising revenue (26.9%) and to use online publications as a

promotional tool for their print product (23.9%). One in four online newspaper

146
publishers did not reveal readership figures. Those who did have infonnation about

readersdid not give exact figures, and were dependenton measuresof numbers of hits

attracted by their websites, which was seen as an imperfect measure of readership.

The sources of revenuesto cover the cost of financing a newspaper's website were

mostly from advertising and subscription fees, as well as archive accesscharges.Once

again, though, two thirds of publishers did not indicate how much advertising revenue

their Web newspapersattracted. It was also clear that for most of these respondents

the revenuesearnedby their electronic publications only covered part of their costs.

The most interesting point revealedby the study was that nine out of ten of the editors

who participated expressedthe belief that print newspaperswould not be replaced by

the electronic ones. Instead online publishing is seen as a tool to promote the

newspaper industry. Peng and colleagues concluded that the situation of generating

revenue from subscription is not optimistic as the Internet is characterisedmainly by

free information. In consequence, "online newspapershave to make full use of the

provided
advantages by the Internet to offer better services for advertisers " (p: 61).

4.6.3 Views of Practitioners and Publishers

The transition to the electronic publishing context has implications not just for the

economics of newspaper publishing, but also for its practice. Journalism in a

multi-mediaenvironmentstill requiresmostof the basicnewsreportingskills that

are found in the hard copy world. In addition to these skills, however, journalists

and their editors need to acquire a new set of working practices. Electronic

publishing opens up fresh possibilities for news delivery that require a different

perspective in relation to writing and lay-out. From a different perspective, the

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Internet provides a news sourcethat can be utilised by j ournalists. How valuable a

news source has the Internet perceived to be in this respect?Finding out how the

practitioners respond to the Internet is therefore a fundamental area of enquiry.

Since the mid-1990s, a number of studies have focused on the significance and

implications of the Internet for journalists.

In his exploratory and descriptive study Singer (1996) pointed out that as

newspapers by the hundreds spring onto the Internet, publishers have become

proficient at telling one another why online is an attractive place to be. However,

this proficiency does not help the majority of online publishers to make money out

of their online product. Singer's tried to explore how reporters and editors

regarded technological changes affecting their carrier. A questionnaire survey of

27 reporters and editors found that few had much experience with interactive

media, and even fewer perceived new delivery mechanisms as having a

fundamental effect on the things important to them: gathering information,

interpreting it and shaping it into a meaningful story.

Yet Singerwarnedthat "it is dangerousfor journalists,whosejob is deemedso

to
crucial societythat it is by
protected our nation'shighestlaw, to standon the

sidelinesas new media technologies take

emerge, shapeand spread"(P: 24). So

far though,accordingto her study, they are. She also pointed out "that role as

is
spectator affectingtheir attitudes,
whetherthey are chafing at the bit, afraid of

the unknown or merely indifferent to the changestaking place" (p.24). For

journalists to maintain, practice and strengthentheir journalistic values in the

interactivemediaenvironment,they mustbe equippedboth in termsof their 'mind

set!andtheir technical
skills. The "equipment"
must comefrom two One
places. is

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from the newspaperindustry by providing inside the newsroom greater accessto

online media, for logistical and psychological reasons to help make interactive

media seem routine, familiar and simply a part of the journalistic milieu. The

is to seek to integrate the newspaper'sown interactive service more fully

second

with the newsroom as such services come on line. Singer suggestedthat these

steps would help reporters and editors to start thinking seriously about such

services. In addition, journalism educators have an obligation to encouragetheir

students to explore online media and think about them in creative ways. The

benefit of such an attitude is that "If studentswith online savvy more readily land

jobs, then spreadthe enthusiasmfor new media among their new colleagues,they

may help create a widening circle of acceptance and excitement that benefits

academyand industry alike" (Singer, 1996, p. 27).

Two years later, Singer at eL (1998) conducted a more detailed survey of online

and print editors at 466 U. S. newspapers,identifying key online staffing issues

such as salary and experience levels, job classifications and benefits. The overall

results indicated that online newspaper staffs remained small, with salaries and

benefits roughly commensuratewith those paid to print employeesin comparable

jobs. Online editors expressedconcernsabout the pressureto turn a profit, as well

as about the perception that they and their staffs were seenas second-classcitizens

by many of their print colleagues.

The study also showed print managers' most critical concerns in directing their

staffs fell into two main categories: news content and staffing issues. Some were

concerned about finding, hiring and keeping qualified people. Online editors,

main concern was with finding multi-talented staffers who understand both

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technology and journalism. This finding supports the suggestionthat new college

graduatesmay have an advantagein finding a job if they are able and willing to

work on the online product. The researchersnoted two areas,not even mentioned

by print editors, that came out in online editors' comments; (1) the relationship

between the two staffs and (2) their concerns with their product making money.

Online editors also had a different take on content issues. While accurate, fair

local news was a main concern for print editors, online editors' commentedon the

fact that they had a non-traditional, new audience to capture and hold. They also

had a totally different sort of spaceproblem from their print counterparts.

Online editors also were troubled by the non-stop demands of ever-changing

technology, their isolation from print colleagues and the question of money

making. The researcherspointed out that publishers' deep ambiguity about the

Web was putting considerable pressureon the people whom they were asking to

tackle the job. They warned publishers of the growing perception among online

editors that they and their staffs were seen as second-classcitizens and asked for

"immediate managementattention before the challenge and excitement of doing

somethingnew devolvesinto a routine of overwork laced with bitternessand,

before long, burnout".

Schultz and Voakes (1999) study provides another perspective about the future of

newspapers in general expressed by some pessimistic journalists about their

carrier's future in the digital age. They surveyed 1,037 randomly selectedfull-time

journalists from 58 newspapers in the USA. More than half (55%) of these

journalists believed that printed newspapers will be "less important part of

American life" in 10 years time, comparedwith 40 per cent who felt that

150
newspapers will be where they are now. Only a tiny minority (4%) thought

newspaperswill become more important.

Schultz and Voakes (1999) noted a widespread and growing pessimism about

j
newspapersamongst ournalists. The most interesting finding was that j ournalists'

pessimism about the future extended to online newspapersas well, with only a

small minority (8%) regarding e-newspapersas having a promising future. The

majority (53%), however, said that online newspapers would decline in

importance over the next decade. The three major threats outlined by the study

were alienation of readers,as readershiprates have dropped sharply for number of

reasons, market-driven journalism, and new media. The diversification of mass

media has increasedcompletion acrossmedia and demand is unlikely to expand in

concert with supply. In parallel with Internet news sources,news competitors have

emergedin the form of round-the-clock news servicesprovided by broadcastradio

and television and cable television stations. These other new media are also

popular with young people, who have been regardedas the primary target market

for electronic publishing.

Despite the increasingly competitive marketplace for news, there is still an

argument that many news consumers will continue to turn to tried and trusted

news sources.As long as journalists supply information that is credible and useful

to r eaders,changesin technology should pose little threat (Filder, 1997).

From a more specific perspective, Ruggiero (1998) critically examined the

perceptions of traditional American journalists toward the Internet as a news

by
source conducting an analysis of rhetoric about the Internet available in major

151
American newspapers.The main argument was based on the assumption that

because traditional American journalists are socialized both ideologically and

professionally into the dominant ideology, many are refusing to share their elite

positions as disseminatorsof news with the Internet. Ruggiero analyseddata from

the Lexis-Nexis database and American journalism review magazines and

indicated that a concerted effort by traditional American journalists to repair the

elite news paradigm against incursion by the Internet is occurring. In the Market-

driven economy - the samethreat discussedearlier face newspapers- the future of

the Internet, as an acknowledged disseminator of news, at least for critical

scholars,remains unanswered.

The journalistic values and what online journalists say is important to them was

the subject of another study (Brill, 1999). The study sought to 'advance the

knowledge and understanding of the roles and values of online journalists' by

examining the similarities and differences between the online and traditional

environments and the journalists working within them. The author circulated a

questionnaireto journalists from selected12 different online newspapers.

The findings showed that in comparison to daily print journalists, online

journalists reported that most of their work was similar to that of their print

journalist counterparts.Online journalists ranked traditional journalism skills very

high, with news judgment (66.2% rated it very important) topping the list, along

with spelling and grammar skills (rated as very important by 62.9%). Print

newspaperj ournalists and online journalists were also closely aligned in how they

viewed the news dissemination function of their profession, with 50% of each

group agreeingthat it was very important to avoid disseminating unverified facts.

152
Getting information to the public quickly was rated as very important by 70% of

the print j ournalists and by 62% of the online j ournalists.

In contrast to the journalists interviewed by Schwartz and Voakes (1999),

journalists questioned by Brill viewed the future of online products as "very

positive" (52%) or "positive" (38%). In general, while the online journalists

surveyed by Brill (1999) adheredto some of the tenets of journalism, especially

regarding necessary skills, they also viewed their roles and values somewhat

differently from other journalists. The online journalists identified with the news

dissemination function of their profession, as did the daily newspaperjournalists.

The study also found that neither the print nor online journalists seemedto view

the adversarial function of journalism as very important. The functions of letting

the public expressviews, setting the political agenda,and providing entertaim-nent

were considered more important by online journalists than by print. Print

journalists, however, rated developing the cultural interests of the audience as

more important than did online journalists. Reachingthe largest possible audience

and understanding the audience was considered very important by most of the

online journalists surveyed in this study. Brill concluded that it will be critical to

understandonline journalists and how they view their roles and functions. Indeed,

if some media analysts are to be believed, they may be the only journalists to

study in the next century.

Alexander (1997) examined online newspapers in New England to 'assessthe

benefits, drawbacks and future of electronic publishing'. Alexander used an open-

ended survey form sent out to the region's daily and weekly newspapers and

153
received 210 responses.The survey found that most of the benefits cited were

related not to producing a better journalistic product, but to business

considerations. Using new technologies to change the style and substance of

newspaper news was cited as a benefit by only few electronic publications. The

study also showed that newspaperssaid keeping current readershappy was at least

as important as attracting new readers. However, an ambivalence toward online

publishing was apparent in many responses.Interestingly, the study found that

some features that have been lauded as revolutionary in electronic publishing,

such as the ability to deliver news instantly and immediate updates,are the same

elements cited as drawbacks facing Respondents

e-newspapers. also cited lack of

staff and training, cost, equipment and limited payback in terms of revenue

potential as the most drawbacks that face electronic publishing. The vast majority

of respondents(80%) reported that e-newspapersmay complement but will never

replace traditional newspapers. Alexander concluded that one newspaper's

opportunity appearsto be another'sburden.

Garrison(1998) conducteda review of the use of the WWW and other online

services by U. S. daily newspapersvia mail surveys with a longitudinal design.

Newspaperswith a circulation of 20,000 or more copies were selectedfor analysis

over a three-year period, 1994-1997. The study analysed general computer use,

value placed on the Web as a news tool, preferred browsers, search tools used,

most widely used sites, site qualities and problems, and online successesand

failures. Computer use in newsgathering was found to have grown in two areas:

first, journalists who becomemore dependenton the WWW and the Internetas

154
sources of information; second, the overall use of computers in newsgathering,

which increasedsteadily from 66% in 1994 to 88% in 1997.

The study showed that the daily use of the Net almost doubled across the period

analysedand that about 92% of the newspaperssurveyed used the Web by 1997.

Furthermore, researchby reporters increasedto 48% from 25% from 1995 to 1997

and their preferred browser (for 67.5%) was Netscape communicator, with

AltaVista. as the most popular search engine (for 47.2%) in daily newspapers'

newsrooms. The most widely used websites (23.9%) were the government sites

(both federal and state sites) followed by searchengine sites. However j ournalists

showed concems about the quality and validity of the WWW to newsgathering

with information verification (cited by 19.6%) as the biggest problem. Garrison

conceded,however, that althoughj ournalists seemedto be aware of the usefulness

of the WWW, their use of networked information resources for newsgathering

was still in its infancy. He also observed that many newsrooms viewed online

resourcesin the sceptical manner they viewed traditional documents and human

sources.

Neuberger et aL (1998) examined the producers, their products and the users of

German online newspapers by using standardized mail survey of all 81 daily

newspaperswith a WWW presencein May 1997 (return quote: 78%). The users

(2,524 respondents)were surveyed via an online questionnaire. The researchers

foundthat almosthalf of the staff in onlineeditorialboardshadj ournalisticduties,

and that technicalduties were of growing importance.The majority of German

online editorial boardssurveyeddependedon the editorial decisionsof the print

155
editors and the news sections in online papers consisted mainly of duplicates of

the printed "parent" paper found researchers.The study also showed that articles

for the online version were rarely edited and that very few external links and no

graphic or sound effects were added. In tenns of users' behaviour, the study

revealedthat about two-thirds of userswould have chosenthe print newspaperand

just under a third would have preferred the online version if only one of the

versions had been available. The impact of print product culture was apparent in

that online publishers and users based their activities and/or expectations on the

print newspaper.The study revealed that the staff of the German online editorial

boards tended to be relatively young. The researcherspointed out that in terms of

generatingrevenue,publishers will need a lot of patience as users in the long term

will have to accept either advertising (and thus longer download times) or

subscription charges.

In the UK, Williams andNicholas(1998)conducteda one-yearresearchprojectto

examine the 'truth about the Internet' by interviewing 247 people from more than

two dozen (press) organisations. The researchers approached the topic from

a point of view of the changing information environment the Internet is creating.

They justified their choice of joumalists as a casestudy becausethey (joumalists)

are in 'the information front-line' and 'informationis the commoditywith which

they work'.

The results of this in-depth investigation revealed a number of interesting

findings. Significantly, the researchersfound that the main factors influencing

journalists' (lack of) use of the Internet were job (anxiety) role and security,

especially amongst younger journalists working in short-term contracts and

156
'extremely heavy workloads'. The experience factor was also found to be

important among the older j ournalists who had experiencedelectronic information

years prior to the Internet. Accordingly, senior reporters who enjoyed 'ease of

access'were found to be heavy users of the Internet. Despite signs of change,

young graduateswere found to be inadequately trained compared to their older

colleaguesas journalism coursesbarely pay lip service to the existence of online

services. In terms of gender factor, men outnumbered women in their use of the

Intemet.

News servicesand online newspaperssuch as The WashingtonPost were found to

be the most consultedsitesjournalists referredto as well as many other official

websites. Yet, the study found that, in overall use less than one in five national

journalists(andfewer in the regionals)benefitedfrom the Internetin the UK and

that "the Internet was certainly not a panaceafor all journalists' communication,

and retrieval ills" (p. 12). Furthermore, those 0 oumalists) 'who have actually taken

the Internet route' were in their thirties and forties, contradicting the stereotypical

image of the online user 0ournalist) who has been typically labelled as a young

male.

One of the important contributions of this study was the categorization of the

0ournalist) users of the Internet. Sevenuser/non user groups were determined: 1)

Net 'worshippers: young generation (often untrained journalists) ' who have

embraced every aspect of the Internet as a 'means of extending information

democracy by weakening the power of large news agencies. 2) The

economically-driven: those skilful people (including freelancers) who use 'the

157
system to access information that would otherwise be expensive to obtain'.

Members of this category normally 'work in small specialist

newspapers/magazines'and see the Internet as a 'godsend', with its myriad

information sources.3) The pragmatists -'incorporate the Internet into their array

of general information sources'. They tended to examine each enquiry in a

professional way to decide ' whether it will be researchedfrom online services,

cuttings, CD-ROM, the Internet, or a combination of sources'.4) The occasional

dippers - 'includes a large number of journalists who use the Internet only when

other sources do not solve their infon-nation problems'. Their use of the Internet

was limited, due to time and accessproblems. 5) Enthusiastic novices - 'have

never used the Internet, but they are intrigued by what they have heard'. Like the

'occasional dippers', this group put the blame on 'time constraints and access

problems for not mastering the system, and also for the lack of training'. 6) The

non-believers -'are not interestedin the InterneV.Somejustified their non-interest

becauseof the problem of authenticating data, or information overload. Some,

'however, didn't even feel they had to justify their non interest'. 7) Resentful

dinosaurs- a small minority who see'the Internetas a threat to their privileged

accessto infonnation. 'They are irritated by the fact that anyone with a PC and

modem can reach a potential audience of millions by posting material on the

Web'.

The overall findings indicatedthat mosti ourrialistsbelievedthat it is just a matter

of time beforethey beginto usethe Internet.The researchers

concludedby stating

that the Internet is a more 'Jekell and Hyde' than a 'knight in shining annour for

158
the media!. From the outcomesof their research,Williams and Nicholas summed

up that " it [the Intemet] offers, but it disrupts, it gives and takes away, it provides

opportunities but it also gives competitors the edge" (p. 12). Williams and

Nicholas' conclusion indicates how profound the Internet can be in impacting

media and information working practices. It was most obvious when they statedto

the endof their conclusionthat:

"In many ways the Internet in the newsroom is, then, ifnot a sleeping giant, certainly
one whosefaculties have not all beenawakenedyet. It has definitely arrived, and with
more than a whimper - but not (yet) with the expectedbang".(p.13)

4.6.4 The Content of E-Newspapers

Under this heading, it is not only the content of online newspapersthat is an important

consideration,but also the fonnat and easeof accessto that content. Electronic

newspaperswill attract readersnot only becausethey provide quality news services in

tenns of up-to-date content, but also becausethat content can be readily accessedand

is presentedin a format that rendersthe news easyto digest.

Inevitably, there are technology issues that lie at the centre of these concerns.

Newspaper publishers must ensure they have the skills base to produce attractive

multi-media news formats and news content databasesthat consumers find easy to

search. Even the highest quality news reporting will not be enough to maintain a

readership if that content is difficult to retrieve. A number of studies have examined

this subject.

Gubman and Greer (1997) carried out a content analysis of 83 sites produced by US

newspapersto 'examinewhetherthe criticism directedto the industry for failing to

159
adapt to new technology is well-founded'. They examined five areasof importance on

which newspapers must concentrate when going digital: structure, content, news

writing, reader interaction, and user services. The study's findings showed that the

structure of news was fairly standard. A significant minority of the newspapers

studied (44%) presented some news on the first page. Indeed, a majority (70%)

provided headlines and short stories on the first screen. Nearly every publication

(89%) provided local news and the majority of the sites updatedtheir content daily.

Turning to writing style, there was evidence that few e-newspapersshowed signs of

adapting their writing style to fit the new medium. Only 13 (16%) of the newspapers

surveyed used any type of linked boxes or non-traditional storytelling, three of which

broke up the news copy into blocks shorter than one screen,three used blocks equal to

one screen, and seven used blocks of text longer than one screen.In tenns of reader

interaction, virtually all the sites (95%) provided some type of reader feedback, and

more than half (55%) even provided either the reporter's or editor's e-mail addresses

or gave for
addresses specific departmentssuch as news, opinion, features. The study

showed that nearly 58% of the surveyed papers appeared responsive to reader

coniments.

With regard to the fifth criterion of user services, less than one third of the sample

offered free news searchablearchives. Advertising was acceptedby all but nine of the

surveyedpaperswith just over half (51%) allowing users to searchclassified ads with

further charge. Although this researchcorroborated some of the earlier criticisms of

online newspapers,there was further evidence that, in some areas,e-newspaperswere

makinggenuineeffortsto providea betterserviceto their readers.

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Kamerer and Bressers(1998) examined the content and the technical featuresof some

American online newspapersusing systematic random samples in a developmental

study (74 in April and 166 in Nov. 1999) over a period of six-months. The study

showed a growing technical sophistication of online newspapersin the period of the

study. For instance, the study found that graphics use and the ability to e-mail the

papers from the website increased dramatically in the period covered by the study.

The provision of online archives alsojumped from 34% in April to 52% in November.

However, the study revealed that e-newspapersremained poor in their multi-media

features.With regard to their content, the samplednewspapersincreasedtheir national

news coveragemore than their local news coverage,but also exhibited an increaseof

the editorial coverage. Most of these newspapers were freely accessible with an

increasein classified ads (5 1% in April 76% in November.)

Kamerer and Bressers also found that daily newspapershad the most sophisticated

in
sites comparison with speciality papers and non-daily ones. The overall result of

the study showed that e-newspapersgrew in the six-month study time and became

both more technicallysophisticatedand more comprehensive

in their newscoverage.

Although the contentof thesee-newspapers

was to an extent dependenton content
for
prepared the printed editions, the researchersobserveda growth in the interactivity

of online newspapers,which representeda significant departure from how things are

donein the print world.

Peng et aL (1999) examined the current trends in Web-based newspapers in the

United Statesby looking into various aspectsof such operationsas advertising,

readership, content and services. They used a stratified sample of 80 newspapers

161
including six national, 28 metropolitan and 46 local daily publications selected to

representvarious regions and states. This study revealedthat the publishers' top three

reasonsfor using the Web were 1) reaching more readers,2) income generation and 3)

promoting the print version.

In addition, online newspaperswere found to be displayed in four different types of

fonnat: text plus graphics in addition to directories; headlines plus text and

directories; headlines plus directories; or directories only. National and metropolitan

newspapers tended to follow the traditional hard copy format (59%), while local

dailies most often (41%) chose a directory format only. As the Internet offers the

capacity to provide additional services, over and above those available with hard copy

publications, such as archives, two out of three of those publications studied provided

accessto suchservices.

On the easternside of the globe, a similar study was conducted by Massey and Levy

(1999) focused on 44 Asian-English dailies that had Web editions covering 14

different Asian countries. The selection of this type of newspaperwas justified by the

authors because English was 'commonly lingua franca! in Asia and typically used

among nations' educated classes. In addition, the papers selected were among the

nation's most influential. The unit of analysis was the entire newspaperwebsite. The

newspapers were content analysed using a five-dimensional conceptualisation of

interactivity: complexity of content choice to consumer; online journalists responseto

consumers;the extentto which consumerswere allowedto createand add contentto

the newspaper's website; the way online newspapers facilitated interpersonal

interactions among consumers; and the extent to which newspapersused the Net's

potential for immediacy. For the complexity of content choice, the study revealed that

162
the sampled newspaperstended to score highly on news volume but offered little

entertainment. Commercial services were generally sparseand the papers tended not

to give consumersmany options for hypertext linking for more detailed background

or customised news delivery. In the case of responsivenessfrom journalists, the

newspapersgenerally scoredpoorly.

The study also showed that less than one-fifth of these Asian newspapers offered

easy-to-useinterpersonal communication services (such as chat rooms). With regard

to immediacy, only one newspaper(The South China Morning Post) was reported to

offer real-time news and another three papers offered regularly updated news tickers.

Although these Asian English newspapersgave consumerswhat they expected, that

is, news, they failed to provide immediacy. Web newspaperswould seem to need a

fairly sizeable online staff as small staffs otherwise they will not have sufficient slack

time to do anything more than preparecontent for uploading the Web.

4.6.5 Readers and E-Newspapers

Researchhas shownthat the Internethas becomethe medium of choice for many

news consumers.For instance, Jupiter Communications (JUP.COM) surveyed more

than 2,200 online consumers about their attitudes toward news online. The results

showed that more than 80 per cent of US online consumerstrust online news as much

broadcasttelevisionand cablenews outlets.An additional

as they trust newspapers,

sevenper cent viewed online news as more reliable than other media (JUP.COM

'1999).

Vargo et al. (1998) conducted a focused groups study that provided important insights

into how initial summary and link presentation might affect electronic publications'

163
usefulnessand appeal to readers. One interesting point to emerge from this research

was that despite the image of newspaperpublishing as a change resistant business,it

was remarkably brisk in its adoption of the Internet and World Wide Web observed

researchers.Even so, newspaperpublishers need to give more attention to the needs

and abilities of their readers,especially where electronic news publishing is concerned

they suggested.

The researchersexamined readers'comments about specific features of e-newspapers.

The actual test began with respondents seeing three story summaries stacked in a

column in different format. Some groups saw short summariesof the stories (a simple

headline), some saw medium-length summaries(a headline plus deck), and some saw

long summaries (a headline plus a 3-sentenceabstract of the story). The questions

were about whether news summary gave them enough information so they could

make a decision to continue reading, and what that decision would be, how interested

subjects were in the story topic, the attraction of news links and sidebar links and

similar questions. It was found that the initial summariesand the links to the sidebars

can be too long as well as too short. Readers' opinions about these aspects of

e-newspaperscould be crucial to future market development. However, it is difficult

to say exactly where the boundaries ought to be in regard to some format elements.

Even though a clear majority of respondentschose the headline-plus-deck option as

the preferred summary length, other statistics from the study suggestit may not be the

most useful length. Specifically, many respondentssaid the longer abstractsgave too

much information and therefore would keep them from wanting to read the stories.

But the statistics do not support this argument. In fact, the data show that the varying

summary lengths had no effect on whether subjects wanted to read the stories

164
commented Nor
researchers. did the amount of information in the links to the sidebars

significantly affect whether respondentsreported wanting to read the sidebars.

In all groups, acrossall three stories. more respondentssaid they would read the story
'

after they saw it than said they wanted to read the story after just seeing the initial

summary. This was surprising - commented the researchers- since it would seem

more likely for readersto be hooked by a good headline or summary, then turn to the

full story before deciding they had seenenough and did not need to read about all the

details. As expected,respondentswere more likely to agreethey felt informed in the

abstractcondition than in the headline-aloneor head-plus-deckconditions. Overall, 90

to 100 per cent of subjects were able to locate the links to the various sidebars.The

most commoncausefor distractionwith the words-in-text and headlinelinks was

while
placement, placement
and length were both a problem for the abstractlink.

When asked if they would like to read news presentedin layers and links, almost all

respondents(93 per cent) thought they would like to seea summary without having to

seethe full text of a story.

Ulrika Wiss (1996) from the Centre for Distance-spanningTechnology University of

Luled, Sweden examined readers of a test local newspaper put on the Internet by

conducting online questionnaires.The researcheralso analysedthe requeststhat were

logged by the HTTP server, by grouping these into "coherent reading groups". During

the test period 783 coherent reading groups were identified, coming from 270

different hosts. In total, 79 questionnairereplies were received. Results were analysed

for numbers of readers, reading habits, opinions on e-newspaper,attitudes towards

paying for an e-newspaper and factors important for reading an e-newspaper.The

165
study found that it was not possible to get an exact count of the readersduring the test

period. Two groups of potential readersfor the electronic local newspaper,emigrants

and people with non-traditional reading habits, were clearly identified by study. On

the question of paying for accessto e-newspapers,the study found that readerswere

rather reluctant to do so.

It was also found that people had different reading habits for local hard copy

newspapersand e-newspapers.Hard copy newspaperswere read in the mornings at

home, while the e-newspaper were read during the day or evening at work or at

school. Also, most reading of electronic news was conducted in short sequences,

indicating that the readertook a short look at the paper every now and then during the

work day. One important category of reader for local e-newspapers was the

c6emigrant",persons that have moved away from the part of Sweden in which the

study was carried out. These individuals therefore found it difficult or impossible to

get a hold of the local paper newspaperfor that area in hard copy form. Wiss saw this

as a special niche for local newspapers,since they have a content (local news) that

with hard copy publication is available in a limited geographic area, while the people

presumedto be interestedin this information are becoming increasingly mobile.

166
4.7 Summary

As demonstratedthroughout this chapter no adequatetheoretical framework has been

developed for the analysis of the Internet as a communications medium. While the

Internet has enjoyed rapid growth to achieve the status of a major source of

information and entertainment for many millions of people, globally, the very nature

of its communicative character requires a re-think of communications analysis. The

Internet can be both a mass medium and a narrow-band medium. It offers one-way

and two-way forms of communicationsand takes the form of an alternative

interpersonalcommunications channel in some contexts. In the context of electronic

publishing, the Internet offers both massand interpersonal communications facilities.

The e-newspapermarket grew rapidly in last decade of the 20th century as many

newspaper publishers looked upon the Net as an effective and economical way to

reach readers. The Internet offered new hope to an industry suffering diminishing

circulations and the threat of a younger generation not interested in hard copy news.

There was a push to achieve a presenceon the Internet among major and minor news

publishers. Most of the new ventures have been loss leaders however. Internet

newspapershave found it difficult to establish markets unless they offer copy free of

charge. Internet users are accustomedto accessingcontent for free. Hence, there is a

need for newspapers to re-think their business plans and to recognise that in

cyberspace,new revenue streams have to be explored. Most revenue in future will

come from advertising. of course, advertisers will only subscribe to significant

degreesto this new mediumonceit hasestablisheda significantmarket.

167
The move onto the Internet also has implications for journalism practice and

practitioners.Many of the same,basicjournalism skills are neededin writing stories.

However,the Internet offers new possibilities for new delivery. Certain new software

skills are neededto operateeffectively in a multi-media environment.The skills base

at presentis inadequate.Furthermore,the lack of revenuegenerationof e-newspapers

meansthat their parent organisationshave been reluctant to invest greatly in their

production.Thus, journalists on hard copy publications have found themselvesco-

opted onto electronic publications for which they have not been trained. The easy

optionhasbeento reproducethe hard copy publication on the Internet.Unfortunately,

this fails to take advantageof the new information delivery facilities offered by this

new medium. The real promise of Internet news lies in news archives,interactivity

betweenreadersand journalists or between readers and other readers.Failure to

providesuchservicesleadsto disappointmentamongusers.

For readers,of course,the Internetnewsexperienceis also different from the standard

hard copy paper experience.Readers

must have accessto the necessaryreception
equipment.They must find newswebsiteseasyto accessand navigate,otherwisethey

will give up. Not all sites have been user friendly. Where sophisticatednews Sites
havebeendesigned,however,
with the needsand interestsof readersfully in mind,
they haveattracteda readership.Thus, die promiseexists, but the realisationof that

promiseremains some way off. The remaining chaptersof this thesis report new

researchconductedon electronic newspapersin the Arab world. It examinesthe

extentto which newsis publishedon the Internetin this region,the way in which it is

presented,
the aspirations,objectivesand concernsof Arab newspublishersventuring

ontotheNet, andthe feedbackfrom readers.

168
Chapter Five: Analysis of Newspapers' Websites and
Other Web-based Services

5.1 Introduction

An Internet newspaperis defined as a publication available on the World Wide Web.

Such sites use Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) and other computer-assisted

graphic devices to present text and graphics containing news infonnation on a

computer screen. Graphics, in this context, include photographs as well as charts (Li,

1998). Internet newspapershave grown dramatically and represent an increasingly

significant news source. As with television before it, the unique contributions of the

Internet to major news events at key moments have helped to put it on the map as a

news source. With television, events such as the 1953 Royal Coronation in Britain,

the 1960 American presidential debates,the assassinationof President Kennedy in

1963, and the first man walking on the moon in 1969 served to establish the potency

of this medium as an instant news source. With the Internet, the posting of the results

of the 1996US presidential

electionson websitesdrew the attentionof the public to

the power of this new medium (McKenna et al., 1996).

The Internet is believed by many of its supporters to afford significant fresh

opportunities for the presentation and delivery of news that will benefit its readers.

Many newspapersoutside the Arab world began delivering information electronically

through commercial services before the recent Internet era, but their presencein the

field was limited until they startedto publish electronicversionson the World Wide

Web (WWW). Sowhat arethe advantages

of publishingnewson the Internet?

169
Internet technology can free up more space to present news (Lapham, 1995). The

WWW offers a number of other presentational opportunities. It can present excellent

colour graphics. It can provide readers with access to extensive news archives. In

addition, the news can be updated more readily than in the caseof print. Indeed, going

online affords newspapers a whole range of opportunities. The rapid advances in

technology, however, have left professional and business practices behind and have

been under-researchedso far. Thus, knowledge of how to publish news effectively on

the Internet is poor (Morris and Ogan, 1996). This point is particularly important in

light of criticisms that have been levelled against the Internet. Many early online

newspaperslacked user-friendliness. Accessing all the content could prove difficult,

time-consuming and, ultimately, expensive (Katz, 1994). Navigating around some

websites can lead to a frustrating experienceespecially when the user tries to locate a

specific article and expect instant feedback from the newspaper server. Moreover, it

would be quite frustrating for a user of this service in the long run, becausea lot of the

services and some of the links appear and then disappear. Indeed, some researchers

have contended that access to newspaper content on the Internet was a privilege

belonging only to the most technically advancedreaders(Mueller & Kamerer, 1995).

The rapid growth of online news publishinghas thereforespawnedmany questions

about effectivenessof presentation,ease of content access,the computer skills

required of consumers, the multi-media presentational skills required of journalists,

and the new approachto businessneededby newspaperpublishers. For researchers,it

has posed questions about methodology and, perhaps more significantly, about

conceptual models that can be devised effectively to investigate and improve

170
understanding of all these issues. A few models have so far been proposed for the

analysis of electronic news publishing. Li (1998) discussedthree such models: (1) the

interactivity model; (2) the new hybrid model; and (3) the media transition model.

Under the interactivity model, Rogers (1986) noted that the most essentialcapacity of

electronic media is that of interactivity. Interactivity has been assumedto be a natural

attribute of interpersonal communication, but has become a concept applied to new

media such as the Internet (Rafaeli, 1988). Rafaeli's model distinguished three levels

of interactivity: (1) two-way (non-interactive) communication; (2) reactive (or quasi-

interactive) communication; and (3) fully interactive communication. Rheingold

(1994) also discussedthe role of people in Internet communication as an interactive

group and argued that this new communication revolution was shifting power to the

people. This power shift seriously threatenedthe dominance of traditional massmedia

forms, especially television, radio, magazinesand newspapers,which were built from

the one-to-many communications model.

It is not just interactivitythat is significantwith new communicationstechnologies.It

is also the inter-connectedness

of new technologieswhich underliesthe "logic" of

electronic media growth that is significant. One-way systems become two-way or

even multiple-user networks (Neuman, 1991).

Under the hybrid model, it is believed that the Internet could open up previously

unthought of opportunities for news delivery. Multi-media presentation formats mean

that news texts can be accompaniedby photography, graphics, animation and video.

The Internet could representthe site of a merger of previously separatenews formats

anddeliverychannels(Gilder, 1994).

171
By using computer technology to produce and deliver a new Product, newspapers

have welded both the old (literacy-print) with the new (computers-digital delivery)

and created a hybrid model. According to Li (1998), however, this model does not

address the impact of web page design or effects of different approaches on the

communication process. The hybrid model only provides a general idea of how the
I
function of a newspaperis enhancedby computer technology. It does not measurethe

impact of relative levels of interactivity, nor does it identify where the old component,

the convention of newspaper publishing, and the new component, the technology,

stand in the model, and how they work together and react to eachother.

The third model discussedin this context was the media transition model. Bordewijk

and Kaarn (1986) developed a model when discussing the flow of information in new

communicationsystems.They describedfour basic communicationpatterns and

showedhow they to
wererelated eachother.(1) Allocution: Infonnationis distributed

from the centre simultaneously to many peripheral receivers which is typical of the

"old media7'of masscommunication.(2) Conversation.Individuals interact directly

with eachotherbypassing
a centreor intermediaryand choosingtheir own partnersas

well as the time of communication. (3) Consultation. This refers to a range of

different communication situations in which individuals look for information at a

central store of information. (4) Registration. This is the consultationpattern in

reverse in that a centre 'requests' and receives information from a participant at the

periphery (usually without their awareness). Bordwijk and Kaarn concluded that the

trend is moving from allocutory to consultative to conversational. This implies a

broadshift of balanceof communicativepowerfrom senderto receiver.However,it is

not clear yet to what degreethis shift of control is taking place in Internet newspapers.

172
'Ibis chapterwill examine part of the status of e-newspapersin the Arab World. It will

examine the nature of the industry through an examination of its news products and

through an investigation of other media resources available to the Arab user of the

Internet. This analysis begins with an overview of which newspapersare published

on the Net and where they originate.

In this part of the analysis there will be an examination of how these newspapers

present news and what additional features and servicesthey offer that take advantage

of the electronic medium in which they operate (see Analysis Form in Appendix G).

The presenceof electronic Internet newspapersis then considered in a wider context

of otherInternetnewssources.

The chapter then moves on to consider evidence from a number of news agenciesthat

operate Internet sites and daily news services that are also supplied through the

Internet by television and radio stations that operate within the Arab World. Hence,

e-newspapersnot only have to work to establish their own market position against

competitors from other newspaperpublishers, but also in the face of competition from

other news suppliers beyond newspapers.

5.2 Analysis of Newspapers' Webs ites

Traditional newspapercontent has been changing under the pressureof technological

advances. However, in a few years with the introduction of the Internet and the

by
stampeding
phenomenal to the Web, format,contentandthe way news
newspapers

is gatheredand distributedhave changedsignificantly. One of the major challenges

173
for online newspapers,though, is how to best create an online newspaperand what is

the appropriate model in constructing news stories on the Web as well as finding the

best businessmodel. Another question is, how should the newspaperindustry react to

this evolving new field and incorporate these vital intersections of new technology

advancements,audiences'interest and businessconsiderations.

Gubman and Greer (1997) state that analysts have identified five areas on which

newspapers must concentrate when going digital: structure, content, news writing,

reader interaction, and user services. Hence, in order to provide a descriptive profile

for Arab e-newspapers,this chapter analyses data gathered from all the 48 Arab

e-newspaper sites. The analysis includes: place (where do these newspapers issue

from), their languages,services offered to reader, and what fonnats they adopt as well

as interactionmethodswith readers.

The results shed some light on the determining factors behind the views expressedby

readersof these online publications.Obviously, very little systematicresearchhas

which
emerged analysed
online newspapers'
websites,and how they look. One of the

aims of the study, however, is to help to fill that gap through the analysis of Arab

daily e-newspaperswebsites.

5.2.1 Countries of Issue

The data gathered from newspapers'sites shows that the online Arab newspapersare

producedin threecontinents.United Arab Emirates(Asia) and Egypt (Africa) scored

equally the highest ratio (12.5% each) followed by the UK (Europe) representing

174
altogether over one-third (35.4%) of the total geographical locations of Arab

newspapers.The next publishing location was Lebanon with four newspapers.Five

Arab countries (Jordan, Qatar, Syria, Oman and Algeria), were representedwith three

newspaperseach. Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, and Palestine were representedwith two

each, while the remaining two countries (Sudan and Morocco) were representedwith

one each. A more detailed perspectiveand analysis is presentedbelow.

5.2.2 Newspapers' Languages

Although there has been a very limited number of publications in languagesother

than Arabic and English such as French (mainly in Arab countries of North Africa),

the study focused on only newspapersthat appearedeither in Arabic or English. Of all

the 48 Arabic and English newspapers analysed, 85.4 per cent were Arabic

publications. Only seven English publications were identified, representing 14.6 per

cent of the total sample analysed.(see Figure 6).

Figure 6: Language of the newspaper

175
 5.2.3 Arabic Text Format

5.2.3.1 Background

The format and the structure of presenting the text on the Internet is one of the major

technical hindrances Arab online newspapers are trying to sunnount. For Arab

newspapers,the is
problem even greater as most Internet applications and computer

systems do not recognize the Arabic text unless it is designed and worked in Arabic

operating systems.For newspaperpublishers the problems transcendthe difficulties in

converting their print publication to HTML for the Web to the user who needsArabic

browser
enabled to view the text in Arabic.

Part of the problem of transporting Arabic text over the Internet is becauseof its non-

ASCH character sets (Al-Badr, 1998). Dr Knut S. Vikor (1997) of the Centre for

Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Bergen in Norway specified

the two main reasons why using non-English languages including Arabic pose

problems. One was that the different computer operating systems (DOS, Windows,

Mac, Unix) on the Net differ in how they handle non-English texts. The other was the

specific restriction of the network itself that hurts in particular non-English languages.

Vikor explained that computers usually transmit each letter in a text as a numeric

value, and the between

correspondence the letters and numeric values are called

charactersets.In the caseof the Net, the type of computer at the other end of the cable

is unknown.Hence,technicalconfiision occursand affects communicationbetween

differentcomputersasresultof the variouscodes.

176
LangBox International, a company specializing in operating systems and software

applications is one of very few companies attempted to develop multilingual

packages. One of the problems facing the company has been the complexity of the

text becauseArabic is a calligraphic language where an Arabic character may take

one, two, or sometimes four different shapes and the shape of the character is

determined depending on its position in the word. Figure 7 shows a sample for the

'Bah' (B) Arabic letter in its four different shapes,isolated, initial, middle and final.

Also multiple characterscan be combined into a single ligature glyph. Not only this,

direction of writing is different. Arabic text is written from right to left, opposite to

most languages,which can cause complications when mixing text languages in one

electronic text file (LangBox.com, 2000). This confusion is even greater in the caseof

HTML where there is no general agreement amongst manufacturers to built their

systemson onestandardcode(seeTable 8).

Figure 7: Different Arabic letter shapes

6NJ
Isolated final middle begin

Thus, the question of what kind of Arabic (code) should be used is not yet settled, and

there is a silent struggle between Microsoft Arabic Windows and the rest of the world.

According to Vikor this has led many publishers to publish their Arabic online

publications as "pictures", which can be displayed in any browser that displays

pictures, whether or not it has any Arabic capability (Vikor, 1997).

177
Table 8: Arabic computer codes
Code Description
IS08859-6 The standard8-bit encoding schemefor Arabic
ISO 8859-6 Mac Is a supersetof ISO 8859-6
ASMO 708 Arabic DOS Code Also basedon ISO 8859-6.
Arabic Windows code Based on the ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1) standard.
Windows 95 /98 code -1256 Also Adds support for Persian characters.

in this electronic environment, Arab e-newspapers'adoption of certain formats has

been circumscribed in three main ways (or a combinations of these ways) to

publish their Arabic content online:

1- Arabic text coded in HTML which requires an Arabic supported browser to read.

As demonstratedthe coding and displaying of Arabic (HTML) text is still be a major

issue. Yet, recently, new Arabic Windows (Versions, 95,98 and 2000) and Microsoft

Office applications environments have partly solved the problem (see Figure 8).

Arabic coded in HTML can be read (with Internet Explorer) and processed (with

FrontPage Express) much better than before. Nonetheless the advantagesoffered by

the high priced Arabic version of Windows are minimal compared to the 'small but

reliable, low-price tools in

running a European version' (Barontini 1998). Furthennore

they need more processing by the user, who must cut V paste or Drag & Drop

frequently.

Although Arabic text coded in HTML seemsto be complex at a first glance it has the

advantage of being very fast and productive for regular visits and for large text

downloads. Compatibility, however, is at risk becausesolutions are built upon various

methods, for instance Unix and Macintosh use the ISO standardcodepageISO 885916

178
LatinlArabic while Windows uses its own non-standard CP 1256 LatinlArabic

codepage(Barontini, 1998).

Figure 8: Al-riyadh newspaper in HTML format

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2- ScannedGIF image. The Graphic InterchangeFormat is a common format for

image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same

colour. Many Arabic newspapersemploy graphics to overcome the problem of

viewing Arabic text. They usually scan Arabic text pages as they are, and post

them to the Net as GIF files. With this format the reader can read the newspaper

regardlessof the languageof his/her operating system, but the pagescan only be

179
read as a text image and cannot be copied or saved for word processing (see

Figure 9).

Figure 9: Gif (scanned) format for the front page of the Kuwaiti daily Al-seassah.

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3-Portable Document Format [File] (PDF). This is one of the most popular methods

used by Arab sites to overcome the problem of viewing the text. With the proper

Acrobat Readerg, the text is displayed the same way on all systems and the

programme prints virtually any Arabic font perfectly. However, the problem with

PDF is that the reader must first wait for the file to be downloaded completely and

180
then special software (Acrobat Reader) integrated with the browser, loads

automatically to read the file. Further, the user needs to do a lot of scrolling to read

PDF in larger documents. Another major weakness in Acrobat (Reader) is that the

word or text string searchfeature performs incorrectly with Arabic charactersin PDF

files. Arabic text cannot be copied out of a PDF file and pasted into a word processor

document. So far, only Adobe.com has the type of program needed for viewing PDF

files, (seeFigure 10).

Figure 10: Al-hayat in PDF (Portable Document Format)

http:liwww.sitecopy.com/alhayat/04-24124POl.
pdf

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181
 5.2.3.2 Analysis of Arab Newspapers Text Format
As can be seenin Table 9, Arab newspapers
which employtext images(GIF format)

ranked first (35.4%), followed by 10 (20.8%) use PDF system for publishing their

content online. The analysis shows that only 10 newspapers(16.7%) in

appear Arabic

HTML text only. Naturally the seven English (12.5%) newspapersappear in English

text where English does no share the difficulties of Arabic text. Some other

newspaperscombined two different formats.

Table 9: Text format

Text Fonnat Percent Cumulative Percent

Text image 35.4 52.1
PDF 20.8 79.2
Arabic HTML text 16.7 16.7
English text 14.6 100
Text & text image 6.3 58.3
[rext image& PDF r, 1 85.4

5.2.4 Services

The Internetis believedto be the environmentwherealmostall information services

and (multi)media featurescan meet and function. A close look at a website like

CNN.COM can validatethis claim as the user can listen, watch, read and searchfor

news storiesthat are updatedaroundthe hour. Moreover,with the CNN website,the

visitor can customisehis/her daily news preferencesand choosethe way he/she

wishesto receivehis/hertailorednewsbulletin.
Yet, the analysis of Arab newspapers websites revealed that this concept is

unattainableand in most cases,these sites lack technical support and appearin a

182
humble presentation. So far very few newspapers seem to have started exploiting the

great potential of Internet services.

5.2.4.1 Archive Services

The analysis of newspaper websites, shows that most Arab newspapers (79.3%)

provide archive services to their readers ranging from 1-2 days archive to full

searchablearchives which are provided by 8 newspapers(see Figure 11). However

two in five newspapers(39.6%) provided seven days archive or what is known as

"past week issues". Six newspapershad archives for the past year and with equal ratio

the 1-2 days archive and the 3-6 days archive services are offered by 4 newspapers.

One newspaper was found to have an archive of six months. However, only eight

newspapers(16.7%) offered full searchable services while two in five (39.6%) of

these online publications offered seven days back issues online. In contrast, one in

five (20.8%) newspapersappearedto have no archive services of any kind on their

websites.

Figure 11: Archives service

3-6 days archive

4.2
1-2 days archive PerceM
12.5
Past year archive

Full searchable archive =1 16.7

No archive services
7 days archive 39.6

40 60

183
 5.2.4.2 Interaction With Readers

In order to seehow Arab newspapersinteract with its readersand to explore the extent

they use Internet interactive applications, interactive communications were used as

one of the variables of analysis. E-mail was identified easily in all analysed sites. A

guest book facility was also provided by one newspaperalong with e-mail addresses.

Only one newspaperoffered Chat Room that enabledinstant chat between readersand

journalists and where readers themselves could exchange ideas and information,

though, the room was silent most weekdays,(see Figure 12).

Figure 12: Interactive communications

5.2.5 Domain Names

The Internet is divided into smaller setsknown as domains, including (business),

-com

gov (government), edu (educational) and others. A domain name is defined as the
.

unique name that allows users to reference Internet sites without knowing the true

numerical addresses. Domain names consist of at least two parts. The left most

segmentrefers to specific machines,while the right most portion refers to the network

184
hierarchy to which the machine belongs such as CNN. COM. Most countries also have

a domain. For example, UK (United Kingdom), SA (Saudi Arabia), and EG (Egypt).

There is an organization called InterNIC that registers domain names for a small fee

and keepspeople from registering the samename.

InterNIC policy of "first come, first served" in the registration of domain names

increasingly led to problems over trademarks, as domains began to be registered that

conflicted with registered trademarks. For some this was a flourishing business,

becauseafter registering a domain with a famous name, they hope to eventually sell it

to the rightful ownerof the trademarkor tradename.

in this respect registering unique domain names seemedto be one of the important

issues faced by many Arab newspapersthat carry an exact name in Arabic. Popular

Arabic newspaperswith names such as, people (Alshaab), revolution (Althcnvrah),

homeland (Alwtan) have already been scoopedup by one businessor another.

A solution adaptedby some publishers has been to use similar-sounding Arabic words

in different English spelling. For instance, the popular Arabic name Al-Gumhuryah

(The Republican) appears as AL-Gomhuria (Egypt), Jumhuriya (Iraq) and al-

gumhuryah (Yemen) that gives a similar-sounding domain name in Arabic (see also

Table 10).

Although some newspaperswith similar names attempted to overcome this domain

names dispute by registering for top national domain names under 'sa' for Saudi

Arabia, 'eg' for Egypt and so on, the vast majority appeared under international

(American) domain names (such as alhayt.com) in an attempt to gain easy

185
recognition, to benefit from the cheap hosting services in the US and to more easily

reach their potential readersoutside of their national borders.

Table 10: Examples of newspapers use of similar-sounding domain names

Newspapers
Alwatan Althwrah Alshaab Alayyaum
(Homeland) (The Revolution) (The People) (Days)
watanom.com thawra.com ech-chaab.com Al-ayyam. com
Oman Syria Algeria Palestine
Al-watan. net althawra.com elshaab.com Alayam.com
Saudi Arabia Yemen Egypt Bahrain
Al-watan. com/ nisciraq.net/thawra Al-ayyam-
Qatar Iraq yemen.com
Yemen
Alwatan. com.kw
Kuwait

5.3 Online Newspapers and Other Web-based Services

(Research) Questions

As it has been already demonstrated by analysing online newspaper websites, the

author was able to collect more information about all the 48 newspapers including

those(n7-21)who did not respondto the online questionnaire.This sectiondealswith

answers to a group of principal research questions concerning online newspapers.

More information was gathered about countries from where those newspapers are

published, subscription fees, their number, format, and reading requirements. In

addition, this section presentsanswersto researchquestions concerning whether these

online publications have printed versions and whether they have commercial

advertising activities and if so how advertisementsare displayed.

186
 5.3.1 How Many Arab Daily Newspapers Exist on the
Net? Where are they Issued From? (Ql)

Unlike the rapid growth American and European e-newspaperswitnessed especially

in the 1990s, Arab online newspapers emerged gradually (see Table 11). By the

beginning of the 21't century nearly sixty five Arab e-newspapers were being

published in Arabic, English and French. The first Arab newspaper to launch a

website was al-Khaleej of the UAE in September 1995. In the same year two other

newspapers followed; al-Nahar (in October) and al-Sharq al-Awsat (in December)

which are also the first and only two online newspapersto levy fees for reading their

full daily content.

As Figure 13 shows, with regard to the online publications now available, the Gulf

Sates (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait) and the Yemen

produced nearly 44% of Arab e-newspapers. A further 25% come from Arabic

Mediterranean countries (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine). The UK is also an

important source, publishing nearly half as many as the total from the four Arab

countries of North Africa Egypt, (Sudan, Algeria, Morocco).

Interestingly, except for an Iranian official Arabic online daily (al-Wifaq), (not

included in the study) no single Arab(ic) online daily was found to be published from

North America (USA & Canada)the birth place of the Internet, where also one of the

largest and well-established Arab communities outside the Arab World lived. Six

Arab countries were not representedin the online daily publishing world (Somalia,

Djibouti, Comoros, Mauritania, Tunisia, Algeria and Iraq).

187
Table 11: E-newspapers country of origin
Year Newspaper Month Country of Origin
Alkhaleej 9 UAE
Alnahar 10 Lebanon
1995 Asharq Alawsat 12 UK
Al-ayarn I Bahrain
Ad-dustour 2 Jordan
Alittihad 3 UAE
199(1 Al-Ayyam 6 Palestine
Al-Hayat 6 UK
Al-safier 8 Lebanon
Jordan Times 10 Jordan
Al-watan 10 Kuwait
Alarab I UK
Azzaman I UK
1997 Gulf Times 4 Qatar
ALQabas 6 Kuwait
Alanbaa 7 Morocco
Alwatan 7 Oman
Al-Jazirah 9 Saudi Arabia
Al-Rayah 12 Qatar
The Daily Star 12 Lebanon
AI-Sharq 6 ýatar
1998 Tashreen 6 Syria
Alqudos 7 Palestine
Al-Ahram 8 Egypt
AI-Riyadh 3 Saudi Arabia
F AL-Rayyam 3 Sudan
iggg
However Iraqi publishers' (mainly government organs) have started recently to put

out online stories, updated three or four times a week hosted by slow servers and

poorly presented.Although Tunisia has a reasonablepresenceon the Internet, most of

its news websites appeared in French, including two online dailies. Arabic news

appearedonce or twice a week in websites of two Tunisian national printed dailies al-

Sahafaandal-Sabahin a somewhatcrudeformat.

' The Iraqi authoritieslaunchedin the eveof theyear2000a numberof semi-dailypublicationsbased

on daily printssuchasBabil, al-Jumhuriya,al- Qadissiyaand al-Thmvra and from Muritaniatwo
semi-daily(RajulShar'a andEstiqlal ) appearedaroundthe samedate.

188
Figure 13: Countries where online newspapers published

0246a 10 12 14
Egypt
UAE
UK
Lebanon
Algeria
Oman
Syria
Qatar
Jordan
Philistine
Saudi Arabia
Yernen
Kuwait
Bahrain
Morocco
Sudan

5.3.2 What are the technical Formats of these Papers?

How Can the User Read them? (Q2)

Although this question has been partly and indirectly answered through the

demonstration of newspapers'websites format, the simple technical fact is that the

type of format a newspaperadaptedis determined by the type of software or plug-in

(available)
needed to view its content.

The analysis of Arab online newspapers,however, showed that the scannedtexts that

appear in GIF or PDF files are the most popular methods used for displaying Arabic

newspaperscontent. Close to six in ten (56.7%) newspapersemployed either scanned

text (35.4%) that appear in GIF files or PDF files that can be read by small utility

softwarecalled AcroRead.All newspapersusing this methodwere Arabic speaking

publications.The analysis revealed that only eight newspapers(16.7%) adopted

189
Arabic text and smaller group of three newspapersoffered a combination of the two

formats (text and scannedimages).

Hence, newspapersthat use GIF files need an advanced browser that enables (text)

images to be seen and it was obvious that the two dominant browsers i. e., Netscape

and Internet Explorer, have fulfilled this need. As the GIF forinat is designed to

display pictures, not letters, the user needsa graphics programme to save and view the

GIF file he/shewishes to see in isolation of the web browser. On the other hand, the

PDF formatted newspaper cannot be displayed without an Adobe Systems Acrobat

Reader. The newspaper in PDF format can be viewed, navigated, and printed from

any computer regardlessof the fonts or software programs used to create the original.

One of the advantagesof PDF fonnat is that Adobe's Acrobat Reader software is free

and downloadablefrom the company'swebsite and is available for Macintosh,

Windows,andUnix.

Yet, unlike HTML, PDF-fonnat lacks the flexibility of using hyperinedia capabilities

(though this is improving in newer versions of PDF). Although PDF preserves the

appearanceof the original document, it seemsto act more as an electronic photocopy

of the document, hence, PDF files cannot be indexed by most Web search engines,

and for the user, files can be slow to download.

The HTML format that has been utilised by some Arab newspaperrequires an

Arabic-enabledbrowserto view the text in its written fonts, though, it cannotbe

copied or dealt with unless the user has an Arabic operating system. HTML is, in

many ways, more convenient for the user, quick to download and supported by all

Arabic-enabledbrowserswithout the needfor any specialplug-ins.Unlike PDF, that

190
preservesthe fonts, formatting, colours, and graphics of a source document, HTML is

not capable of displaying the layout that the publisher wants. Further, the HTML

presentation may look different from one screen to another depending upon a

browser's pre-set options in terms of colours, font type and size and user's screen

resolution. The following browsers are the most widely used readersto view Arabic

HTML coded text:

* Sindbad Arabic: (Windows, Mac, UNIX) this is not a browser by itself It is an

add-on developed by the Arab IT company Sakhr that can be used with Netscape

Navigator. Sindbad Arabises the interface of Navigator browser and its suite of

software including the HTML composer, and the newsgroup reader. It supports

Arabic e-mail and chat in Arabic, yet, this software has many technical and

operational weaknessand often crashesthe system or freezesthe screen.

e AraMosaic: this browser enablesArabic text to be viewable on Arabic Unix

systems. But it does not support frames, execute Java (Applets or Scripts) and

which arevital for mostonline services.

ActiveX (controlsandcomponents)

e Tango is a stand alone browsers from Alis Technologies (http://www. alis.com/).

This is a multilingual web browser that enablesthe user to surf the web and read tens

of different languages including Arabic. Also included a multilingual e-mail client

that allows user to create,sendand receivee-mail in many languages.This browser

Arabic
supports in a Windowsenvironmentonly.

191
e Internet with an Accent from 4ccentsoft (http://www. accentsoft.com). Arabic is

bundled with other languages that the user can chose from when installing the

software in a Windows enviromnent. So far this has proved unpopular.

e Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) (Windows, Mac, UNIX): This is probably the

best browser as it does not require plug-ins or additional downloads, it is distributed

for free, and has comparablefeatures and capabilities to Navigator. The full version of

IE contains a software bundle for text chatting, video conferencing, e-mail reader and

HTML composer. Some sites are best explored using Internet Explorer because of

features such as ActiveX and Microsoft's implementation of dynamic HTML. The

latest version is Internet Explorer (5.01) for the Windows, Mac and UNIX platfonn

which contains links to streaming video, audio, and radio sites. The most celebrated

feature in this version is its excellent support for Arabic text on non-Arabic operating
I
systems. Hence, it is by
recommended most Web developers is
and expectedto sweep

away any other competitors.

5.3.3 Is There Any Charge for the Press Services? How

is it CoHected? (Q3)

The analysis of the 48 online newspapersites as well as the responsescollected from

participant publishers in the publishers' survey supported by previous studies

indicated that subscription to e- newspapers is still a bothersome issue for both

content producers and Internet users. So far only two Arab newspapers(al-Sharq Al-

immaand al-Nahar) ask for fees, the

nonetheless trial proved to be unsuccessful.As

MohammadAlagha the supervisorof the electronicversion of al-Sharq 41-awsat,

.

192
stated in the editors' interviews, the newspaper experience in levying fees has been a

failure by all measures.Only few subscriberswere now paying the fees.

The way these two newspaperscollect fees is similar. AI-Sharq Al-cnvsat follows a

very simple and straightforward method for subscription. The user needs only to fill

out an online securedform with his/her credit card details and choose his/her

preferred user name and password. The fee and period fall into three categories: 1) E9

for 3 months, 2) E16 for 6 months, 3) and 00 for a full year.

The newspaper handles all the transactions via a middle company that developed a

new system for online payments called NetBanx in 1996. This system allows any

website to start taking payments online with credit and debit cards and clears card

transactionsin seconds.Cardholderaccountsare directly debitedin a way similar to

the cardswipemachinesusedby retailerswhenprocessingpaymentby credit or debit

cards.

The secondnewspaper(al-Nahar) uses a similar online form but, with an interesting

notice that says: 'Pleasenote that, by emailing this form, the information you wrote

above is not securedand could be monitored hence, for security reasons,it is

to
advisable fax this form'. The pricing of the newspapercontentis similar in termsof

subscriptionperiodsto that of al-SharqAl-awsatbut higherin the'amounts.For a full

year al-Nahar asks for $125, $65 for six months and $35 for three months

subscription. The subscriber can then read the full content of the newspaper in PDF.

The newspaper offers the paper to students for $60 a year. The newspaper has a

service called 'information on demand'. This service divides and sells the newspaper

193
by sections as follows: Local News $35, Economics $20, Articles $20, Middle East

news $20, Analysis $15, and $15 to read the Sports section. The relatively high price

of the local news could be attributed to the newspaper'srealisation of the high demand

for this type of news which in somewayconfirms the argumentthat local content is an

important factor for small Internet newspapershoping to be read globally.

5.3.4 Do they Have Commercial Advertisements? How

are they Presented? (W)

Newspapers,magazines and commercial television are still the dominant advertising

media in the Arab World. Internet-based advertising is in a nascent stage. Even so,

online advertising revenue grew 141 per cent in 1999 over the $1.92 billion reported

for 1998, ending the year at an impressive $4.62 billion according to a study

conducted independently by the Internet Advertising Bureau's (IAB, 2000).

Nevertheless,from the overall analysis of the Arab newspapers'websites, it was clear

that advertising in Arab online publications was negligible and no single Arab online

newspaperreported revenuefrom online advertising.

Most of the very few banners some Arab newspapers show on their websites are

either for the purpose of self-promotion, adverts for and from the host or the designer

of the paper'swebsiteor, as the caseof the Saudial-Jazirah,a complimentfrom the

paper to its big advertisers. While some newspapers display commercial banners,

most of these banners are unpaid adverts from web-basedservices that enable

websites to exchangecommercial adverts. Only three newspaperswere identified that

194
had announced policies regarding advertisements linked to the papers' home pages.

These newspapersare al-Sharq Al-awsat, al-Anwar and al-Nahar.

The pricing of online adverts space varies to a great extent from one newspaper to

another (see Appendix K) and it was clear that there is no defined mechanism(s) or

baseline model for displaying advertisementsin terms of place and size of the banners

and thus no standardizedmeasurementsthat could guide advertisers to identify and

reach targeted audience.

In al-Sharq Al-awsat the online advertising policy seemedto be extemporary rather

than a planned and specific strategy, reflecting the state of the absent market. From a

look at the newspapei'sonline adverts classification it was obvious that there was no

technical or practical standard. For example, the paper specifies an electronic advert

that is to be displayed electronically, in tenns like: " all bannerswill have the width of

an A4 page" or "adding links to other websites will have to be agreed on a customer

basis".

A more Internet compatible policy has been introduced by al-Anwar that prices online

adverts at $35 per thousand random page views. Yet the price varies with the location

of advert in the paper's different sections. Interestingly, al-Anivar, advertiserscan also

sponsor certain sections and special features of the paper. Moreover, the newspaper

announcespublicly in its website that it offers its 20,000 customers e-mail address

databaseto its potential advertisers, a policy which raises the long-debated issue of

the privacy of online customers.

195
The third newspaper al-Nahar, which is the second of only two Arab online

newspaper that levy fees for reading its full content, has a similar policy to that of

al-Anwar. It prices the online banners according to the sections of the paper in which

they are placed. Unlike al-Sharq 41-cavsat,only one standard banner format is

by
accepted al-Nahar which is 200 X 50 pixels in GIF format (Maximum size l0k for

still picture and 20k for animated files). As already indicated, however, the analysis of

the Arab online newspaper showed no signs of any paid banners in any of the 48

newspapers'websites.

5.3.5 What Other News Services are Available to Arab

Users of the Internet? (Q5)

5.3.5.1 Introduction

The analysis of Internet news sources also investigated Arabic Web-based news

services other than e-newspapers,

such as Arabic news websites, news agencieson the

Internet and online TV & radio stations that provide daily Arabic news. This analysis

revealedmany alternative,
reliable and well-structuredArabic newsresourceson the

World Wide Web. They appeared in various formats, from plain text with few

pictures (such as most Arab official news agencies),to news stories that include audio

and video clips (BBC Arabic site). The main categories of online news sources are

examinedbelow.

196
 5.3.5.2 Web-based News Sites

Although most of these Web pages offer their services for free, some of the specific

sites require registration or subscription to be able to view the full text of their stories.

Most of these sites can be advantageousfor an Arab reader who wishes to keep up

with the latest headlines (Table 12).

The first Internet news site, Moheet (comprehensive)is a completely free and useful

site for regional and international news in Arabic, located in Egypt, and owned by a

Saudi IT company. The website divides its news content sections into: Arabic affairs,

international affaires, economy & business, sports, family & community, Islam,

culture, computer & communication, science, cars, books, travel, facts & figures,

world gallery, headlines,press briefs and special reports.

Arabia Online was one of the first Arabic websites that attempted to put an Arab

news gateway on the Web. This Saudi-Jordanianjoined venture company operatesa

free
successfulanda professional Arabic andEnglish dynamic,online newssite. The

company aims to reach Arabs inside and outside the Arab World, as well as
international audiences with an interest in the Middle East. The daily content is

divided into many main sections titled: news, sports, business, technology, Arabia

life, weather, shopping, horoscopes,poll centre and millennium section. The site also

offers instantchat,free Web-basede-mail account,free homepagesspaceand interest

groups mailing lists facilities. Arabia Online is believed to be the only Arabic news

service on the Internet that offers this full range of personalised services including

custornisednewsandpersonalisede-mailnewsbulletin.

197
Table 12: Arabic Web-based news sites
Name of the Site Country URL
Moheet Egypt http://www.moheet.com
-
Arabia.0n. Line Jordan http://www. arabia.com
Accessto Arabia Jordan http://www. accessme.com
Naseej Saudi Arabia http://www. naseqi.com/news
Awalnet Saudi Arabia http://www: e-arabicnews.com
Kul-alakhbar Saudi Arabia http://www. kul-alakhbar.com
BBC Arabic Service UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/h arabic
Arabic news USA http://www. arabicnews.com
Planet Arabia USA http://www. planetarabia.com

Naseej (Web) is the oldest news website that is basedin Saudi Arabia. This website is

administrated by the leading Internet servicesprovider, Arabian Advanced Systemsin

Saudi Arabia. The site provides daily news in Arabic and summaries of top news

stories in English as well as a daily summary of most Arab mainstream press. The

company also provides links -to more than 20 daily, weekly and monthly magazines

that are hosted by the company'sservers.

Arabic news is an Arab-American company that operatesfrom Ohio -USA- and one

of the most organised and commercially designed Arabic sites. Besides its daily free

news it
summaries, offers two main services:1) free email subscriptionto receiveits
daily news bulletin plus news specific to one country of interest 2) a paid subscription

that allows accessto the full site which includes many stories not available through

unpaidservice.ArabicNews.com claimsto havea high ratio of readerswho constitute

decision-makers in business and government. The company seems to have a clear

advertisingpolicy that dependson standardInternet banners(468 by 60 Pixel) and

long-tenn sponsorship of its different sections (the front page, weather page, story

pages,recipe pages,etc.).

198
Becauseit offer its content in English, the site is the only Arabic site that statesclearly

that it is accessiblethrough IBM compatible PC Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft

Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows NT, Apple Macintosh and SUN

Java and UNIX browsers and DOS, and may be available through Active-x Microsoft

Explorer and Netscape Navigator and communicator with channel and Pointcast

support.

Awalnet (First Net) news website is operated by Awalnet, a major ISP in Saudi

Arabia. This site specialisesin technology news with updated daily content in Arabic

and English. Awalnet operatesa comprehensivenews website called Kul-alakhbar

(All the News). This website slogan is: "All news for all Arabs". Kul-AlAkhbar site

says about itself "one of the international news sites that covers all world news while

concentrating on the Arab World news in all its aspects". The site's main goal is to

cover issues that are of interest to the Arabic reader. The company claims to cover

news and events from more than 300 Arabic and international sources.Kul-Alkhabar

divides its sections into: international issues, Arabic issues, business & economics,

health& medicine,science& technology,the book world, culture& art, and religion

travel section.

BBC Arabic Service. In continuation of its successin providing highly regarded

radio news servicesin Arabic, the BBC launchedits Arabic site as one of the most

reliable and comprehensive news sites in the Arabic language to appear on the

Internet. The BBC has nearly 100 experiencedjournalists working around the clock

to put together text, audio and video from the vast range of material that comes in

every day. The BBC is one of the world's biggest and oldest news providers, and a

very well-knownnewssourceto Arabic for

audiences decades.

199
Access to Arabia is another news service offered by the Jordanian ISP Access Me.

The company offers news stories in Arabic and English that focus on Middle East

issuesand news. The site also offers a daily selection of Arab and international stories

selectedfrom CNN, Arabicnews.com, and many other news wire services.

Planet Arabia is another US based Arab company. The founders of this site aim to

make Planetarabia.
com the Internet destination for Arab communities, businessesand

individuals interested in the Arab World. The site provides a number of diverse

services to the Arab community in the USA including the latest news, weather

forecasts updated around the clock, free Web-based e-mail, personal ads and

discussionboards.

200
 5.3.5.3 Arab and Arabic News Agencies on the
Internet

"I doubt if there has ever beena more exciting timefor news agencies andfor
journalists as wefind ourselvesnow in this age of new media. Wenews agencies
...
are going through a period offundamental change,not so much in the way we collect
news as in the way we present it"
MoniqueVilla Director, StrategyDevelopment,AFP (AgenceFrancePresse)

This quotation succinctly surnmarisesthe challenge that the information and news

industry is experiencing in relation to the Internet. This challenge has led some of

them to rethink the way they do businessand, in somecasesto rethink their entire

profession. Monique Villa commented further: 'We ourselves at AFP have been

through long periods of self-doubt .... how to position ourselves on the Internet is still

an unresolved question'. But how have news agencies reacted to these changes?

According to Villa, "some news agencies in Europe and elsewhere remain ultra-

cautious about what content they will allow on to the Web"(Villa, 1999).

Nonetheless,Chagas(1999) assessedcommentsmade by representativesof the

Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Agence France Presse (AFP), and the Press

Asspciation (PA) who met together at the NetMedia99 conferenceto discuss the past

and future prospects of news agenciesand found that 'all of them agreed on one thing

traditionaljournalistic skills are still a very valuablecommodityin online media. '

-
But the editing skills, the way to present something well on a screen is now very

important as well, ' according to Mark Hird, the PA's New Media director (Chagas,

1999).

201
Internet challengesto news agencieswas also top of the agendaduring a meeting of

delegatesto the Executive Board of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies

(OANA) in Hao Nodi (October 1999). For example, Wang Zongyin of the Chinese

Xinhua news agencypointed out that the challengesfacing his agencyare fivefold: 1)

all government agenciesare going online; 2) a growing number of news organisations

have online presence; 3) a number of commercial websites are providing news; 4)

large enterprisesnow have their own websites; and 5) above all, foreign information

service providers are co-operating with Chinese commercial websites or launching

Chinese-languageonline serviceson their own websites (Vietnam News, 1999).

Kim Chong Chol, President of the Korean News agency (Yonhap), observed that

OANA members,including his own agency,'standat the cross-roads'becauseof the'

information revolution' and the Internet. Yet for news agenciesto survive, the

'revolutionary' solution suggestedby Chol, is to 'counter the challenges straight to

their face and actively'. The Kyodo News (Japan) response to the online world has

been even stronger. For the first time in its 50 years history, the agency began to

review its legal status as a non-profit, co-operative news agency, according to its

PresidentIchiro Saita (Vietnarn News, 1999).

On the Arabic scene,the challenge before news agenciesdoes not only stem from the

Intemet. In 1996, the UNESCO report 'Information and Communication Technologies

in Development' that attempted to identify obstaclesto applying telecommunications-

basedtechnologiesin the 3rdWorld includingArab countries,found that:

"Third World news agenciesare confronted with high costsfor telecommunications

combined with obsolete technologies and software, which have serious implications
not onlyfor the quality of information that is being reported and but alsofor the very
survival of the agencies". (UNESCO,1996p: 13)

202
Most Arab news agencies remain poorly organised to adapt to the online news

revolution. In comparison, foreign news agencies that serve the region are well

prepared in this arena. The most obvious example is Reuters Arabic Online. This

name has been recognised for many years as the World's leading news agency. For

decades the agency has provided news in Arabic to and about nearly all Arab

countries. The service targets specific customers in the Arab World such as

newspapers,radio and TV stations and even national news agencies.Reuters entered

the field of Internet news services from the early days of the Internet and its online

service is accessableby the public. ReutersArabic site is registered with an Egyptian

domain name (Reuters.com.eg) and provides a daily content in Arabic. Reuters claims

to employ nearly 130 people from 24 nationalities in the Arab World. Its business

offices are located in Abu Dhabi, Dubai (UAE) Khobar, Jeddah, Riyadh (Saudi

Arabia) Kuwait, and Oman and news bureau in Bahrain.

All governmentsof the region supervise and own the national news agencieswith no

single Arab news agency being run by the private sector. Yet, since the introduction

of the Net and due to its have

opennature,most governments had no option but to

participate in the Internet race (see Table 13). An analysis of Arabic news resources

identifiedsomeof theseagencies.

Qatar NewsAgency (QNA), the official Qatarigovernmentnewsagencylauncheda

website which offers daily content in English (only) divided into seven sections: local

news, world news, economy, culture, sports, today's photo and events of the day. In a

like manner Iraq News Agency offers a slow and poorly designedwebsite with local

203
daily content in English and an Arabic news bulletin, reflecting the Iraqi government's

activities.
Perta News Agency, the Jordanian official news agency (Petra) website offers the

typical daily menu of news content in Arabic and English covering Jordanian,Middle-

eastern,and international event. Yet, the Petra website design and volume of content

surpassesmany of its rivals in the region. The agency also announcedclear policy in

Internet news provision through an assigned staff in its Internet Department who

prepare news bulletins in Arabic and English and transmit the daily news stories to the

agency'sonline sections. The agencyalso offers a daily general bulletin in Arabic and

in English, a restricted bulletin (for subscribers).

Table 13: Arabic online news agencies

Name of the Site Country URL
Algerian News Agency (APS) Algeria http://www. aps.dz/
Iraq News Agency Iraq http://www. nisciraq.net/iraq
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA Kuwait http://www. kuna.net.kw/
Morocco Arab Press Morocco http://www. map.co.ma/
National news Agency Lebanon http: nna-leb.gov.lb/
Oman News Agency Oman http://www. omannews.com/
PalestineNews Agency (WAFA) Palestine http://www. Wafa.pna.net
PertaNews Agency Jordan http: petra.gov.jo/
QatarNews Agency Qatar http://www. qatamewsagency. com
ReutersArabic services Egypt http://www. reuters.com.eg/
Saudi PressAgency (SPA) Saudi Arabia http: //www. spa.gov.sa/
SudanNews Agency (SLTNA) Sudan http://www. sudanet.net/suna
Sydan Arab News Agency Syria http://www. sana.org/
The Middle East News Agency Egypt http://www. mena.org.eg/
Yemen News Agency Yemen http: //www. sabanews.gov.y

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA the Saudi govemment official news agency) website

offers Arabic and English daily news coverage of most Saudi government activities.

The agencyannouncedthat nearly eighty per cent of the English news coverageis

204
about Saudi Arabia while the rest of the news highlights the GCC (Gulf Cooperation

Council), the Arab League, and other major developments in the regional, Arab,

Islamic,andinternationalarena.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) is also another government organ that has a

website that offers a news bulletin in Arabic, English and French covering many

aspects of Syrian daily life including government activities, news updates, news

analyses,reports, press review and news headlines. The website content is accessible

for freewith no restrictions.

The Middle East News Agency (MENA) is one of the oldest official news agencies

in the Arab World (established in 1955). The agency offers to the Internet audience

daily news stories in three languages(Arabic, English and French) as well as reviews

of the major Egyptian press in Arabic and English.

The Omani News Agency, the official news agencyof the Sultanateof Oman, posts a

daily news bulletin in Arabic and English on the Internet. However, the agency

websiteis poorly designedandhasvery limited content.

The Yemen News Agency, (SABA), is the official agencyof the republic of Yemen.

Its website offers daily content in Arabic and English as well as an archive covering

news for the past month. Most stories cover the official activities of the government

its
and ministers.

The Bahraini Gulf News Agency website offers similar content to that offered by

most other official news agencies,such as daily news coveragethat appearsin Arabic

205
and English. Likewise, the Palestine News Agency (WAFA) that is operated by the

Palestine National Authority, offers daily content in Arabic and English focused

mainly on the peaceprocess in the Middle East. Similarly, the Morocco Arab Press

agency official website provides a daily news bulletin in Arabic (via e-mail) English

and French. The agency however has a unique service as its archive can be searched

from 1997 to the present day for free. Besides its daily news content in Arabic,

English and French the National news Agency (Lebanon) website is the only Arab

agency (with the exception of the Kuwaiti agency) that allows users to listen to news

bulletin updated three times a day.

The Algerian News Agency (APS) and the Sudan News Agency (SUNA), like most

of the above govermnental-owned news agencies, offer typical daily content in

Arabic, English and French (from APS only), covering local, regional and

international news.

In contrastto most Arab news agenciesthe Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) website is

almost certainly the most organisedand well-established site. Although it is controlled

by the Kuwaiti government, KUNA provides daily multi-views comprehensive

content in Arabic and English. It also offers 10 updated audio news bulletins in

international news and six audio bulletins of local news. Its special services for

offer
subscribers more detailedstoriesandservicessuchas archiveandphoto archive

searchingand especialreports, Gulf newspapersheadlines and foreign pressreview.

206
 5.3.5.4 Online TV& Radio Stations

5.3.5.4.1 Introduction

Until recently broadcastand print media were the main sourcesfor news consumers.

Television and radio surpassedprint as the quickest forms of transmitting information,

but print was able to convey larger quantities of news. However, the shift to the

Internet as a mass communication medium and the wide acceptance of its news

delivery services, is a serious threat to the dominance of these traditional forms of

massmedia (Lapham, 1995).

OPtimistically, however, Richard V. Ducey Vice President of the Research and

Information Group at the American National Association of Broadcastershas stated

that there is "a synergy between broadcasting and the Internet which may well be

a critical successfactor for future growth" (Ducey, 1996p.1). Addressing the annual

meeting of the Internet Society, Ducey emphasisesthat "even with all the speculation

and initial successof the Internetandonline servicesgenerally,the main conduitinto

our lives for electronically distributed information and entertainment will remain

radio and television broadcasting".

Yet, the limitation of traditional media is that it is optimised for a particular kind of

communication. The Internet, however, can handle various news formats representing

a convergence of traditionally separate means of computers, communication,

telecommunications,broadcastingand publishing.

207
In recognition of the potential significance of the Internet as a news carrier,

newspapers have rapidly launched themselves onto the Web, the world over.

Broadcast media, likewise, joined this race. By April 2000, the databasefor Editor &

Publisher online (Mediainfo. com) offered links to 1,895 radio stations sites and 1,305

television sites (see Table 14). These statistics show a remarkable growth in the use of

the Internet by broadcast media. Users, on the other hand, are expected to grow as

well. According to a research released in January 1999 by Edison Media

Research/Arbitron, online radio listenership among web users has grown from 18 to

30 per cent in one year. The same researcher found also, that 35 per cent of

(American) online users said they are watching less TV due to their usage of the

Internet (Arbitron. com, 1999). Yet, according to Berry (1999), although online TV and

radio websites may have audio or video files, for the most part they still exhibit a very

print-oriented design. He illustrated this point with reference to the websites of CNN,

and MSNBC (NBC news) that contain links to the main news topics and to news

programs regularly appearing on these networks. When following these links to more

detailed content about the stories, one finds full-text transcripts with photo

enhancementsthat look very much like a traditional newspaperor newsmagazine.

Table 14: Online TV and radio stations as of April 2000

Region No. of Radio Stations No. of Television Sites
Africa 27 9
Asia 144 66
anada 131 1
aribbean 5 5
urope 221 170
iddle Easý 8 11
:)ceania 71 29
3. America 24 28
IJ. S. 1,264 986
rotal 1,895 1,305
Source: Editor & Publisher database (mediaiqfoxom)

208
 5.3.5.4.2 Online Arabic TV and Radio Stations

In this wave of communication and media development, it seemsthat Arab TV and

radio stations have had no option but to comply with this new technological

determinism. Hence, the growing number of Arabic broadcasting stations that

provide online news and live transmission on the Net is creating ftirther competition

for online newspapers.

Slater (1997) identified two groups of broadcasting activity on the Net. The first

group is the traditional over-the-air radio broadcasterwho via "real-time" transmits

the actual broadcastsignal on the Internet from the statior0swebsite. The second

group is the Internet-only broadcasterwho via real-time transmits programming from

a website.
In the caseof Arab TV and Radio stations on the Net, the latter group is totally absent.

Below is a list of some identified Arab and Arabic radio (Table 15) and TV stations

(Table 16) that have an Internet presence,providing daily web-basednews servicesto

the Arab community.

Table 15: Arab and Arabic radio stations on the Web

Name of the Station Country Language Wed Address (URL)
Morocco Radio Morocco AR/FR hitp: //www. maroe.net/rc/
Kuwait Radio Kuwait AR http://www. radiokuwait.org/
Palestine Palestine AR http://www. bailasan.com/pinc/
ANA Radio USA AR http://www. anaradio.com/
Oman Radio Oman AR http://oman-tv.gov.om/
Tunisia Radio Tunisia AR/FR http://www. radiotunis.com/
Radio Egypt Egypt AR http://www. sis.gov.eg/testram/
MBC FM UK AR http://www. mbcfm.com/
Radio Lebanon Lebanon AR/FR EN http://www. vdl. com.lb/
BBC UK AR* http://wNvw.bbc.co.uk/arabic
Voice of America USA AR* littp: //www. ibb.gov/programs
Radio Canada I Canada AR* http:
tt //www. rcinet.ca/pages/
Gennany Germany AR* http://www. dwelle. de/arabic/
AR (Arabic) EN (English) FR (French). * Foreign broadcasters

209
Table 16: Arabic TV stations on the Web
TV Stations Country Lammaze URL
Saudi TV Saudi Arabia AR http://saudiembassy.net/RealVDO
Morocco TV Morocco AR/FR http://www. tv2m. co.ma/
Jordan TV Jordan AR http://www. jrtv. com/
ANA TV USA AR http: //anaradio.com/
Bahrain TV Bahrain AR http://moci. arabian.net/tv.ram
m
LBC Lebanon AR http: //www. dm.net.lb/Ibcsa:t/
Oman TV Oman AR http://www. oman-tv.gov.om/
AIJazeera Qatar AR http: atiazeera.net/
Future TV Lebanon AR http://www. future.com.lb/
Tunisia TV Tunisia AR http://www. tunisiatv. com/
Aiman TV UAE AR http://qimantv.com/
TeleLiban Lebanon AR http://www. tele-liban.com/
MBC Channel UK AR http://www. mbctvsat.com
SudanTV Sudan j AR http://www. sudantv.net
AR (Arabic) EN (English) FR (French).

210
 5.4 Discussion

The most important trend that has been identified is the movement of establishedArab

printed newspapers towards online publishing, representing most Arab countries.

Some of them presented only part of their printed product (a selection of the daily

content), others offer all of their content, but in most cases,they in

appear the same

optical format as in the printed version. In other words, it is obvious that the

traditional concepts of (print) journalism and infonnation provision still have a

considerable influence over the design and presentation of the daily in

content most

online In
newspapers. this respect, the study has proven that full use of Arabic text to

display Arab e-newspapers'content was difficult to achieve. This is a major challenge

becauseArab newspapershave faced difficult technical obstaclesin displaying Arabic

text in Internet publishing, an issue which has limited ability to reach a wider

audience. Hence, most Arab newspapers have substituted active Arabic text with

scanned images of the content either by using scanners or by converting the whole

paper into PDF files. This move has proved to be easier and less costly.

Despitethe movementtowardsthe Internet,it seemsthat most Arab newspublishers

do not have online publishing strategies and it was clear that most of them are

unawareof the seriousness

of the Internetto their traditional business.
Data analysis

revealedthat only two newspaperschargefor reading their content (al-Sharq A 1-cmat

and AInahar). These two paperswere also among the 27 newspapersthat participated

in the publishers' survey that is presentedin Chapter 6.

With regard to the servicesoffered, some of those newspapersoffered a range of other

online services that were not possible in the printed product, such as news archives,

211
e-mail messaging and to a lesser degree, instant chat facilities and audio/video

services. For the latter services,publishers could still include more audio and video on

websites to increasetheir multimedia capacity. But, it was evident the policies of most

Arab newspapers so far have been to provide low-cost electronic versions of the

printed paperson the Net

The analysis also showed little or no advertising activity in all the online newspapers

studied. There will be an important need for online newspapersto develop this part of

their business in order to establish a viable revenue stream. Online readers usually

expect to receive Internet news for no charge. Online newspapers that require

subscriptionsfrom readersmay fail to establish sufficient revenueresourcesto

survive.
It may take quite some time for the online publishing sector to gain its share of the

advertising spend. It further suggeststhat there will not be a major shift to online

advertising till an Arab online sizable market emergesthat would attract advertisers

and the online newspaperitself starts to createits own separateidentity.

Yet if e-newspapersare seen more as a new product that needs genuine and fresh

methods of management, and as more than just a supplement to the main print

publication, publishers will need to go beyond the notion of ' let's wait to see', to

establish a real presence in cyberspace.Advertisers unwillingness to advertise on

could be explainedby the fact that the sizeof the audienceis what
onlinenewspapers

attracts advertisersto pay for online space,and so far, online newspapershave failed

to convince advertisers that online advertising would be worth their while. On the

other hand building consumer loyalty online is not an easy task for Arab newspapers.

Indeed, it has been difficult even for well-established American and European

212
newspapers.Online consumersare hard to please, hard to be kept loyal and above all

unwilling to pay for'information goods'.

The findings also indicate that online newspapersneed to market their product more

effectively. But before doing so they must identify a stable mass market and fulfil its

needs. They need to be more proactive in operating their business by using market

plans, assigning experienced staff to the Internet ann of their business and help

introduce the Internet into to the public.

The variety of (free) news servicesthat appearin different forms on and from the Web

seem to be ready to deliver serious competition to most of the printed newspapers.

From the analysis and the observation of the online news activity, it was clear that

hardly a day goes by without new news services being added to the Internet. This

expansion of online news services is likely to increase in the near future. With týe

rapid growth of the Internet and online news services, Arab newspapersare being

pressured into joining in. They may succeed in finding a place and some may

flourish. Yet there will be those who will fade away as they fail to adapt or changeto

to
accommodate this new technology. Sincethe introductionof the Web, the news

market has become an increasingly competitive and complex business.However, the

threat of these online news activities to hard copy newspapersin the Arab World has

been largely ignored by both marketing and academic studies.No one has askedhow

do Arab newspapersfit into this picture? In short, it is important that Arab publishers

know their new markets, so that they can develop effective Internet strategies. To

competeand even to survive, they must work harder at developing this understanding,

employ skilful staff, conduct market researchand set genuine agendafor their online

activity.

213
Chapter Six: Publishers' Survey and Editors Interviews

6.1 Introduction

The movement of establishedprint newspaperstowards electronic publishing via the

Internet has profound implications for their businessesand for journalism practice.

Although the essentialwriting and reporting skills of journalism remain a central part

of the process of electronic news delivery, web-basednews publishing provides new

opportunities for newspapers in the way they presentthe news and provide accessto

a wider range of news services than are possible with traditional fonns of news

publishing.

In this chapter, we turn our attention to the media professionals and media owners

involved in electronic news production. How do these groups perceive the transition

to Internet publishing within the Arab context? To find out more about this subject, an

online survey was conducted among Arab newspaperpublishers and their editors. Of

the 48 Arab e-newspapersbeing published at the time of this research,27 (56.25%)

participated in this research.Responseswere supplied either by the publishers

themselves or by a senior editor on the staff of the electronic news publication.

Supplementing these data are findings obtained through a small number of face-to-

face interviews with Arab media professionals.

Past researchamong electronic newspaperpublishers has highlighted the steep

learning curve that many find themselves on, once they have decided to move across

to Internet publishing. One of the problems is that many establishednewspapershave

beentemptedto makethe transitionto electronicpublishing even though they have

214
few, if any, staff with experience of the mew medium (Singer, 1996). Journalism has

to adapt to the Internet and so too does the businessof news publishing. Not all media

professionals, in the newspaper business, have expressed optimism at the future in

publishing, though many have had to concede, nevertheless, that this is where the

futurelies (Schultz& Voakes,1999).

In many respect,the essential skills of journalism practice will still be put to good use

even in a web environment (Brill, 1999). However, the new communications

technologies, associatedwith the Internet, provide fresh opportunities for information

delivery to readersthat require the acquisition of new skills in the spheresprincipally

of information presentation and organisation (Alexander, 1997). There is often

a temptation when making the initial transition onto the Internet, for a newspaperto

try simply reproducing its hard copy version online. There is much more to running

a successfulInternetnewsbusinessthanthis, however(Neubergeret al., 1998).

The Internet offers opportunities for news delivery, and also, for journalists, it

provides another on tap source of information that they can call upon to assist with

researchingstories (Williams & Nicholas, 1998). As with all new communications in

the past, the Internet will be capitalised upon by some early adopters and reluctantly

adopted by resentful others in the longer term. The current chapter examines the

degreeto which Arab media owners and professionalsfall into thesetwo camps.

215
 At

6.1.1 Arab Newspapers First Appearance on the Internet

Media professionals were initially asked to state when their newspaperfirst put up a

website. This question aimed to identify the time (month/year) Arab newspapers

launched an Internet publication. The data show that 1997 marked a breakthrough for

the Arab online newspapers with a significant increase in the number of online

newspapers.

Figure 14 shows that the year 1997 witnessed the publication of nine news papers

(34.6%), while only four' pioneer newspapersput up website in 1995 (the 'year of the

Internet' as declared by Newsweek Magazine). No single Arab newspaper had any

presencein the Internet prior to 1995

Table 17 shows more detailed information with regard to the distribution of

newspapersappearanceon the Internet over time (months of the years from 1995

through 1999). Two respondentsfailed to identify the time when they first started

their online edition (one did not report the year and the month altogether and the other

ignored the month).

Figure 14: Arab newspaper first appearance on the Internet (Year).

40

30

20

10

216
Table 17: When did your newspaper first put up a website?
Month Year Total
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
January - - - - 1 - - 3
February - - I - -- 1
March - - 1 - 2 3
April
May
June 1 1 2 - 3
July 2 1 -1 3
August 1 - I - 2
September 1 - - 2
October 1 2 - 3
- - -
November -F - -F - - -
December k 9
[r tal k k 4 17 19 4 6
"Month" valid cases25 missing 2. "Year" valid cases26 missing I

6.1.2 Online Newspapers Staff

One serious predicament for the Arab World in Internet news publishing is the short

supply of skilled IT professionals. Recently, Jerzy Szeremeta,advisor at the United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), warned that Arab states would need to

create around seven million skilled workers by 2015 to accommodatethe expanding

market(Cisco, 1999).Hence,to ascertainwhetheronline newspaperstaffing is taken

by
seriously publishers, respondentswere asked: How many staff members work only

on the Internetedition?

Although most respondents (74%) indicated having assigned staff for the Internet

edition, the largest portion (44.4%) had less than three staff dedicated to the online

edition (see Figure 15). However, the data revealed that not all respondenthad staff

1ThePalestinianal-Ayyarnclaimedto be onlinesinceDec. 1995, its domain

yet recordshowsthat it
wasregisteredwith NetworkSolutionsin 8 /6 /1996(SeeTable 17).

217
assignedonly for the online newspaper.Very often hard copy staff were co-opted to

work part time on the Internet edition.

Figure 15: No. of Staff work only on the Internet edition

50

40

30

20

10

a
None 1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12
Number of Staff

6.1.3 Visitors Measurement Methods

of the numberof visitors to a websiteis oneof the essentialprocesses

Measurement in

consumer
understanding navigation behaviour in online Barbara
environments. Z.

Gyles of the Newspaper Association of America stated that after decades of

'perfecting ways to establish exactly how many copies publishers sell each day', today

they find themselvesin a world whereadvertiserswant to know how manypeoplesee

their [online] advertising messages(Gyles, 1997).

Yet, there is a wide agreementthat measuringthe number of visitors to an Internet site

is still a challenging issue. Thus, the 'Internet business has no single agreed-upon

methodof defining a Web audience'(Ledbetter,2000).Currentmeasurement

tools are

218
seen as either misleading or too simplistic in terms of interpretations (Nicholas et al.,

1999), or in some cases somewhat inaccurateand incomplete as measurement

instruments(Randall,1997).

In order to assesshow Arab publishersdeal with this issue, participantpublishers'

were askedfirst to indicateif they estimated(measured)the numberof daily visitors

to their online newspaper.Then they were asked,in an open-endedquestion,to report

how they track their online visitor numbers. Only four respondents(14.8%)indicated

that they did not use any measuring method. Nearly one third (33.3%) used digital

counter and nearly 26 per cent indicated getting server visitors' "statistics" that

provide hourly and daily reports based on the number of 'hits' and the statistics

producedfrom the log files (seeTable 18).

Table 18: Methods used to measure daily visitors to the online newspaper.
Measurement Method Percent Cumulative Percent
No 14.8 14.8
[Yes Counter 33.3 92.6
[Yes Daily statistics 25.9 59.3
[Yes no method mentioned 118.5 03.3
[Yes Daily Statistics +Counter 17.4 1100.0

6.1.4 Subscription Fees Policies

One of the major issuesfacing online newspapersis the difficulty of generating

enoughrevenueto run andmaintaintheir websites.No Arab newspapercan claim that

it hasreachedthe right formula to find readerswho are willing to pay for readingthe

news online. Although the newspapers' websites analysis presented in Chapter 5

219
revealed that only two newspapers levy fees, publishers where asked to confinn

whether their newspaperlevy fees from readersor not.

This question and other two subsidiary questions were asked to learn more about how

well the Arab newspaperindustry has been preparing plans and strategiesto levy fees

from reader of their newspapersonline. If respondentsansweredthat they did not levy

fees they were then required to indicate if they intended to levy subscription fees in

the coming 12-24 months. If respondentssaid that they did levy fees, they were asked

to specify how often subscribers were required to pay by selecting from four pre-

determined answers: "monthly", "quarterly", "every six months", and " annually.

As Table 19 shows, 25 out of 27 respondents (92.6%) did not charge readers for

reading their online newspaper.Of those, 28 per cent (7 of the 25) planned to charge

for reading their newspapersin the next 12- 24 months. Only two newspapers(7.4%)

charge for reading full content. One of them (al-Nahar) indicated that their payment

policy dependedon the subscription period readerchose.

Respondentswere askedto indicate whether they askedreadersto register before

reading. The purpose of this question was to see if Arab newspapershave strategiesin

attracting readers to their newspapersand then collecting information about them (in

the registering process) for the benefit of their marketing strategies and pricing

policies. Only three newspapers (11 %) reported any registration procedures while

most respondents(89. %) had no registration requirements.

220
Table 19: Subscription fees for accessto newspaper site.
Response Percent Cumulative Percent
[No] and we will not chargein 66.7 66.7
future
[No] but we will chargein the 25.9 92.6
next 12 -24 months
[Yes] we chargequarterly 3.7 96.3
[Yes] dependson subscription 3.7 100.0
period readerchooses

6.1.5 What is the Impact of Electronic Version on the Print

Newspaper? (Q6) -

Respondentswere given three predeterminedanswersabout the possible impact of the

electronic version of their newspaperon the print version: 1) increasesinterest in our

print copy, 2) decreasesinterest in our print copy, and 3) not clear. Respondentswere

to that
also given an opportunity add any otherreasons might describetheir situation

better.

Although the majority of respondents(59.3%) indicated a positive impact (increases

interest in our print copy) of the online version on the printed one (26 % higher than

Mensing (1998) have found in her study), fully one third (33.3%)reportedthat the

situation is not clear. One publisher said that "we release the Internet edition a few

hours after the print version" and only one publisher indicated that the online edition

'decreasesinterest in our print copy' (seeTable 20).

Table 20: The impact of the Internet edition on the printed newspaper.
Impact Percent Cumulative Percent
Increasesinterest in our print copy 59.3 59.3
Decreasesinterest in our print copy 3.7 63.0
Not clear yet 33.3 96.3
We releasethe Internet edition a I3.7 I100.0
few hours after the print version

221
The length of time a newspaper had been online bore no relation to the publishers'

views on its impact over the traditional newspaper. Even some of those publishers

who started in the early years (1995,1996) of Arab newspapers presence on the

Internet (4 out of 11) indicated that the impact of e-newspaperson the print was not

clear yet.

Interestingly, more than one half (55.6%) of those respondentswho put all of their

print content on the Internet edition (including the publishers of the only two Arab

newspapersthat charge for reading its online edition) indicated that the impact of their

e-newspaperon the print one is' not clear yet'. A positive impact (increasesinterest in

our print copy), however, was indicated by four in ten (43.8%) of the same group as

well as more than six in ten of those who put a 'limited selection of the printed

contenV.

6.1.6 What Content Do they Put in the Electronic Newspaper?

(Q

Evidence on this question derived from two sources; the publishers survey and the

analysis of the content of all Arab online daily newspapers.More than four in ten

(44.4%) of the Arab online newspapers that responded to the publishers' survey

(n--27) indicated that they put all of their print content in the online edition. Overall

no Arab e-newspapersput out breaking or headline news only and none of the

publishers indicated producing 'original content for the online version'. The websites

analysis of Arab online newspapers(N=48), however, indicated that 37.5% of Arab

online dailies put all of their print content online (seeFigure 16).

222
Figure 16: What Contents your website includes?

AJIof our Print

40 '-conte
II Limited selection
of our print content
Much of our
30 iDrintcontent
33.3%
29.2%

20

10

The number of online staff bears no notable relation with the amount and type of

contentpublishersput on their websites(Table 21). The two newspapersthat levy a

chargefor readingtheir online editions offered all print version contentto subscribers

with summariesof some of the news stories of the day. From those respondedto the

publishers'survey, it was obvious also that the time the newspaperhad been online

boreno relation to the natureof its Internetcontent.

Table 21: Number of staff work only on the c-newspaper and content size
relations
Limited selection ol
No. of staff All of on Print content Much o our print content our p inted content
N % N % N ý/O
Ro-e 3
n 25 4 50
1-3 6 50 4 57.1 2 25
4-6 3 25 1 14.3 1 12.5
7-9 1 14.3
- - - -
10-12 1 14.3 11 112.5
- -
Total 112 100 7 100 18 1100

The text fonnat of the newspapers,however,did bear

somerelation to the amountof
daily contentoffered on the newspapers'
websites. Over eight in ten (83.3%) online
newspapers of those that put all of their print content, come out either in PDF

223
(44.4.0/o),scannedtext images (GIF) (27.8%) or in both formats (11.1O/o)while only

two newspapersthat display their full content in Arabic (HTML) text (seeTable 22).

Table 22: Newspapers text format and content size relations

Much of our print
Text Format All of or print content content Limited selection
Count YO Count L/o Count ý/o
Text (HTML) 2 11.1% 6 ý2.9% 11 6.3%
Text image 5 27.8% 21 14.3% 11 168.8%
Text & text image 1 5.6% -
PDF 8 44.4% 1 7.1% 11 6.3
Text image& PDF 2 11.1% 1 7.1% -
ýnglish text L 4 28.6% 3 18.8%
-
Wotal 18 1100% 114 1100% 16 100%

Interestingly, no single English-language daily of the seven (14.6% of total Arab

online newspapers) published by Arab publishers, put full content on their online

editions. Those seven English dailies were divided between those who put 'much of

our print content' (4 newspapers)and those who put' limited selection of the printed

content' (3 newspapers)in the online edition. On the other hand, the analysis showed

that four in five Arabic-language newspapers (43.9%) appearedto put all of their

print content compared to three in ten (31.7%) who put a limited selection of the

printed content and one-quarter(24.4%) who put much of their print content online.

6.1.7 What Services do they Offer to Visitors? (Q8)

Traditionally, news and information provision form the core of a newspaper's

business.However, since the introduction of the Internet "going online has challenged

some of the fundamental ideas newspapershave held about the products they offer"

(Kamerer at el., 1998). The analysis of (48) Arab newspapers'websites (in Chapter 5)

224
indicated that these newspapers have not yet fully exploited Internet facilities. To

follow up this issue, newspaperspublishers were asked to specify the servicesoffered

in their newspaperswebsites such as:

0 Archive services
Customized news delivery
Classified advertising
Interactive communication
Video/audio/files
Free software

Two thirds of those who respondedto the survey, indicated that they offer 1-2 days

archive services (18 newspaper) and fully one third offer back issue for the past 3-6

days. Over onethird (37%) claim to offer classifiedadvertsto their visitors (seeTable

23). Although one of the most cited features of the Internet is its interactive nature, the

analysis of Arab newspapers' websites revealed that these publications have so far

largely failed to offer this specialty service. From the publisher survey, however, the

fast majority indicated using e-mail servicesto interact with readers.

The newspapers'websitesanalysisdid not detectany custornisednews services,or

clear classified adverts, however, five publishers (18.5%) of those respondedto the

publishers' survey, indicated that they provide custornisednews services, and over one

third (37%) of respondentsreportedputting classifieds.The surveyanalysisrevealed

(6.2%) claimedto provideaudio andvideo files, from time

that only threenewspapers

to time, to support their news stories. Likewise only three newspapers offered free

software to visitors. Yet analysis of the websites which are claimed by publishers to

225
offer free software, showed that what was offered were really links to popular free

browsers' and plug-ins'websites such as Adob. com and Miersoft. com.

6.1.8 Are There Printed Versions of These Publications? (Q9)

From the analysis of Arab online newspaper, it was obvious that these publications

have been burgeonedfrom print newspapers.These Internet newspaperslargely follow

the print paradigm and use the same content. Most of them have no dedicated staff to

run the electronic versions and rely instead on the print staff. This is not a purely

Arabic phenomenon as most existing online newspapers on the World Wide Web

derive from their printed cousins. The distinct character of the print and the

e-newspapers has not formed yet. While paper has been replaced in the online

environment, with a computer screen and ink has been substituted with bytes and

pixels, the content remains much the same.

Table 23: Services offered in Arab newspapers websites

Services Frequency Percent
1-2 days archive 18 66.7
Archives 3-6 days archive 9 33.3
Total 27 100
Yes 5 18.5
Custornised news No 22 81.5
Total P7 100
Yes 110 37
Classified advertising No 17 63
Total ý7 100
Email ý6 96.3
interactive communication Chat Room 1 3.7
Total 27 100
Yes 3 11.1
Video/audio/files No 24 88.9
Total 27 100
Yes 3 11.1
Free software No 24 88.9
Total ý7 100

226
Importantly, in April 15 (2000) a new Media Corporation, owned by the former editor

of al-Shraq al-Awsat (the leading Pan-Arab daily), announceda very ambitious plan to

launch the first ever Arab(ic) electronic newspaperin the full senseof the word. The

project promoter and co-partner Othman Al-Omaier stated in an interview with al-

Hayat (14 April, 2000 issue no 13547), that the new e-newspaper Elaaf will be

launched some time on October 2000, and will be offered free of chargeto all users of

the Internet. The new independentnewspaper'sbudget according to its founder will be

around $15 million administrated and financed by a joint-stock company based in

London.

227
6.2 Editors Interviews

6.2.1 Introduction

In addition to the publishers' survey (supplemental) interviews were carried out with

six Arab editors and online journalists. The main objective in conducting these

interviews was to gain practical insights about Arab online newspapers and to better

the understanding of Internet-basedpublishing from the perspectives of those who are

involved in online publishing. This small sample of journalists and editors interviewed

was due to the fact that the position and even the concept of 'online journalist! was

absent in almost all Arab newspaperscontacted. Although it was difficult to ascertain

statistical value with such a small sample size, yet these interviews provided important

descriptive explanations, as the people interviewed are important in the context of

their influence in what is still a fairly small world - the world of Arab e- newspapers.

Also this is a qualitative supplement to the survey of publishers/editors, designed to

provide a greater depth of insights on points covered more broadly in the survey.

6.2.2 Patficipants'Proffle

Four of the intervieweeswere from SaudiArabia and the remainingtwo were online

journalistsand supervisorsin two London-basednewspapers(seeTable 24). All of the

intervieweeshad reasonableexperiencewith online newspapersand were interviewed

with the setof found

questions in Appendix1.

Of particularinterestwas the extentto which Arab online newspaperstake advantage

of the Web, and how they define and pursuemarketsat a certainlevel (local, regional,

national or global). Attention was also given to the perceivedmarket relationship

betweenan online newspaperand its print counterpart,the natureof competitionin the

228
online market, and various revenue models with which they have experimented.

Specifically, the subjects covered included: profitability, print and e-newspaper

relations, the Internet, obstacles facing e-newspaper, future strategies and staffing

issues.

6.2.3 Profitability

The two main revenue sources for online newspapers are subscription fees and

Yet,
advertisements. in the Arab Internetworld all these are
sources poorly developed.

Further,all participantsin theseinterviewsindicatedthat they do not makeany profit

from their online edition. This was evident given the absenceof advertising and users

reluctance to pay subscription fees. Only two Arab online newspapers(al-Sharq. Al-

awsat and al-Nahar) levy fees from those who wish to read their full content. Thus

far, imposing fees had been completely unsuccessful in generating revenue because

subscriber numbers were very small according to Mohmmad Alagba of al-Sharq 41-

awsat. The project proceededhowever, becausethe newspaper'smanagementseemed

to be deceivedby the "large number of visitors and those registeredwith us that

us to go aheadfor the subscriptionplan".

persuaded

Table 24: Interview participants' profile

Newspaper Location Person interviewed Position
al-Riyadh Saudi Arabia Turki Alsidiri Editor-in-chief
Nasir Alsirami Online Journalist Internet
-
Section Maintainer
al-Jazirah Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Almansour Deputy editor -in-chief
Abdulateef Alateeq Data Centre and Internet Unit
Manag r
al-Hayat London Dr. Emad Bacheir Data Centre Manger
I London Mohammad Alaglia Online Edition Editor
al-Sharq al-
Awsat

229
As the only one amongst the interviewees who had experience with paid services

difficulties, Alagha ascribed readersunwillingness to pay fees to two main elements:

first, the fact that most Internet services are free especially in the field of news and

information, and secondly, the high cost of Internet subscription in most Arab

countries that is too expensivefor the majority of low income readers.

From a marketing perspective,the al-Sharq Al-awsat experiencewith subscription was

a failure. Although the paper tried new plans by providing news summaries for free,

with fees applied only to those who wished to read the full content, even this new

experiment was not encouraging.This, in part, may explain the al-Jazirah decision not

to levy charge "at least in the near future". The paper's deputy editor in-chief,

Alamansour, justified this decision "because of reports about difficulties some Arab

newspapersface in attracting readersto their paid services despite the wide acceptance

of their printed editions". In addition to that "we don't observe any negative impact

upon the sales of our printed version". But al-Jazirah took another important step in

terms of benefitingfrom the online world. The newspaperenteredthe market as an

ISP. Alateeq, the paper'sInternet Unit Manager, nevertheless,expressedsome worries

that seemedto emergeas a result of this new activity: "I am afraid unless we get more

qualified staff, this move could affect the production and the daily scheduleto update

files to the Internet".

anduploadthe newspaper's

Despite the al-Sharq Al-awsat experience in pricing and collecting fees, its online

editor admitted that it is difficult to apply only one framework for levying and

collecting subscription fees. Because "the Internet is the most flexible medium so,

thereshouldbe someflexibility" in relationto pricing. The Data CentreMangerof al-

230
Hayat, Bachier, agreed with this point, and suggestedthat this issue needs a very

careful and in-depth studies based on ordinary consumerneeds.

Although it is too early for al-Riyadh newspaper the newest player on the Internet

(launched in March 1999) to make or even think of making a profit, the paper'seditor

in-chief, Alsidiri, stated that they have to be online because'we have to'. He seesthe

picture in the context of technology " if we do not accept the change we will be

changed" referring to the general hesitation in accepting new media applications in

Saudi Arabia. But the delay in putting al-Riyadh on the Internet does not reflect this

zealous attitude of changeacceptanceexpressedby its editor. Yet, his only one online

journalist, Alsirami, tried to defend their delay as the market was not clear and

according to him this delay has its virtues. "This delay has given us some advantages,

we started from the point many newspapers struggled to reach over years" argued

Alsirami.

Despite the weak market for readersand advertisers,no single Arab online newspaper

conducted marketing studies to assess the market and direct the development of

business strategies for the future. For most newspapers, the decision to go online

seemsto have no market grounds. In the case of al-Jazirah newspaper, for instance,

the idea of the electronic edition is "neither derived from organized administrative plan

basedon a field study of the market nor expressingthe wish of the newspaperowners"

according to its deputy of the editor-in-chief Almansour. The idea even faced

objections from some shareholderswho expressedtheir concernsabout the salesof the

newspaper.

231
Interestingly, the newspapers'main ob ective was to" register our presence"on the Net

before other local newspapersdo so. This private newspaper however, has had one

other objective, according to Almansour, and that is "to reach our [Saudi] students

abroad as a service by the newspaper,emerging from a national motive but not for any

commercial gain".

Unlike al-Jazirah's main motive to be online, the editor in-chief of its rival al-Riyadh

expresseda different "

perspective we should not be driven by the idea of precedence,

otherwise we shall commit mistake and lose our primary targets". Alsidairi was

convinced that there is no way to generate revenue in the near future but "our

electronic edition should contribute at least to the promotion of the printed edition".

Emphasizing these realistic views, the 41-Riyadh editor-in-chief continued " as no

hope for us to generate revenue, we as a minimum, hope to contribute to Arab

electronic publishing industry, is

and of course our newspaper now within the reach of

those who look for it worldwide". This shows that making profit or finding new ways

of increasing revenue has not been the primary objective of most of the early adopters

of online publishing.

As it has been already demonstrated,advertising that could be the significant source of

revenue for online newspapers is still largely absent in Arab online publishing.

Bachier of Al-Hayat the leading Arab daily newspaper,stated that "so far, advertising

on the e-newspaperremains vague". Part of the problem is the advertiser" we don't

receive any advertising orders for the electronic edition; advertisersconcentrateon our

printed newspaper" reported Bachier. AI-Jazirah faces the same problem, but instead

of waiting for the advertisersto approach them, the newspapertook the initiative and

offered its big advertisers a free- of-charge advertisement in the electronic edition in

232
the hope that this might attract paid sponsorship.But even this positive move from the

paper was ineffective. According to Alateeq "to be honest they [advertisers] don't ask

for or show interest in the online edition when ordering adverts campaigns".

6.2.4 Newspapers Old and New

All interviewees agreed that the e-newspapermay impact on print journalism in the

future, but will not replace the traditional morning newspaper.For the e- newspaperto

be a visible medium " it may take generationsto create its loyal audience" (Alagha of

al-Sharq al-Awsat). Reading the print newspaperis an enjoyable experiencewithout

any technical complications. The e-newspaper might affect the share of printed

newspapers today, but the impact will not be significant. According to Alagha,

e- newspapers may attract readers from the new generation who have not formed

reading habits and may be less willing to buy a printed copy. Bachier agreed to this

point and drew attention also to another' major threat' to the industry that is

by
represented cross-nationalsatellite channels.

Likewise Alsidairi stressedthat the "great challengeto us is this tens of news channels,

that provide timely news coverage, I'd like to say clearly that it is impossible for the

printed daily newspapers or even the electronic ones to match satellite channels".

Almansour believed that the print newspaper will survive as there will still be

problems from the high level of computer illiteracy, and the cost of Internet

connection which is not yet in the reach of every one in the Arab World. Almansour,

thought that there could be some reduction in the sales of the printed newspaper,but

that they will not disappearfrom the market in the foreseeablefuture.

233
Hence for the purpose of confronting the new challenges (specifically Internet and

satellite channels), newspapers must reconsider the concept of their daily content.

According to Alsidairi, journalists will need to rethink their concept of the profession.

"We should not be inanimate [sic] of what is going around us sticking with what we

have learned about what journalism should be ". Alsidairi even went fin-therand

stressedthat there is a need for a critical revision of the profession, as "new technology

requires new thoughts and new strategies and many journalistic theories and schools

need to be replaced or at least to be considerably revised ".

Although new media offer new, effective and inexpensive ways of information

dissemination to Arab publishers, content is the main weak point of most Arab

newspapers (electronic or print). Alagha pointed to the content as the only way to

attract and keep reader's loyalty and advised newspapers to concentrate on

a 'competitive and good content'. Bachier looked to the content from an interesting

angle "the Internet compelled us to enter new tough competitiveness.We are not alone

in the field any more". He cited Reuters and the BBC that provide timely online

Arabic news and stated that "it would be quite difficult for Arab newspapers to

compete with such huge corporations. You only survive and compete by providing the

best and the best only of your content".

Almansourbelievedthat the issueis not oneof new medium'sexpulsionof an old one

or of what contentshouldbe online.He arguedthat the "problemfacingus is that there

is no single market study that could help us plan our strategiesin the field of Internet

publishing. Yes everybody is on the Internet but unfortunately no one knows where

arewe headingand who readsus". Alsidairi expressedmore gloomy views aboutthe

future of newspapersin tenns of news delivery, but emphasisedpublishers' need to

234
review the nature of the content they provide. He warned of the aggressivenature of

Internet news market. "It is meaninglessto think of competing the Internet and satellite

channelswith your local newspapersin terms of news coverage" pessimistically stated

Alsidairi.

6.2.5 The Intemet

When asked whether they thought that the Internet (will) affects print journalism,

participants had different views, but largely agreedon the role of the Internet as a new

means of mass communicationthat requires more attention from researchersand

newspapers industry. Because of the Internet "we are debating now, new, and old

journalism" argued Bachier. "Although the printed newspaper had succeededin the

past to contain the impact of radio and TV, the Internet is totally different". Bachier

pointed to the fact that the Internet theoretically enables any one to be a newspaper

publisher as cost distribution, and even government interference factors are no longer

impenetrableobstaclesfor publishing.

Alaggaexhibitedsimilar views and describedthe Internetas an outstandingscientific

andcommunicationmedium.He also drew attentionto the long history the traditional

newspaper has in the Arab World as a main source of news, compared with the

Internet and e-newspapers.But when certain obstacles are eliminated in the Arab

World and the Internet becomes an important component in the modem house

"certainly it will affect traditional newspapers". Almansour stressedthe importance of

the Internet and expressed his dissatisfaction with the government's delay in

introducingthe Internetto the country becausethe Internet "has becomethe world's

hugelibrary and the world's most advancedcommunicationmedium".Alsidairi noted

235
that Internet publishing has challenged and will continue to challenge the printed

press, but he preferred to look to the wider picture of the new technology which is

"changing every aspectof our life and what can be considerednew today shall become

old tomorrow or the following day".

6.2.6 Obstacles

Unlike other nations' online newspapers, Arab e-newspapers have some unique

obstaclesthat may hinder the spreadand the full use of the Internet by Arab users and

publishers. These problems include the computer algorithms and the lack of Arabic

text solutions,the non-existenceof a massmarketwhen looking at the small number

of Internet users in the Arab World, the cost of Internet connection, and education

levels.

One of the main barriers before Arab e-newspapersis the lack of technical support for

Arabic text readers (browsers) and the instability of Internet applications. This causes

confusion when it comes to the choice of "the proper format and design to display our

daily content"(Alagha). Similarly, Bachier noted that readers' most common

complaints are about the way the text is displayed and the difficulties they experience

in reading or downloading the newspaper.Nonetheless,Bachier observedthat, in most

cases,the problem could be attributedto the softwarethe readerneedsto better surf

the web andview the e-newspaper.

Although Alagha emphasisedthe importance of the content to attract more readersand

overcomethe obstaclesin hand,he also drew attentionto other major obstaclesthat

236
face so-called e-commercein the Arab World, such as illiteracy, low income and high

cost of Internet connection that make "the talk about the Internet mere luxury".

Alsirami of al-Riyadh specified the main obstacle to e-newspapersgrowth as the

slowness of Internet traffic in Saudi Arabia. " All Internet traffic goes through proxies

which delay the flow of Internet communication, let alone reading a daily newspaper

full of graphics". Yet, this may be, in apart, attributed to the fact that the launching of

al-Riyadh's online edition synchronizedwith the official introduction of the Internet to

the Saudi public. "This made the newspaper'sstaff deal mostly with inexperienced

readers'andgaveno time for us to exploreotherobstacles"statedAlsirami.

6.2.7 Strategies

As it has been already demonstratedArab online newspapers'main obstaclesseem to

have technical and practical aspects as well as concerns about the content of these

publications. Clearly this mixture of complications will make any attempt to construct

businessstrategiesa difficult objective for most newspapers.

In order to investigate how Arab newspapers have tried to tackle such issues,

interviewees were asked to specify their plans with regard to investing in online

newspapers, and related software development and marketing research. It became

obvious that Arab newspapersare largely unenthusiastic about taking costly initiatives

to handle the development of the online market or to set in place effective business

strategies.According to one interviewee:" Most of the plans that we are thinking of at

the present time in relation to the e-newspaperare only general ideas that we discuss

237
only in our informal meetings". In the same context when ask for more support, there

was a problem among online editors that they and their staffs were seen as second-

class citizens. This observation was reported to occur among American online editors

(Singer, 1998). As one interviewee noted " The subject of our electronic edition has

not been taken seriously yet even by most of our colleagues in the newspaper... and

the paper administration still doubtful about the whole issue".

From a different angle the online editor of al-Sharq Al-mmat noted that investing

more money in the electronic site was a complex issue. "I have nothing to convince the

publisher of any future revenue to justify any additional investments in the electronic

edition". With regard to the text solution, the same intervieweerevealedthat his

publisher had no plans to invest in the development of Arabic software and I don't

think there is any enthusiasmin the newspaper'smanagementteam". He believed that

giant companies, such as Microsoft, and Sakhr (a leading Arabic IT company) could

do suchjob quite effectively.

Elsewherethere was agreementthat the available software from large companies

offereda reasonablesolution,but the main problemis not in the software,but in the

way content should be displayed. Another interviewee observed:" It seemsto me that

they [software developers) forget that their programs are designed to present the

content not just to show how brilliant the interface is". This interviewee further

that softwaredevelopersshouldcoordinatewith contentprovidersandlisten

suggested

to their recommendations.

In contrast to al-Sharq Al-awsat, al-Hayat voiced plans to invest in their electronic

websiteto introducecomprehensive
changeandnew services.Despitethe unprofitable

238
market of Arab e-newspapersthis paper'spolicy was to " take the lead in its electronic

edition just as it is the leader in its printed edition". The paper's Data Centre Manager

noted that in the race to attract more readersand minimise serviceobstacles"it is

important to ask first: Is reaching a large audiencefor the time being of interest to the

newspaper,or not? It is good to expand the readers'base". [But in so doing this may]

"create technical difficulties that need more technical support in a commercially

unavailing enviromnent".

,41-Jazirah and al-Riyadh seemedto be content with what they had achieved as they

both expressed only broad thoughts about future plans. The Internet Section

maintainer of al-Riyadh indicated that there was some sort of unwritten plan that,

within a year or so, all the publications of the corporation (Alyamamah Weekly,

Riyadh Daily (English) and Riyadh Book) would be available online. It was also

revealedthat the newspaper'sintention was to set-up a comprehensiveCity Guide that

might attract visitors and advertisersaccordingly. For al-Jazirah the main target in the

near future was to improve their Internet service to attract more subscribersas well as

to improve the format and the layout of the paper'swebsite on the Internet.

6.2.8 Staffing

The publishers' survey analysis showed that the typical Arab online newspaper

employs fewer than three people to run its website. Indeed, one-quarter (25.9%) of

Arab publishers who participated in this survey reported to had no dedicated staff for

their online newspaper. These online newspapersseemedto play a secondaryrole to

239
the print edition. This was confirmed by interviewees' responseswhen asked about

online staffing policy. No newspaperhad a clear policy in this respect.

One of the reasons for not appointing online journalists was that some newspapers

were still experimenting with online production. The first priority was to build a

market of loyal readers and advertisersto generaterevenuesto underwrite the cost of

assigning online journalists to new electronic ventures. There was also a question

about the skill needed for online journalism. One interviewee believed that the most

important skills of the online journalist were to be able to deal with the Internet and its

development,andto employthat ability for the benefitof his newspaper.

Al-Jazirah newspaper had no online journalists in the proper sense. Instead

"technicians from the Computer Division of al-Jazirah who have no journalistic

qualifications are handling the daily electronic content besides their routine work"

were employed. Similar practice was reported at al-Hayat as the newspaper is

converted automatically into PDF files and uploaded to the server, a processthat takes

one staff member no more than half an hour to put the full paper online".

Almansour of al-Jazirah lay the blame for the lack of online journalists on Arab

universities and journalism schools because" they have not taken measuresto prepare

new journalists for new media". There was a demand for university institutes to

rethink their curricula and help newspapersto get "those talented journalists". The

interviewee admitted that " we ourselves at the industry have not been serious to have

such journalist among us". 41-Riyadhnewspaperalso had no strategiesfor employing

onlinej oumalists,a situationthat would clearlyneedto changein the future.

240
6.3 Discussion

At this stage it is (technically) difficult to find accurate information about the

readership of the Arab e-newspapers and thus measure the impact of the online

publication upon the print ones. This is generally becausethere is no reliable method

for measuring Internet users. A second factor maybe is that, among Arab publishers

surveyed, there is a lack of research-supportedknowledge about this issue. This was

obvious from the interviews with the editors who indicated that they had no plans for

marketing studies to assess the relations between their hard copy and electronic

products.

Although, it is hard to gauge who is actually reading these (free) online publications,

some methods used by Arab e-newspapers such as electronic (digital) counters,

indicated that they are enjoying a very poor readershiprate (see Table 25). Although,

some of them showed relatively high numbers of hits on their websites, the digital

counter is not sufficiently reliable as an accurate measure of website visitors for

advertisers.This raises a question, as to whether current visitors will be willing to pay

for accessto electronic newspapersin the future.

On the content side, the publisher's survey found that all Arab e-newspapersdepend

completely on the contents of the printed copy and none of them put out original

content on their Internet version. With regard to the amount of content the study

revealed that most newspapers offered all of their printed content on the online

version, while some of them just presentedpart of their printed edition (a selection of

articles and news stories). Some newspaperstried to add some other online- related

241
services such as archive searching, classified advertising, free web-based e-mail

accounts,Chat Rooms, Video/audio/files and free software.

Almost all the editors interviewed were convinced that e-newspaperwill not replace

the printed ones. Yet, many of them were still doubtful about the revenue potential of

e-newspapers. Also it was evident from Arab editors who participated in the

interviews, that the papers they worked for had not conducted any analysis of their

online product, and that they had no clear plans to do so. In other words, many

publishing houses do not appear to have taken serious measures to meet their

(potential) market needs.Publishers seemto be content to sit and wait for their readers

to cometo them. The intervieweesin SaudiArabia, for instance,believedthat there

were enoughfinancing resourcesavailable, but no plans to invest in the Internet.

Table 25: The approximate number of daily visitors to some Arab e-newspapers
Naincof Country No. of hits Date of first Approx. hits* per
Newspaper as of 31 counting day
5/2000
Al-qabas Kuwait 1883237 12/7/1997 5591
Al-Ayaam Bahrain 4462209 I/l/1996 2771
AI-Sharq Qatar 289465 1/10/99 1378
Al-ayyam Palestine 378215 20/8/1999 1375
Azzman London 345235 1353
At-Gomhouria Egypt 1488416 16/2/1997 1241
Al-Gumhuryah Yemen 563388 09/10/98 995
An-Nahar Lebanon 863019 I/l/1996 536
* The total number of hits was divided by the number of days since the counter started

In an environment of ever-increasing global competition the real issue for Arab

e-newspaper publishers is increasing their audience. But first they must take into

consideration that there are many competing online news sources. This fact has

important implications for the type of online news services, established newspapers

could most profitably offer. To date, most publishers seetheir electronic products as

242
a supplement for their print publications rather than as a new stand-alone product.

Their heavy reliance on one source of revenue (local market) will put them in an

extremely risky situation in the open marketplace of the Internet and given the wide

acceptanceof foreign media by Arab users.

To conclude, in the light of labour, printing, and distribution costs as well as the

competition from giant media corporations and in the absence of clear future

it
strategies, will not be surprising to seemany small Arab publishers in the near future

go out of business. One solution could be the aggregation of local newspapersinto

groups giving them the ability and incentive to build a strong financial position and

leverage their local monopolies. But for the efficient implementation and use of the

Internet in publishing e-newspapers, a set of modem technical, operational, and

managementskills are indispensable. But first publishers must have a vision of their

future and then commit the capital measuresnecessaryfor the functioning of their

online products.

243
Chapter Seven: Readers General Internet Use

7.1 Introduction

This chapter is concernedwith readers of Arab newspaperson the Internet. It reports

findings from a survey of users of electronic Arab newspapers. This survey was

conducted via an electronic questionnaire placed on the Net. It elicited a significant

response. The data are presented in two parts. The current chapter examines

descriptive data about the composition and Internet experienceof survey respondents.

It also considers users' baseline opinions about Arab e-newspapers.The relative

absenceof previous data on this particular market lends weight to the importance of

these new data. Chapter 8 examines readership data in a more analytical sense by

exploring relationships between user characteristics,user behaviour, and user attitudes.

An examination of readers of e-newspapersis a vitally important part of establishing

the credentials of this new news medium. As we have already seen in the introductory

sections of this thesis, e-newspapershave been a rapidly expanding phenomenonthe

world over.In the United States,for instance,thereweremorethan 3,400U.S. online

newspapersand 2,000 non-US online-newspapersbeing produced by the end of the

20'h century according to the American Journalism Review online database(ajr.org).

As recently as 1990, there were only seven newspapersthat were accessedmostly via

bulletin board systems.In the Arab World, daily e-newspapersgrew from a zero point

in 1994to 65 publications on the Internet in the year 2000.

244
In many instances, however, this growth has been technology driven. Since the

technology exists to produce newspapersin this way, some publishers have decided

that they need to jump on this communications bandwagon. There is also a view that

Internet publishing is where the future lies and that it is necessaryto establish a toe-

hold in that market as early as possible. There remain doubts about the performanceof

Internet newspapers, however. As with many developments in communications

technology in the past decade, the needs and interests of consumers are often not

consideredas fully as they should be.

Internet newspapers, in principle, are supposed to offer additional services beyond

what traditional hard-copy newspapers can provide. Electronic newspapers can

provide readers with greater amounts of information, access to news archives, and

more up-to-date information. At present though, the jury is out on whether they have

actually delivered on these promises to readers' satisfaction. Electronic newspaper

publishersprobably needto understandtheir markets much more fully than they do.

Before turning to a consideration of the nature of the readership for Arab

e-newspapers- or indeed any other e-newspapermarket, it may be worth reviewing

some important trends in news consumption and perceived news values of news

markets over the years. Newspapersbecameestablishedas the primary news medium

in the 19'hcentury and remained prominent until well into the 20'h century. Then along

came radio and then television, and the position of newspaperschanged.Between the

mid-1950s and mid-1980s, television evolved as the primary news medium. On

average,around two-thirds of people in modem industrialised societies claimed that

245
television is their main source of national and international news (IBA, 1985, Roper,

1983).

While television continued to move ahead of newspapersas the claimed source of

6mostworld news' during the 1990s,newspapersretained their customary prominence

as the major source of local news (ITC, 1998). But by the end of the 1990s,television

had caught up with newspapersas the claimed source of most local news (ITC, 1999).

From the mid-1990s in Britain, electronic news text began to emerge as a nominated

source of world and local news. Teletext information received via the television set

was identified by small percentagesof British television viewers as their primary news

source(ITC, 1998,1999,2000).

To direct the development of Internet businesssuch as e-newspapersin our caseand to

help Arab publishers understand the opportunities, online research is of vital

importance. Understanding the demographics,attitudes and interests of Internet users

and how they differ from one location to another is necessaryto move the publishing

industryforward.This studyis an attemptto contributeto this subject.In this chapter

special focus is given to identify users' demographic profile, Internet usage, including

how much time is spent, preferred services, where people are accessingservices, and

their main reasonfor using the Web.

7.2 Sample Analysis

Readers of electronic Arab newspapers were surveyed online. An electronic

questionnairewas placedon the web and its presencewas advertisedthrough several

Internet-relatedchannels(seeChapter3). Within six monthsof initial questionnaire

246
placement, more than 1200 questionnaireshad been completed and sent to the author's

e-mail box. Following exclusion of duplicates (sometimes respondents clicked the

'SUBMIT' button twice) and incorrectly completed forms (some respondentsanswered

two or three questions then pressed the submit button), 800 usable questionnaires

remained.

This chapter will focus on largely descriptive statistics to provide a broad profile of

Arab e-newspaper readership characteristics. Later, in Chapter 8, relationships

between reported usageand attitudinal variables will be examined, using bivariate and

multivariate statistics,through to
which an attempt was made uncover factors that

were most predictive of frequency of Arab e-newspaperreading and satisfaction with

theseelectronic publications.

7.2.1 Demographics. What are the Characteristics of the

Readers of Online Newspapers? (Q10)

The respondentbase was initially analysed into its constituent demographic features.

Survey participants were asked about their age, gender, nationality, occupation,

country of residence,and education level. Descriptive statistics on these characteristics

follow.

Age

Most respondentswere aged 26 to 35 years (40%) or 36 to 45 years (28 %). The

remainderfell into the 17 to 25 (17 O/o),

46 to 55 (9 %), 56 and over (3 %) and the 16

and under (2%) categories(seeFigure 17).

247
 Figure 17: Age groups of respondents

CL

Im

,cc

0 10 20 30 40

7.2.1.2 Gender

An overwhelming majority of respondents(91.1 %) were male, with only around one

in twenty (5.1 %) identified as female. On the remaining questionnaires (3.8%),

respondentshad failed to identify their gender.

7.2.1.3 Occupation

By occupation, over one in three respondents(35%) were students,nearly one in four

(23%) were businesspeople, just over one in ten were researchers(11.4%) and nearly

I one in ten were in professional occupations (9.4%). The remainder were government

employees(8.7%), retired (2%) or fell into a range of 'other' categories (10.4%) (see

Figure 18).

248
Figure 18: Occupations of respondents

Student Retired
Researcher GovernmentEmployee
Business Person Other
Professional

7.2.1.4 Nationality

An overwhelming majority of respondentsindicated their nationality (97.5%). In all,

40 different nationalities were identified (see Table 26). The most frequently occurring

nationalities were Palestinian (12.3%), Egyptian (9.8%) and Saudi Arabian (9.4%).

Some respondentsreported that they had more than one nationality, but for current

purposes,only the first nationality reported by a respondentwas selected.

7.2.1.5 Country

When askedto indicate where they presently lived, 45 different countries of domicile

were mentioned. A majority of respondents,regardlessof nationality, were resident in

the United States (51.6%) at the time of replying to the questionnaire. The next two

most frequently mentioned locations of residencewere Canada(12.4%) and the United

Kingdom (5.5%).

249
Table 26: Nationalities of respondents to the survey
Rank Country % Rank Country % Rank Country %
1 Palestinian 12.3 15 Qatar 1.9 28 Norway
. 16 .5
2 Egyptian 9.8 Algerian 1.8 29 Afghan
_ ' 17 .5
3I Saudi 9.4 JUAE 1.5 30 Eritrea
.5
4 Jordanian 7.8 18 Libyan 1.4 31 Kurdish
.5
5 Syrian 6.9 18 Tunisian 1.3 32 Australian
- .4
6 Lebanese 5.9 20 Arab 1.3 33 Italian
.3
7 Iraq 5.6 21 Bahrain 34 Mauritania
.8 .3
8 American 4.8 22 35 New Zealand
-Swedish .8 .3
9 Kuwaiti 3.9 23 Germany 36 Antigua
.6 .3
10 Canadian 3.6 24 British 37 Indonesian
.6 .3
11 Sudanese 3.3 25 Brazilian 38 Greek
.5 .3
12 Oman 3.1 26 Somali 39 Portugal
.5 .3
13 Yemeni 2 k7 Malaysian "40 tian 1
.5
14 Moroccan 11.9 1 1 1- I

As Table 27 shows, only two Arab countries ranked amongst the top ten countries

where participants reported they lived. United Arab Emirates came 5h with two per

cent and Kuwait came the 7h with nearly two per cent (1.8%) each.The country where

user lives question was asked to identify the distribution of Arab users worldwide and

to determine if there were any significant variances in responses based on the

location.
respondent's In this section,as we have seenthe resultsshow considerable

grouping of respondents in the United States, while respondents currently from the

Arab world were in the minority.

The distribution of educational attainment shows that the most frequent category

(40.6%) was people with university degrees (four years college), followed by

Masters degrees (29.1%) and nearly 13 per cent reported holding doctorate

degrees. A small proportion (1.1 %) failed to respond to this question (See

Figure 19).

250
Table 27: Where do you live now?
Rank Country % Rank Country Rank Country Percent
I USA 51.6 16 France 31 Jordan
.8 .3
2 Canada 12.417 Greece 32 Lebanon
.8 .3
3 UK 5.5 18 Italy 33 Morocco
.8 .3
4l Australia 2.5 19 Norway 34 JSudan
.8 .3
5 UAE 2 20 Palestine 35 S. Africa
.8 .3
6 Malaysia 1.9 21 Qatar 36 Austria
_ .8 .3
7 Kuwait 1.8 22 Si)ain 37 Antigua & Barbuda
.5 .3
8 Sweden 1.8 23 Netherlands 38 Cyprus
.5 .3
9 JGermany 6 24 Czech Republic 139 Indonesia
.: .5 kO .3
10 New Zealand1.6 25 Ukraine Finland
.5 .3
11 Saudi Arabia 1 5 6 Hungary 41 Venezuela
.5 .3
12 Oman 1.3
3 7 Algeria 42 Switzerland
. .4 .3
13 Egypt 1.1 8 Denmark 43 Philippines
.3 .3
14 Mahrain 9 Ireland 44 Portugal
.8 T..3-Rý
15 Orazil 30 ýapan 3 Croatia
.8

Figure 19: Level of education

50

40
a)
U
C)
0
30

20

10

College Master'sdegree High school Doctorate TechlTrade

school

251
7.2.2 Connectivity. What General Use Do E-newspaper
Readers Make of the Internet? (Q11)

A series of questions were presented to respondents about their general use and

experience with the Internet. These questions explored how long they had been using

the Internet, the kind of equipment they used, the amount of time they spent on the

Internet when using it, which Internet service provider they used, and the site from

which they usedthe Intemet.

1
7.2.2.1 Experience of the Internet

Initially, respondentswere askedto report how long they have been using the Internet?

They were supplied with a range of options from 'less than six months' to 'more than

four years'. The majority of respondentsreported using the Internet for more than a

year (78.2%). Table 28 provides a summary of theseresults.

Table 28: How long have you been using the Internet?
Time Using Internet Percent
Less than 6 months 7.3
6 months - less than a year 13
1 year - less than 2 years 21.9
2 years - less than 3 years 24.4
3 years - less than 4 years 17.8
years ++ 14.1
,4
Wotal 98.4

Respondentswere also asked about the frequency of their Internet usage every week

and the average amount of time they spent on the Internet per session. The great

majority of respondents (71.4%) claimed to use the Internet every day. Most of the

(27.1%) saidtheyusedthe Internetat leastoncea week.

remainingrespondents

252
The survey reveals also that Sudanese Omani, Kuwaiti, Egyptian and Jordanian

had more Internet experience (over three years) than any other nationality of the top 12

nationalities that participated in the survey. Table 29 surnmarises Internet experience

for each nationality and shows Saudis and Lebaneseto be the least experienced users

amongstthe top 12.

Nearly four in ten respondents said they spent between 1-2 hours on every Internet

session (38.6 %). Around one in six (16.1%) reported Internet sessions averaging

between two and five hours, and a few (6.4%) enjoyed Internet sessionsof over five

hours duration. Just over one in four (26.4%) claimed to spend between 30 minutes

and one hour on an average Internet session. Other respondents (12.6%) tended to

spend much shorter periods with the Internet. Of those (heavy users) spending much

time online Egyptians came first (38.4%) followed by Lebanese,Kuwaiti, and Saudi in

close percentages(see Table 30)

Table 29: Top 12 nationality of respondents * Internet experience crosstabulation

Experieed Users"
6 months - I year - 2 years - 3 years - 4 years Sub-
Nationality Less than less than a less than 2 less than 3 less than 4 ++ total
6 months year years years years
Sudanese 15.4% P3.1% 7.7% 7.7% 7.7% 38.5% 46.2%1
Omani 16% 8% 32% 28% 16% ý4%
-1
Kuwaiti 12.9% 12.9% 32.3% 25.8% 16.1% ý 1.9%
-
Egyptian 7.7% 7.7% 24.4% 21.8% 15.4% 23.1% 138.5%
Jordanian 3.3% - 16.7% 41.7% 26.7% 11.7% 38.4%
Canadian - 6.9% 13.8% 44.8% 13.8% 20.7% 134.5%
Palestinian 16.3% 113.3% 14.3% 23.5% 20.4% 12.2% 02.6%
Iraqi 10.5% 10.5% 21.1% 26.3% 26.3% 5.3% 131.6%
American 5.3% 10.5% 21.1% 31.6% 15.8% 15.8% 31.6%
Syrian 3.6% 18.2% 16.4% 32.7% 14.5% 14.5% 29%
Saudi 5.3% 21.3% 38.7% 14.7% 14.7% 5.3% ft 0%
Lebanese 8.9% P8.9% ý2.2% 24.4% 11.1% K.4%
** Those who have used the Intemet for three years or more.

253
Table 30: Top 12 nationality of respondents * Time spent per Internet session
He vy users**

Nationality Less than 5 6-10 11-30 31-60 1-2 2-5 5+ Sub-

minutes minutes minutes minutes hours hours hours
total
gyptian 7.7% 25.6% 28.2% 26.9% 38.4%.
11.5%
r -
ebanese 4.3% 2.1% 12.8% 10.6% 40.4% 25.5% 4.3%29.8%1
.22.6% 6.5%29.1%1
uwaiti 3.2% 6.5% 25.8% 35.5%
-
Saudi 2.7% 8% 34.7% 26.7% 18.7% 9.3%r 8%
-
alestinian - 9.2% 21.4% 43.9% 15.3% 10.2% 5.5%
-
k mani
ani 8% 16% 52% 24% - 24%
-
i
ordanian 3.2% 16.1% 21% 37.1% 12.9%9.7% 2.6%
Syrian 13.6% 9.1% 32.7% 38.2% 7.3% 9.1% 16.4%
-
Sudanese - 23.1% 38.5% 23.1% 11.5%3.8% 15.3%
-
anadi an [17.2% 69% - 113.8% 13.8%
- -
,Irraa 18.9% 137.8% 42.2% 11.1% 11.10/,
- -
rci
rnerican
M
merican ý1.1% P6.3% ý2.1% 3% 15.3%
.
**Those who use the Intemet over 2 hours a day.

Although not quite consistent, Table 31 shows also that the more years of experience

people had using the Internet, the more accessesthey had and more hours they spent

online.

Table 31: Internet experience and time spent online

Time on the Internet Internet accesseve week Time per Internet Session
Every day ý-6 days Total 2-5 hours 5 hours+ Total
4 years ++ 12.1% 11.5% 13.6% 3.6% 1.4% 5%
3- less than 4 years 14.9% 2.4% 17.3% 2.2% 1% 3.2%
2- less than 3 years 18.5% 4.2% 22.7% 3.7% 1% 4.7%
1- less than 2 years 13.9% 5% 1
18.9% 3.2% 1% ý. 2%
6 months - less than a year 6.9% 3.8% 10.7% 1.7% 0.4% 2.1%
Less than 6 months 4.8% 1% 5.8% ý. 2% 0.8% 3%
ýTotal _ 171.1% 18%- 89.1% 116.4% 6.5% 22.9%

Table 32 shows amongst heavy users of the Internet, those aged 26-35 representedthe

largestgroup (36.5%), followed by those aged 36-45.

254
Table 32: Age group * Access the Internet every week Crosstabulation
Access t he Internet every week Heavy* users
Age group Less oftenýbout days daysl
Eve day Sub-total
once a weeO -3 -6
16 and under% - 3% 1.4% 1.7%
- .
17 to 25 % 0.50% 0.90% 1.30% 3% 11.8% 115%
26 to 35 3.30% 7.8% 28.7% 36.5%
36 to 45 0/ý0.80`/` 0.50% 2.70% 3.6% 20.7% 24.3%
46 to 55 0- 1 P.50% 1.7% 7.2% 8.9%
56 and over 04 0.30% _ 3%
IF5% 11.5%
* Those who use the Intemet tor more than 4 (lays a weeK.

7.2.2.2 Internet Equipment

A series of questions were asked about the Internet-related equipment possessedby

respondents.These questions enquired about Internet users' current operating system,

type of browser used, their Internet service provider and also the location at which

they generally used the Internet. These questions provided background information

about the nature of Arab e-newspaperreaders' wider Internet experience.

Microsoft-Windows was, not surprisingly, the dominant operating system in its six

versions. Windows English versions (3.XX, 95, NT) accounted for 71.8 per cent, and

Windows Arabic versions (3.XX, 95, NT) for 16.2 per cent of the operating systems

mentioned. Most respondents reported using English language-supported browsers

(72.4%). The most frequently mentioned were Netscape (41.4%) and Internet explorer

(31.3%). Arabic enabled browsers were used only by 10.8 per cent (Internet Explorer:

6%; Netscape with SINDBAD: 4.3%; Tango (Alis): 0.5%), and around one in seven

respondents(13.3%) reported that they did not know the name of their browser.

Respondentswere asked to specify their Internet Service Provider from three main

categories of ISP: (1) commercial (local) Internet service provider; (2) educational

institution and (3) government office. A further 'other' option was provided to catch

255
any ISPs not covered by the first three categories. A slim majority of respondents

(51%) reportedly using a local commercial ISP as their sole accessto the Internet,

while one in four (24.8%) claimed to accessthe Internet via an educational institution.

Only a small minority (3.3%) reported accessingthe Internet via a government office

only. Around one in eight respondents(12.8%) nominated the 'other' category, and

around one in twenty respondents(4.4%) claimed to use a mixture of two or more of

the above Internet accesspoints.

Linked to the question about their Internet service provider was the question of where

Arab users of the Internet usually logged on. The majority of respondents(63.8%)

reportedly mainly accessedthe Web from "home". The second most often mentioned

site of main Internet usage was at school/university (19.3%), with a work location

being the third most likely location (14.6%). Further questioning probed whether

respondentswere reliant solely on their nominated 'main' Point of Internet accessor

whether they had other places where they could use the Internet. Nearly three in ten

respondents(29.51/o)said that their main Internet accesspoint was their only access

point. For others, school or university (23%), work (21.4%) and home (17.3%) were

the most popularly named secondarypoints.

Respondentswere asked to report their monthly cost for Internet connection. The

purposeof this questionwas to determineif there is any correlationbetweenthe

resultswith othervariablessuchastheir willingnessto pay for online newspapers

and
the most commonproblem reportedby readers.Figure 20 shows that 34 per cent

reportedpaying$16-20and28 per centsaidtheypaid $11-15.

256
Figure 20: Money spent on Internet services every month
34%

30%

*0
cW 20%

109/0

0910
aIg
From $15-20 Less týan $5 From $6- 10
From $11-15 $21 +

7.2.3 What are the Attitudes of Arab Users Towards the

Internet as a Source of News and Information? (Q 12)

It has already been establishedthat the Internet was used more than anything else for

news. Just how significant a source of information the Internet representedto Arab

users was examined further. Survey respondents' attitudes towards the Internet were

measuredalong five rating scales in terms of how important it was, whether it was of

no concernto them, whether it meant a lot to them, whether it mattered to them, and in

terms of how significant it was to them. Each rating was given along a seven-point

scale on which "I" representedthe highest or most positive rating and "T' represented

the lowest or most negative rating. The results are surnmarisedin Table 33.

257
 If ratings of 'T' or "2" are taken as strong endorsementsof the Internet, then it can be

seen that it was rated as important (59.50/o),significant (48.4%) and meaning a lot

(45.3%) to substantial proportions of these Arab Internet users. If ratings of "6" and

"T' are taken as firm rejections of the Internet, then only around one in sevento one in

ten were clearly negative towards it.

Table 33: Attitudes towards the Internet

Scale Importance Concern Mean to me Matter to me Significant

1 45.1 23.9 32.8 29.9 33.5
2 14.4 7 12.5 14.5 14.9
3 9.1 7.9 10.6 9.5 9.4
4 7.1 6.1 6.8 6.5 5.4
5 4.6 9.4 3.6 3.4 4.6
6 3.6 6 3.9 3.6 3.6
7 9.5 1 10.4 6.8 6.1 5.9

It is interesting to note how Internet sources ratings break down in tenns of the top 12

respondentnationalities. Those holding nationalities of Oman, Egypt, Syria, Canadian

and Jordan ranked the Internet as important to them, to a relatively similar extent.

Kuwaitis, on the other hand, were most likely to rank the Internet in the most negative

terms. Table 34 shows different nationalities' ratings of the importance of the Internet.

Another observation to emerge was that in relation to gender/level of education,

differences among women's and men's opinions in their rating of Internet sourceswere

small.Table35 detailsthe relationshipof gender/levelof educationandthe evaluation

of Internet sourcesimportance.

258
Table 34: Top 12 Nationality and their rating of Internet sources importance
Nationality Import nt to m (+) ----------- (- fnoi portant to me
1 2 3 5 6 7
Omani 68% 8% 16% - - 8%
-gyptian 62.9% 12.9% 7.1% 11.4% - 2.9% 2.9%
yrian 60.8% 17.6% 3.9% 3.9% 5.9% -ý 7.8%
anadian 59.3% - 22.2% 18.5% -
ordanian 56.9% 25.9%
1 - - 3.4% 13.8%
-
merican 50% 22.2% 11.1% 15.6% - - 11.1%
Saudi 48% 16% 12% 19.3% 6.7% 8%
rPalestinian 47.9% 114.9% 7.4% 4.3% ýA% 119.1%
a 46.7% 13.3% 4% 4.4% 13.3% 4.4% 113.3%
.
ebanese 38.5% 17.9% 10.3% 7.7% 10.3% 5.1% 10.3%
uwaiti
uN 34.5% 24.1% 13.8% 6.9% - - 20.7 o
Sudanese 27.3% 36.4% F- 9.1% 9.1% 9.1%

Table 35: Importance of Internet sources according to gender and level of

education
High Master's Tech. /Trade
Gender Importanc school Colleg degree Doctorate school
Male 1 13.6% 35.4% 31.9% 18.6% 0.6%
2 12.1% 34.3% 39.4% 13.1% 1%
3 16.9% 43.1% 21.5% 12.3% 6.2%
4 12% 44% 32% 4% 8%
5 5.7% 51.4% 28.6% 8.6% 5.7%
6 16% 40% 16% 28%
7 7.7% 55.4% 20% 10.8% 6.2%
01 112.7% 39.5% 30.1% 14.2% 3.5%
Female 1 36.4% 45.5% - 18.2% -
50% 25% - 25%
-
3 - 83.3% 16.7% -
4
5
7 25% 154.1%
50% r8.1%51 -
Total 27% 5.4% 15.4%

7.2.3.1 Main Use Of The Internet

When respondents were asked to report their main use of the Internet, the analysis

indicated that news seeking is the most popular Internet utility among Arab users

(41.1%). Table 36 shows that research and educational purposes took sequentially,

second(18%) and third place (17%) in popularity among survey participants.

259
Table 36: Main use of the Internet
Use Percent
News 41.1
Research 17.9
Education 16.8
ýIeasure 114.9
[Work 18.1

Figure 21 shows the occupational distribution of respondents who indicated high

reliance on the Internet to obtain news. Retired people scored the highest (62.5%)

percentage of those who use the Internet mainly for news. Researchers and

governmentemployees indicated less interest in Internet news resources.This finding

confirms trends observed elsewhere. For example, according to a researchreport on

older Americans by the American Association of Retired Personsthe fastest growing

age segmentof online buyers are those who are 65 and over, at 16 per cent (AARP,

1999) and according to the findings of another research nearly 78 per cent of US

seniors who have Internet accesshave made an online purchase (Greenfield Online,

1999).

Figure 21: Main use of the Internet according to occupation

70 -
Useof the Internetmainlyfor news
60 -
Ahk
50 -

40

30

20

10

0
qfl 11 )Ublilulbb Retired k,,overnmeni Professional
. Other
Person Employee
7.3 Discussion

This chapter has explored the general characteristics of users of Arab electronic

newspapers.The e-newspaperproduction in the Arab World has grown dramatically

since the mid-1990s, but so far, little researchhas been carried out to understandthe

nature of the Internet in relations to thesepublications.

As the findings reported in Chapter Six show, the publishers and editors of Arab

hold
e-newspapers a belief that the future of newspaperpublishing lies in the Internet.

This belief has encouragedthem to launch web-basedpublications. Yet, they exhibit

scant knowledge of the Internet and have appearedunwilling to invest resourcesinto

improving their understandingof Internet users. The current survey servesto plug that

gap to someextent.

Survey responsesrevealed Arab e-newspaperreadersto be predominantly male, young

to middle-aged adults, many of whom are businessor professional people, or (largely)

studentsin higher education.While the survey received a global response,most

respondentswere at the time of replying, resident in North America. A wide range of

Arab nationalities was represented in the reader survey, but the dominant Arab

nationalities were Palestinians,Egyptians, Saudis,Jordanians,and Syrians.

Most respondentswere fairly or very experienced Internet users, more than half of

whom spends at least an hour on the Internet per session. One in four averaged

Internet sessionsof longer than two hours. Users were heavily dependanton Microsoft

windows software and widely used the Internet in English. The unavailability of

261
reliable Arab-language software was one major reason behind this trend. This,

undoubtedly will representa barrier to Arab e-newspapersmarket establishmentin the

future. For most respondents, however, the Internet was an important information

resource.

This study found that the characteristicsof Arab e-newspapers'readerswere similar, in

many ways, to those found by other studies with regards to Internet users

characteristics like age, occupation and level of education. The current survey found

that the typical (Arab) user of the Internet is a young male, with at least a college

degree who accessesthe Web everyday. Most studies have shown that young people

are the most enthusiastic users of the newest media and online services. In the Arab

World, DIT's (Dabbagh Infonnation Technology) Arab users survey (1999) reported

similar outcome to these findings. The study found that Arab users are young, more

educated,and far more likely to be both professional and male. It also found that users

between the age of 21 and 35 constituted the largest age group accounting for 70 per

centwhilst userbetweenthe 36 and45 accountednearly 16 per cent,andthoseabove

45 years were only 4.5 per cent. DIT found that Arab userslevel of education was very

high as about 82 % were holders of a university degree (bachelor, masters or

doctorate).The DIT study showed also more than 70 per cent of Arab users statedthat

they use the Internet everyday. Other studies reported that it is not only online surfers

who are typically younger, but also the principal consumersof online news, and to be

better educated,and are more likely to be male (Nielsen Media Research, 1996; Pew

ResearchCentre, 1996; GVU, 1997,1998).

262
Clearly, the reader's survey indicates that the Web is a key news tool for Arab

emigrantswho formed the majority of respondentsto the survey. Arab citizens all over

the world today to

can continue receive up-to-date news and information from 'home'

on a plethora of new information media. The Internet alone offers hundreds of

information sources through which emigrants can maintain contact with their roots.

This is supportedby what Kamerer and Bressers (1998) seeas key difference between

print and online news, when hey state that the Internet offers the ability to link

communities of like-minded people who may not be geographically related (see also

Boczkowski, 1999 p. 108).

The greatest response to this survey came from Arab (migrants) who reside in the

USA and Canada.This is not surprising since the Internet becamewidely established

in America before anywhere else and nearly half of the Internet population are from

America. Furthermore, according to the Arab American Institute report of 1999, three

million people in America have roots in the Arab World (AAI, 1997). Canada that

came next to USA in its supply of survey respondents,hosts close to two hundred

thousand (188,430) Arabs, according to the 1996 Canadian population census

(Statistics Canada,1996).

Palestinians exhibited the highest rate (14%) of respondents amongst Arab nations.

Their commitment to the Internet may reflect their historical situation. The occupation

of their homeland and loss of distinctive national status may drive them to seek to use

any information sourcesto keep in touch with other compatriots.

263
The finding that most Internet users are young poses a problem for Arab newspapers

who must consider how to meet the needs of the vast majority of those relatively

young consumers (immigrants and citizens) who have indicated that they turn to

Internet mainly for news. Lapham (1995) suggestedthat today's young people often

prefer more sophisticated media to the daily ritual of the morning newspaper.

However, taking into consideration the typical character of Internet users groups, the

respondentsto this survey seemto have a good spreadof age, nationality, occupation,

country of living and education background. Hence, it may be unnecessaryto become

pre-occupied with the tastes of the young, given that other consumersof the Internet

are also growing in significant numbers.

The top three reasons for using the Web are news, research, and education, which

makes sense given the high number of students and professionals amongst

respondents.The fourth reason is pleasure, and the use of the Internet for work has

been ranked last. This can likely be attributed to the fact that the Internet business

(e. commerce) is still evolving in the Arab World. Eqbal Alyousuf, a UAE IT expert,

told the Arab International Telecommunications Conference(AITEC 99) in Beirut that

the weak telecommunications and Internet infrastructure in the region and the high

cost of connecting to the Internet and of managing websites remain major

impediments slowing down e-commerce penetration. Merchants and businesseshere

are also still unawareof the impact e-commercecan have on their business,states

Alyousuf (Hameed, 1999).

264
Chapter Eight: Arab Online Newspapers and Their Readers

8.1 Introduction

Having established the nature of the electronic Arab news marketplace through an

analysis of Arab news websites and interviews and surveys with Arab media

professionals involved with online newspaper publication, the current chapter turns

attention to the users of these news services. As we have established,the Internet is

emerging as a major news provider in the Arab world. A number of competing news

servicesarealreadyavailable.

While the main focus of this study is the use of e-newspaperson the Internet, these

news media face competition for Arab consumers as news providers on the Internet

from other services supplied by broadcasters and news agencies from within and

outside the Arab world. General Internet usage within the Arab world remains the

privilege of a limited few who are in a position, professionally and economically, to

gain accessto this new medium. While there is every reasonto expect this consumer

market to grow in the future, the findings presentedin the previous chapter indicated

that the electronic news market is dominated by overseas students and travelling

businessmen(and few women) who turn to the Internet as a channel through which

they can obtain news from home in their own language while living temporarily

thousandsof miles away.

From generalInternetusage,the currentchapternarrowsthe focus of the researchto

cast the spotlight on consumption of e-newspaperson the Internet. The availability of

online Arab newspapershas grown rapidly within the space of a few years. As the

265
researchwith Arab newspaperpublishers and editors has indicated, the establishment

of an electronic news businessis regardedas an essentialdevelopmentfor the future.

While these early experiments on the Internet have yet to prove profitable, there is a

fairly unambiguous recognition of the importance of the Internet to their future

business enterprises. Arab newspaper publishers have acknowledged that failure to

take earlytentativestepstowardsbuilding an Internetpublicationmay meanthat they

will be left behind by others who do. What became equally clear from the

investigation undertaken with these news media professionals, as part of this project,

was that the Arab news media still have some way to go before they evolve into

successful dot.com businesses. Although, this observation applies to electronic

publishing in other parts of the world as well as the Arab world (Mensing, 1998; Peng

et al, 1999).

Readers' opinions about e-newspapersare vital aspectsof the future successof such

news publishing enterprises.There is a need for newspaperpublishers to re-think their

business strategies when operating on the Internet because the nature of the

relationship between media product and media consumer is different in the context of

the Internet, as compared with, say, a hard copy newspaper.The principal economic

reasonsfor this change of approach are linked to the conditioning of Internet users to

lot
expecta of the web-basedinformationthey accessto be suppliedfree of charge.

Another set of factors is associatedwith the changesto traditional news consumption

habits that are facilitated by the new communications technologies of the Internet. The

Internet,as a medium, has been labelled as "nonlinear" (Paul, 1995; Friedland &

266
Webb, 1996), although this is probably only partly true. This means that information

can be in
provided and consumed a non-sequential fashion by readers. With a hard

copy newspaper,finite information is preparedso that a reader consumesby starting at

the top of the page and reading down. With an the

e-newspaper, reader may be able to

switch from the story half-way through to pursue more detailed information on a point

is
that archived elsewhere.Thus, there in
are additional complexities the writing and

presentationof news stories on the Internet (Fredin, 1997; Meyer, 1999).

These evolutionary changesto news publishing on the Internet also invoke a different

kind of response from readers. News consumers are encouragedby the Internet to

become interactive consumers who are also more demanding of the news provider.

News consumersare empowered by electronic publishing, when it is done properly,

introducing a new form of "prosumerism" in which content producers cede power to

to
the consumers control the is
way news received (Dennis, 1996; Khoo & GoPal,

1996).

The new and emerging concept of "interactive journalisne' requires new skills and a

new approachon the part of news producers and news consumers if both are to reap

benefits from web-based activity. Increasingly, communication on the web is not a

one-way process such as that associated with the older established media of

newspapers, radio and television. The Internet opens up possibilities for sender-

receiverinteractionsand even for interactions

receiver-receiver related to what the

senderhas transmitted (seeMorris & Ogan, 1996).

Newspaperpublishers therefore need to be not just aware of these developments,but

also to understandthe full extent of their implications for their news businesses.

267
Simple transferenceof the hard copy version of the newspaper onto a website may

serve the initial Purpose of attaining a presenceon the Internet, but is a far cry from

the kind of news service of which the Internet is capable and which increasingly

experiencedInternet userscome to expect.

In this chapterthen, we turn to the subject of Arab online newspaperreadership.Under

this heading, questions were asked of respondents to the online survey of Arab

newspaperreaders about their online newspaper reading behaviour, their reasons for

using Internet newspapers, and their perceptions and attitudes concerning these

electronic publications. Questionsprobed for negative as well as positive opinions.

In reporting these results, the chapter begins by presenting some descriptive statistics

about online newspaper readership and opinions. It then examines relationships

betweenreaderprofiles and online newspaperuse and opinions. Finally, it presentsan

analysis that was designed to find out what were the principal predictors of overall

frequency of use of Arab Internet newspapersand overall satisfaction with them. The -

findingsarethen consideredin relationto otherliteratureon the subjectandthe views

of Arab online newspaperpublishers and editors

8.2 What is the Frequency of Reading E-Newspapers and

what are the Most Readable Newspapers? (Q13)

8.2.1 Frequency of Reading Internet Newspapers

News was the most nominated reason among the respondents of the Arab readers'

survey for using the Internet. How significant a part of this usagewere e-newspapers?

268
When asked how often they read Arab newspaperson the Internet, over one in two

respondents(54.6%) claimed to read an e-newspaper"every day". More than one in

three (35.8%) said they read an e-newspaperat least once or twice a week or even

most days of the week. A small proportion (2.1%) said they read these newspapers

only at weekends,while a few (4.8%) reported having no regular pattern to their use of

Internet newspapers.

8.2.2 Electronic and Printed Arab Daily Newspaper Readership

Survey respondents were asked to indicate their regular hard copy newspaper

readership in addition to their use of e-newspapers.While this study was concerned

primarily with readership of Internet newspapers, it was also relevant to ascertain

which printed newspapers respondents read most often. Indeed, many of the Arab

newspapersnominated by respondentshad begun to move acrossto the Internet. The

results summarised in Table 37 below show the top 12 electronic and printed

newspapersnominated by survey respondents.

The table shows that the most read e-newspaperscoincided very closely with the most

read printed newspapers.Thus, the Internet versions of the most popular printed Arab

daily newspapershave so far proven to be the most accessede-newspapersin the Arab

World. At the time of the survey, however, the electronic versions were not read to the

extent that the printed versions were.

269
Table 37: Newspapers read most often
E-newspapers N % Printed newspapers N %
Alhayat (UK) 85 10.6 Alhavaat (UK) 127 15.9
Alkhaleej (UAE) 48 6.0 Alkhaleej (UAE) 66 8.3
Alral (Jordan) 33 4.1 Alral (Jordan) 52 6.5
Alsafeer (Lebanon) 26 3.3 Alsafeer (Lebanon) 35 4.4
Alayyam (Bahrain) 23 2.9 Alittihad (UAE) 32 4.0
Alittihad (UAE) 20 2.5 Alwatan (Kuwait) 28 3.5
Alquds (Palestine) 18 2.3 Alayyam (Bahrain) 27 3.4
Alwatan (Kuwait) 15 1.9 Alquds (Palestine) 24 3.0
Aldustoor (Jordan) 15 1.9 Alahram (Egypt) 21 2.6
Alqabas (Kuwait) 12 1.5 Alqabas (Kuwait) 20 2.5
Alijazirah (Saudi Arabia) 12 1.5 Alayyam (Palestine) 19 2.4
Alayyam (Palestine) 12 1.5 Algomhuria/Aldustoor 1 18 12.3

When asked to specify which online newspaperreaders read on a regular basis, 733

responses (91.6%) were collected. Nearly four in ten (38%) reported no specific

online newspaper for reading on a regular basis. Al-Hayat the London based Arabic

daily was selectedby 10.6 per cent who reported it to be their favourite newspaper

they read in regularly followed by al-Khaleej (UAE, 6.0%), al-RO (Jordan, 4.1%) and

al-Safeer (Lebanon, 3.3%). Sixty-seven respondents(8.4%) failed to report an online

newspaperthey read regularly.

Why al-Hayat ?

In view of the apparentpopularity of al-Hayat, it is worth examining in more detail the

roots of the significance of this newspaper. Al-Hayat is widely regarded to be the

most credible Arabic daily newspaper (Kalb and Socolovsky, 1999). The newspaper

can be characterisedby its secularPan-Arab focus that has contributed to its reputation

for analysis of good quality and objective reporting. Yet this reputation has causeda

lot of trouble to the paper. In January 1998, a spate of letter bombs was sent to

270
al-Hayat offices in London, New York and Riyadh. Some observers said the attacks

were a coordinated terror campaign by some radical groups. The newspaper'sstruggle

to pass through Arab censors is another daily issue facing this (popular) newspaper.

According to the its former editor, Rhad Alkhazen, al-Hayat was banned in certain

Arab countries sixty times in 1994, thirty five times in 1995 and twenty times in 1996

and 1997 (Khazen, 1999 p. 87). The paper's circulation figures, however, did not

exceedtwo hundred thousandcopy a day (seeTable 38).

Table 38: Circulation of al-Hayat newspaper (1999)

Rank Country No. of copies Rank Country No. of copies
I Saudi Arabia IM200 9 Other 6,500
2 Europe 16,200 10 Morocco 6,000
3 Other (World) 9,850 11 Kuwait 4,750
4 Egypt 91500 12 Bahrain 4,250
5 Lebanon 8,750 13 Qatar 2,500
6 USA 8,200 14 Oman 2,250
7 UAE 7,870 15 Tunisia 1,200
Yemen 7,800
18
I Total 195,820
Source: Alhayat Newspaper.London

8.2.3 Most Important Thing about Arab Internet Newspaper

When asked what was important to them in reading a particular e-newspaper,

respondentsmost often referred to the fact that it was available when they wanted to

read it (36.1%) and that it was free (26.6%). For other respondents,e-newspapers

served as substitutesfor printed versions of those publications that were not available

where they currently lived (17.3%). One in ten respondents(10.1%) simply preferred

to read an online newspaper.

271
8.3 Willingness to Pay for Reading Online Newspapers

When asked about their willingness to pay the cost of reading their favourite

e-newspaper,more than six in ten respondents (63%) reported that they were not

willing to pay fees for reading online newspapers.

As it can be observed in Figure 22 respondents' unwillingness to pay may stem from

their ability to accessa wide range of free news sites on the Internet as reported by

14 per cent. An additional factor could be that because many users were already

paying a service provider for general Internet they

access, may have been less willing
to pay again for a news service.

Figure 22: Willingness to pay fees

............

...........

No

Although the survey did not specifically ask readersabout their personal experiences

in obtaining news from other sources prior to the Internet, some interesting

observations emerged that could be added to the tendency of some users to pay for

reading online newspaper. For example, one respondent lived in a remote town in

Canadaand cited his struggle ten years ago to catch Friday prayers and return home

272
with a bundle of 'last weele newspapersfrom the Arab world. "I used to pay for some

of them where in some casesArab embassiesdeliver them freely in front of the doors

of the Mosque. Now.. I usually read three newspapersa day on the Web, in the time of

my choice, and I am ready to pay if askedto".

8.3.1 Most Common Problems Experienced with Online Arab

Newspapers (Q14)

In order to examine and understand users' evaluation of e-newspapers further,

respondentswere asked about the most common problems they have confronted when

reading Arab dailies on the Internet. As Table 39 shows, more than one in seven

respondents(15.9%) said they had experienced no problems. However, many more

respondentsreferred uniquely to problems such as slow downloading, including the

need for special software and difficulty browsing (38.6%) and problems relating to

content, such as poor content or lack of updating (18.7%). Other respondentsreferred

to a mixture of downloading and content problems or either of thesetogether with cost

of subscription and other complaints (26.8%).

To clarify further the opinions of e-newspaperreadersabout practical accessibility and

product quality issues, Arab online newspapers were rated along three five-point

scales for navigating, downloading and updating of content. The results are

surnmarisedin Table 40 below.

273
Table 39: Most common problems experienced with Arab online newspapers
Common Problems %
Downloading (slow, needsspecial software, difficult to brows 38.6
Content problems (poor content, not updated,one sided view) 18.7
No problem 15.9
Other 9.2
Content +Downloading 7.4
Someare not free 7.0
Downloading +other 2.0_
Content + Not frde
.7
1.4
Downloading +Not free +other

Table 40: Evaluation of service quality of Arab c-newspapers

Rank Navi ating Down oading Upd ating
N % N % N %
Excellent 153 19.3 37 4.7 97 12.7
Good 361 45.5 138 17.7 314 41.2
Fair 224 28.2 283 36.3 249 32.6
Poor 46 5.8 247 1 31.7 87 11.4
Very Poor 10 1 1.3 4 1 9.5 1 16 12.1

From these results, it is clear that e-newspapersin the Arab World score reasonably

well for easeof navigation, with a majority of respondents(64.8%) rating them good

or excellent, and for updating of news content (53.9% saying good or excellent), but

do less well on the downloading measure. In the latter case, respondents rating

e-newspaperspoor/very poor on this measure(41.2%) outnumberedthose rating them

good or excellent (22.4%).

274
8.4 Readers" Satisfaction and Evaluation of E-Newspapers
(Q 15)

8.4.1 What Readers Like Most and Least about Internet

Newspapers?

The demographicstatistics presentedin Chapter 6 helped to assesswhether the sample

is representative of the population of Arab users of the Internet. Not surprising that

good share (35%) of respondentswere students.This was found elsewhere(especially

in the 1997,1998 studies the time of this survey) as students make up obvious

percentagesof the Internet population (DIT, 1998, see also NUA. COM for individual

countries demographics).

In this survey respondentswere asked to indicate what they liked most about online

newspapers and then what they liked least about them. The most liked things

mentioned were their availability (25.0%), their variety (19.4%), their ability to keep

readersin touch with home news (15.9%), and their provision of free news (13.5%). A

little over one in four respondents(26.1%) gave a mixture of the foregoing reasons

and other reasonsfor liking online Arab dailies.

The most frequently mentioned disliked qualities of online newspapers were slow

downloading of e-newspapers(29.1%), limited news (20.50/o),absence of freedom

(15.6%), and having to pay fees (11.6%). Around one in four respondents (23.2%)

gave a mixture of the above reasonsand other reasons.

8.4.2 Overall Satisfaction in Reading Arab Dailies on the Internet

Respondentswere asked to select answers from a five-point scale (very satisfied,

somewhat satisfied, neither satisfied or dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, and very

dissatisfied) in order to examine readers' overall satisfaction with reading

275
e-newspapers.In general, readers of Arab e-newspapersseemedto be pleased with

these publications. Most respondents (74.2%) were very satisfied (26.1%) or

somewhatsatisfied (48.1%) with online Arab daily newspapers. Fewer than one in ten

(9.3%) were dissatisfied. Around one in six (16.5%) held no finn opinions about

online newspapersone way or the other.

8.5 Correlates of Online Newspaper Consumption and

Satisfaction

The foregoing descriptive analyseshave provided a broad profile of the nature of Arab

online newspaperconsumption and of satisfaction with the servicestheir publications

supply. It is clear from these findings that there was some variance in frequency of

consumption of these newspapers among their users and also in the level of

satisfaction experienced. There were also variations in more specific opinions about

theseelectronic publications.

The question arises as to whether specific problems or opinions associatedwith online

newspapersor with more general Internet experiencesare differentially related to how

often users read online newspapersand with their degreeof satisfaction with the news

service they provide. A series of Pearsoncorrelations were computed between scalar

measuresof Internet usage,opinions about the Internet, and opinions about electronic

Arab newspapers and general usage and satisfaction measures. The results are

surnmarisedin Table 41.

Reported frequency of reading online Arab newspaperswas significantly correlated

with just two other variables: claimed frequency of accessingthe Internet (r = 22, p<
.
0.001) and rating for navigating Arab newspaperson the Internet (r = 17, p<0.001).
.

276
Thus, greater frequency of general Internet use and ease of navigation around Arab

newspaperswere the two variables most closely associatedwith overall frequency of

online Arab newspaperconsumption.

Overall satisfaction with online Arab newspaperswas significantly correlated with

frequency of accessingthe Internet each week (r =. 11, p<0.0 1), easeof navigating

online Arab newspapers (r =.36, p<0.001), rating of downloading Arab online

(r
newspapers = . 15, p<0.00 1), and rating of updating of online Arab newspapers(r--

35, p<0.001). Thus, more frequent general Internet use and, more powerfully,
.

positive perceptions of the navigational, downloading and updating qualities of online

Arab newspaperswere the factors most closely associatedwith overall satisfaction

with thesepublications.

Table 41: Correlations of e-newspapers vs. general usage and satisfaction

How often do you Overall how Satisfied are
read Internet you in reading Arab
newspapers? dailies on the Internet?
Accessthe Internet every Pearson 0.218** 0.105**
Correlation ý
eek
How would you rate Pearson 0.169** 0.357**
[Navigating] Arab Correlation
Newspaperson the Internet?
. ,
How would you rate Pearson 0-.013 0-. 147**
[Downloading] Arab Correlation
Newspaperson the Internet?
How would you rate Pearson 0.009 0.345**
[Updating] Arab Newspapers Correlation
on the Internet?
I use the Internet mainly for Pearson 0-. 137** 0.061
Correlation I
Internet Sourcesmatters to Pearson I0-.082* 0.003
Correlation
Ime
Correlation is signiticant at the 0.0 1 level (2-tailed).
Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

277
8.6 Predictors of Overall Use and Satisfaction

Further analyseswere computed to explore the main predictors of general frequency of

use of Arab online newspapersand overall satisfaction with the news services they

provide. The descriptive statistics provided some indications of the profile of online

Arab newspaperreading and of readers' opinions, they did not show whether there are

particularly critical points in the nature of opinion about e-newspapersthat underpin

overall satisfaction with them among their users.

Bivariate correlations provided further insights into where specific relationships

existed between general usageand overall satisfaction and other more specific aspects

of readership behaviour and opinion. However, even these analyses do not

convincinglyindicatewhethersomefactorsare more significantthan others,when all

are placed alongside one another, in predicting readers' overall views. To examine

this issue more closely, two multiple regression analyses were computed with

frequency of reading Internet newspapers and overall satisfaction with these

newspapersenteredas criterion variables.

Predictor variables entered into a stepwise multiple regression analysis were age and

gender; length of time respondenthad been using the Internet, frequency with which

Internet is used, and length of average Internet session; evaluations of the Internet

(personal importance of Internet, concern about Internet, how much Internet means

and matters to respondent, and overall significance of Internet to respondent); ratings

of electronic Arab newspapersin terms of quality of navigation, case of downloading,

and quality of updating of copy; and finally how much money was spent on using the

Internet. Each of the two dependentvariables was also entered as a predictor variable

with the other dependentvariable.

278
The results of these analyses are shown in Table 42 and Table 43. In each case, a

stepwiseregressionmodel was used, with pair-wise deletion of caseswhere data were

missing.

8.7 Frequency Of Reading Electronic Arab Newspapers

Eight significant predictor variables emerged for frequency of reading of electronic

Arab newspapers. The age factor indicated that older respondents were the more

frequent readers of these newspapers.More frequent reading of these e-newspapers

by
was also predicted more frequent general accessingof the Internet, the significance

of the Internet to the respondent,giving electronic Arab newspapersa high rating for

navigation and updating of copy, and by overall satisfaction with thesenewspapers.

The overall regression model was statistically significant (F= 7.76; df = 8,521;

p<.0001). However, the Adjusted R squareindicated that the model accountedfor only

nine per cent of the variance in the criterion variables. Clearly, frequency of reading

electronic Arab newspapersis influenced by many other factors in addition to those

in
considered this analysis.

Table 42: Criterion variable: Frequency of reading electronic Arab newspapers

Beta T SigniE
Age -. 12 -2.76 . 006
Frequencyof Intemet access 15 3.61 001
. .
Concem about Intemet 10 2.22 02
. .
Whether Intemet matters -. 27 -3.48 . 001
Significance of Intemet 21 2.73 007
. .
Rating for navigation 17 3.44 001
. .
Rating for copy updating -. 12 ý02
-2.45 - 01
Satisfactionwith Arab e-papers 1 10 2.22
R Square Il
.
=.
Adjusted R square= 09
.
F=7.76; df = 8,52 1; p<.000 I

279
8.8 Satisfaction with Electronic Arab Newspapers

This analysis revealed four significant predictor variables. The regressionmodel was

statistically significant (F=31.02; df--4.525; p<.0001), but the Adjusted R Square

indicated that only 18 per cent of the variance in the dependentvariable was explained

by the predictor variables enteredinto the current analysis.

The significant predictors were gender, frequency of accessingthe Internet, ease of

navigation and updating of electronic Arab newspapers.Thus, satisfaction with these

newspaperswas higher amongst male respondentsand linked to more frequent use of

the Internet. Most of all, however, reader satisfaction was driven by being able to find

one's way around the newspaperon the Internet and by the regularity with which its

copy was updated. It is important to note, that reported frequency of reading these

newspaperswas not a significant predictor of satisfaction with them.

Table 43: Criterion variable: Satisfaction with electronic Arab newspapers

Beta T SigniL
Gender 12 3.16 002
. .
Frequencyof Intemet access 09 2.18 03
. .
Rating for navigation 26 5.77 001
. .
Rating for updating 23 5.09 001
. .
R Square=. 19
Adjusted R Square=. 18
F= 31.02; df = 4,525; p<.0001

280
8.9 Discussion

Despite the fact that that the Internet is not yet widely available to the vast majority of

Arab households, e-newspapersseem to have the potential to fulfil users' need of

reliable, varied and free news resources. Likewise this new medium is seen among

Arab users to improve their overall satisfaction and acceptanceof the Internet and its

unlimited media choice. This may explain why one of the most appealing Internet

services driving Arab users adoption is (free) news provision on the Internet. The

relatively high rate of e-newspapersreadership frequency revealed in this study also

gives an indication that online newspaper could be an option, not an alternative for

somereaders.
As we have seen in Chapter 7, respondents were interested at first in news then

researchandeducationfollowed by pleasureandwork. This also to

appears reflect, in

part, the users' demographics, primarily the male, student, migrant who is somehow

satisfied with the Internet becauseit enableshim to stay in touch with home.

Notwithstanding, in order to attract (the majority of) people who appear to be more

interestedin newswho also happento be heavyusersof the Web, it shouldbe noted

that they are not traditionally willing to pay (even) for reading their favourite

e-newspapers.The explanations to this observation seem to be both economical

(hardships)and cultural (freenessof the Web). In view of this, it is important to

understandwhat users expect from e-newspapersand which users may be preparedto

pay and which users expect news for free.

281
On the satisfaction side also, acerbic comments about some newspapers'government

ties were often mentioned in some respondents' open-ended answers. Thus, any

discussionof users' overall satisfactionwith an e-newspaperand its potential for

enhancingthe dissemination of news and information must consider the environment

through which a certain newspaper (print or electronic) performs its daily business.

While Arab e-newspapersmay be seenon the one hand, as an information godsend,on

the other hand they attract detrimental reactions from readers becauseof their close

ties with government. In order to combat this image, publishers should strive to

reinforce the view that e-newspapersare news driven and separatethemselves from

the governmentline. Nonetheless,readers'commentsmay have somejustification, as a

browse through most newspaperscontents reveals that most information is in some

way goveniment derived.

An overriding factor at this time is that most newspapers in the Arab world are

involved in a struggle for survival. Part of the problem lies in the consequencesof the

wave of privatisations and the generaltendencyto political 'transparency'that have led

most governmentsin the region to cut (secret) press subsidies and to yield influence to

forces.
market

Furthermore, the young generationwho form a significant part of the population seem

to be more concernedabouttheir future in conditionsof economicalhardshipswhere

in most countries a considerablesegmentof the inhabitants are under the poverty line.

In addition, the (increasing) availability of better media choices from Pan-Arab media

and foreign news resources (such as BBC, Reuters) have succeededin turning Arab

elites and educatedpeople away from their local press.

282
Despite the growing influence of the Internet as a news source, there are technical

problems that work to impede the quality of its news provision. Many respondents

indicated dissatisfaction and frustration with the slownessof downloading newspapers'

Websites. The fact is that, in the case of online newspapers, the costs for any

additional improvements are not recovered and profits are not expected even in the

near future. Yet, it is also clear that Arab newspapershave not done enough work in

this area. It is too early yet to tell how they can participate in the development of

Arabic software and Arabic text solutions. Hopefully, with the wide spread of the

Internet and the expected demand for Arabic content in the region, there will be more

money and facilities for programmers to develop Arabic software that can help users

to make full use of the Web and accelerate browsing of Arabic Websites. In this

respect also, more energy needs to be put into attracting educational institutions and

government bodies to facilitate Internet connections in a region where most of

population cannot afford to buy reception equipment or pay subscription fees to

a service provider. National policies are neededto publicise the Internet more widely

in the rural areasandareaswherecertaincommunitiescouldbenefitfrom the Internet.

283
Chapter Nine: Discussion and Conclusions

9.1 Discussion

The purpose of this researchwas to investigate aspectsof the production, fonnat and

consumption of Arab online newspapers.This study began with an analysis of the

statusof the Arab electronic news market. This was found to be a continually evolving

phenomenon. During the course of the investigation the numbers of Arab online

newspapersnearly doubled. The electronic news service available to Arab Internet

users, however, was found to extend beyond online versions of establishedhard copy

newspapers(see Chapter 5). Specialist Intemet-only news sources were found that

were supplied either by broadcast organisations from within and outside the Arab

world or by brand new news suppliers. Information that can be considered 'news' in

broad terms is also regularly posted by government agencies and non-government

in
organisations the Arab world.

The analysisof the electronicnewsmarketalso includedsurveysof newspublishers,

editors and j ournalists, and readers.Publishers of online Arab newspapersparticipated

in an Internet survey of their perceptions of their online businessesand editors and

journalists provided further insights in a number of in-depth interviews. A large

sample of Arab readers of e-newspapersworld-wide provided information on their

patterns of online news usage and their opinions about the good and bad qualities of

thesenews services.

284
in all, 48 Arab online newspapersites were visited and assessed,together with web-

basednews and information sites of nine other news organisationsnot associatedwith

Arab newspapers, and 16 news agency sites. A further 13 websites with news

infonnation were found in the Arab world supplied by Arab radio stations and 14

ftirther sites supplied by Arab television stations. The publishers of the 48 online Arab

newspaperswere approached to participate in an online survey, and 27 of these

eventually replied. The data from these responses were further supplemented by

interviews with six Arab editors andjournalists associatedwith online newspapers.

In surveying readers, an online survey was posted on the Internet and obtained 1200

responsesof which 800 supplied complete and valid sets of responses for further

analysis. These online newspaperreaderswere a self-selectedsample representing45

countriesand 40 nationalities.The greatmajority of theserespondents

reportedusing

the Internet virtually everydayand mainly for news.

This chapter presents a general discussion of the issues that have been investigated

throughout the study. At the outset, it was stated that the study would pose three sets

of questions relating to the status of Arab online newspaperpublishing, the business

significance of such electronic publishing, and the nature and views of the readership.

The answersto these questionsneed to be consideredin the wider context of the

evolution of the Internet as a news medium. Research beyond the Arab world has

indicated that although the 1990s witnessed the rapidly increased presence of

establishednewspaperson the Internet (see Elderkin, 1996; Riley et al., 1998; William

& Nicholas, 1999), many newspaper businesseshad not given much thought to the

285
best strategyto adopt in this new environment. 'Presence' seemsto be everything; (see

Sheppard, 1997; Riley et al., 1998). The reasoning behind this movement is that the

Internet is regarded as where the future of the news business will mostly lie. It is

therefore seen as important to establish a presencein this environment as quickly as

possible, even though it may not be making any money for the news organisation in

question. This attitude was found to prevail within the Arab world as well, among

news publishers and editors whose newspapershad createdtheir own websites.

The Internet, however, offers much more than another site to present a hard copy

newspaper.Indeed, to fully capitalise on the benefits electronic publishing can have

for both news publishers and their consumers,it is essentialto recognise that Internet

publishing is not the same as traditional publishing. Internet publishing can provide

greater amounts of information to readers and significantly greater flexibility in the

way news is both provided and consumed (see Kwan, 1996; Elderkin, 1996). For news

providers, news content on the Internet can be more readily updated. For news

consumers, Internet publishing can (potentially) offer access to considerably more

infonnation than hard copy newspapers.News archives can be established that lie

behindthe currentnewsandto which consumerscanturn if they wish to find out more

detailed background to specific stories. Another feature of electronic publishing - and

a key attraction of the Internet - is its potential for interactivity. Readers should be

able to interact with their favourite news publication more readily than they can with a

hard copy newspaper. Readers' letters can be posted more swiftly and readers may

even be given opportunities to contact editors and journalists directly via e-mail links.

News chat rooms can be created in which readersmay swap ideas and opinions with

other readers.

286
All of these possibilities open up new horizons for news publishers and their editors,

correspondentsand reporters. They could also represent significant enhancementson

current news services for readers.To make all this work effectively, however, changes

will be neededin the way news services operate.To begin with, Internet users expect

much of the information they find on the World Wide Web to be available free of

charge.This point will probably also apply to e-newspapers.Next, to provide a richer

news service, the way the news is structured will have to be thought through carefully.

Users must be able to accessnews archives and even the current 'newspaper' with

ease.Finally, news professionals must consider the degreeto which they are prepared

to go interactive in a 'live' sense.What resourceswill be needed to supply this full

range of Internet services?(seeHutton, 1997; William & Nicholas, 1999).

This chapter examines these issues in the wider context of evolving Internet 'culture'

and considers what kinds of services are most likely to appeal to the Internet user.

This discussion will cover the current trends in website design, where a balance must

be struck betweenattractivenessof design and easeof accessand usefulnessof

content. The survey of readers provided insights into the factors that are most

significant in relation to their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with online newspapers.It

considers these points in relation to the current electronic news services offered by

Arab newspapers and the comments made by the publishers and editors of these

publications.

The chapter closes by reaching some broad conclusions from the research that are

tempered by caveats stemming from the limitations of the study. Recommendations

areofferedfor furtherresearchin the field.

287
9.1.1 Online Newspapers

One of the most important observations this study revealed is the major shift of

existing Arab printed products to be online in one form or another on the Internet and

the wide acceptanceof this new medium. Taking into account the social, economic

and political environment, this trend is of considerableimportance as it corresponds

with trends in many parts of the world. In December 1995, there were only four Arab

newspaperswith a website. In January 1998, there were nearly 35 and when the

readers'survey started (in April 1998) there were 43. By the end of 1999, there were

51 Arab daily e-newspapers.When the author last counted (march 2000) the number

has exceeded65 online daily newspapersthat appear in three languages,Arabic,

English and French.

Somedaily e-newspapersare satisfied simply to have online presence,and tend not to

be very concernedabout updating their content on a regular daily basis. The overall

assessment,nonetheless, of these e-newspaperssuggests that newer newspapers

demonstrateda better sophisticationand a tendencyto utilize the latest techniquesin

website design. Some older publications, either due to lack of interest in the

unprofitablemarket of the Internet, or for which Internet publishing has not arrived yet

to the top of the agenda, appeared far less apt to make use of latest Internet

technology.

Clearly some of these older newspapersthat went online in 1995 and 1996 still lack

clear vision about what is the best design and ideal content that may attract more

readers.Every now and then they changethe designor limit or increasethe size of the

288
content without any clear guidance.This pattern was also found by Gubmanand Greer

(1997) who indicated that the start date of an online news service appearsto make no

difference in how good sites are meeting media critics' ideal.

While smaller newspapersappearedto have more realistic views than some larger

publications, they both lack clear visions about their future role and they tend to rely

upon their print product both for their online content and to finance their Web

presence.Turki Alsidairi editor in-chief of the Saudi daily 41-Riyadh,commentedon

this issue, that "in order to competein the future stories must have a local angle and

national newspapersneed to focus more on their small local communities (personal

communication,February 15,1998).

9.1.2 Think Globally, Act Locally

Although the Internet clich6, 'act locally, think globally' means nothing but to add

more confusion to many contentproviders, it maybehelpful in indicating what content

should be put online. In other words, the challengepublishers face now is how better

to use this global medium to market local products (news) to global and local

audiences.

Basedon current findings, we can largely divide readersof Arab e-newspapersinto

two main groups:Locals (inside the Arab World) who want to know more about their

communities,and migrants (outside the Arab world) who still wish to receive local

information from their homelands. Both groups can be considered as important

markets.

289
Obviously, Arab e-newspapersare advisedto focus more in localised news rather than

global news that can be found in a competing news websites. Support for this view can

be found in a study conducted by Thomas Dahlin for The Editor & Publisher. His

study showed more than 50 per cent of Web do

users not go to their local newspaper

sites for national or international news. The researchthat polled 53,000 Internet users

from 75 newspapersites of differing sizes,showedthat local news is the most popular

item, with 72 per cent going to Web pagesfor local news (cited by Strupp, 1999).

Kamererand Bressers(1998) investigatedUS online newspaperscontent and obtained

similar results. They found that online newspapers are typically most likely to

emphasizelocal news coverage. For Arab publishers this perspective of localising

content is important due to the fact that most readerswant to read news about their

communities,whether residentsor migrants.

The current study indicated that local readers of online newspapersfrom the Arab

World representedonly a small proportion of the sample. This is, in part, due to the

fact that the Internet had not been introduced (at the time of the study) officially and

in
actively, many Arab countries of high population such as Algeria (29.3 in) Iraq

(21.8 in), Sudan(27.7m), Saudi Arabia (20.1 in), Syria (14.9m), and was effectively

absentaltogether in some Arab countries, such as Yemen (16.1m), Somalia (8.7m),

Libya (5.2 in), Mauritania (2.5m), Djibouti (636.000),and Comoros(518.000).

Nevertheless,from the study findings it was obvious also that more practical strategies

need to be developedthat could specify the mechanismsto motivate more Internet

usersfrom inside the Arab World to read online newspapers.More field studies are

290
neededto know more about who the readers are, where they live and work, how to

reachthem and what are their preferences?

9.1.3 Content vs. Design

The results of this study present interesting considerationsfor website developersas

well as for newspaper publishers. For Arab Web developers or media outlets

consideringpresentingArabic text in Gif format or PDF files, or even for those who

may think that more graphics add more enhancementsor decreasesreaders'interest,

thesefindings have severalimplications.

A first implication is that the heavy use of graphics and animation may reduce the

reader's ability to download quickly the information presented. This agrees with

existing recommendationson Web designthat advisethe use of low -level and simple

visual illustrations. Although these enhancementsmay improve the appearanceof the

(medium)site, it also may hinder greatly the fiow of the messageto be conveyed.In

this respectsome Arab publishers seemedto overlook the importance of e-newspaper

interface that should follow what designers call the 'KISS' rule (Keep It Simple,

Stupid). This basically means that an Internet website should be so simple that no

computer experienceis needed to read it. Although for Arab developers,the main

challenge is to display Arabic text, website developers operating in English have

emphasisedcomplexity when simplicity will do, especially for news websites

(McAdams, 1994;Jackson& Paul, 1998).

A secondimplication is that the use of PDF to re-presentthe print copy electronically

in full may not increasethe reader's

overall satisfactionwith the newspaper'swebsite

291
by itself While these findings do not suggestthat the use of scannedfiles (PDF and

GIF format) to present the content of the e-newspaper,may decreasereadership,it

may in some casesgive comfort to the large segmentof Arab immigrants and students

abroad to read these publications without the need of Arabic enabled software or

Arabic operatingsystems.

It is important to keep in mind, however, that the use of PDF or GIF formats (to

overcomeArabic text difficulties) is inevitable if a newspaperwishes to reach a wider

audience without Arabic text complexity. In this respect, the frequency analysis

indicateda higher responseto newspapersthat appearin both PDF (al-Hayat ) and Gif

forniat (al-Kaleej & al-Rai) not in HTML. A surpriseis that although the Arabic text

(format) newspaper is supposed to be better rated in terms of reader's choice, it

actually appearsto make no difference. While this difference was not shown to be

statistically significant to reader'schoice or satisfaction, it is possible that a future

studymay lead to different conclusions.

A third implication, and perhapsthe most important for newspaperspublishers,is that

readers'interest in the content of an e-newspapermay not be significantly affected by

its format. What is suggestedby the findings, supportedby readers'comments,is that

good quality and balanced content is still the most important factor determining a

reader'schoice of a particular newspaper,whether it appears in a scannedfile or

Arabic codedHTML. Hence,it is unwise for a newspapereditor to considerusing the

latest Web design technology, presuming this will increase the interest in his

e-newspaper,while paying no attention to the quality of the content and the type of

(well-educated)audienceof the Internet he is dealing

with. As Edward Sugimoto,the

292
Editor of Hawaii's Web & Internet News Magazine, put it" Although design is very

important in giving the visitors to your online presence a more eye-friendly

experience, if you doift have the content, your visitors will likely never come back

again" (Sugimoto, 1998).

The analysis of newspaper websites revealed that most of them presented their

in
electronic site the sameoptical format as their printed-paper. This can be interpreted

as a sign of a high degree of vagueness among Arab newspapers. They seem to

misapprehend this new dynamic medium in a competitive environment and stick

insteadwith old traditions of the print j ournalism paradigm. By doing so, their (young)

readers may defect to a more sophisticated news services. But the real danger is "if

newspaperscontinue to think they are in the newsprint businessand fail to realize they

are in the information business" (industry analyst, Vin Crosbie as cited by Stone,

1999).

Yet, this trend was also found elsewhere. Neuberger et aL (1998) found that German

online newspapersretain the name of the printed version, use a similar layout, similar

etc.
contents Similarly Gubmanand Greer(1997)reportedthat US online newspapers

to
appear be makingfew from
changes the print standardof linear storytelling.In sum,

apparentlyand logically, format alone does not determinea reader'schoice; other

factors need to be considered.In some cases,Arab reader preferencescould be

attributableto the type of computerand software being used. As an instance,the

methods
slowest to post Arabic text online i. e. PDF and GIF format, would bettersuit

most usersin that it enablesreadingArabic newspaperswithout the needof special

Arabic software.Ultimately, though,readersexpectgood quality contentthat is easy

to accessandinteractwith.

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9.1.4 Readers'Evaluation of E-newspapers

The present study attempts to give the opportunity to explore some reasons behind

why and how Arab readers evaluate e-newspapers.Although respondentsrevealed a

high level of interest in reading Arab newspapersonline, many complained of long

delays in relation to accessingand downloading infonnation, and were also concerned

about limited in
content some cases.These be
problems can attributed to the heavy use

of graphic files to load Arabic text, and to the fact that many publications did not have

a dedicated online staff and were therefore not updating content frequently.

The overall satisfaction with these publications may also have been affected by the

fact that no Arab e-newspaperproduced original content for its online edition. This

with
contrasts what Singerat el. (1998)found in his studyof US e-newspapers
which

indicatedthat about half of the Americanpublisherssurveyedsaid that their online

staff did create unique materials for the online editions. The current Arab publisher's

survey, however, showed that one-quarter (25.9%) of newspapers had no dedicated

staff for their online edition and more than four in ten (44.4%) newspapersassigned

only from 1-3 staff membersfor the electronicversion. The shortageof dedicated

online staff is not unique to Arab e-newspapers.Neuberger et aL (1998) studied

Germanonline newspapersand found that in approximatelyone-third of the cases

(37%) the online versionwas producedby editorial staff who all also worked for the

print version.It was obviousthat Arab journalistsarerequiredto double by

up running

the online publication as well as continuing with their usual work on the print editions.

According to Alexander (1997), this is one of the most difficult aspects of online

294
publishing. Newspapers have a lot to learn about how to launch the (electronic)

venture while continuing to put out a traditional newspaper.

Singer at eL (1998) found that the larger the paper, the more likely it is to staff its two

products (online and print) independently. It is not easy to define which is a big or a

small Arab newspaper, however, due to the absenceof reliable national circulation

figures. Al-Ahram of Egypt, al-Shraq Al-awsat and al-Bayat are the biggest namesin

Arab newspapersindustry but offer no evidence to support Singer at el's observation.

Neither the size nor the number of online staff in thesepublications seemsto have had

noticeable impact on the production of their electronic edition or on their readers'level

of satisfaction.

Part of respondents'dissatisfaction with online newspapersderived from difficulties in

reading Arabic on the Internet. This problem can be attributed to the fact that most

users used operating systems and browsers that do not support Arabic. They mostly

used English software either because they were unaware of the existence of Arabic

enabled software or due to the lack of technical support for such software. Many

Internet users have difficulty finding and installing Arabic software on public

computers (universities, Internet cafes) outside the Arab World, where many Arab

e-newspapersreadersmay accessthe Internet from.

Consistent with this study, Forrester Research Inc (an Internet research firm) survey

(1999), found four main factors drive visitors to return to their favourite websites:

high-quality content (751/6),easeof use (66%), quick to download (58%) and frequent

updating of content (54%). Yet, the data analysis and the readers' comments here

295
indicated that more effort is needed to improve all these important components of

online publishing in the Arab World. A great deal of technical work is needed in

Arabic text solutions to make full use of Internet applications. In particular, some

readers indicated that text format would be the best format for newspapers. If

publishers work jointly to develop free Arabic plug-ins to be attached to existing

Internet browsers this would enable Arabic text to be viewable regardlessof language

of the user'scomputer operating system.

Although it was difficult to decide exactly the extent to which these factors influence

a reader's satisfaction with an online newspaper,readers' evaluation of e-newspapers

may havealso beeninfluencedby the wide rangeof news offered

sources by the Web.

Arab readers were able to read about Arab issues from different perspectives.These

sourceswere available at any given time, offered variety of content and format, were

free of charge most of the time, and kept Arab expatriates(who form the vast majority

of respondents)in touch with home news.

The study tried to find what are the most readable newspapers.Responsesindicated

that readers'favourite newspaperswere those which offered quality content and

enjoyed some degree of (government) independence as well as providing

comprehensive content. The amount and type of content of the three most preferred

newspapers (al-Hayat, al-Kaleej and al-Rai) varied greatly. Nevertheless, these

have
newspapers the following in common:specific sectionsfor Arab-relatednews,

j
efficient ournalistic reporting and analysis, archive accessfor back issues. These first

threechoicescan be seenalso to have more nationalisticconcernsand tend to offer

focus
a greater within technologyandsports.

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Meanwhile the findings of this study suggestedthat, while most Arab e-newspapers

were updating their content everyday, no newspaper attempted to take advantageof

the immediacy nature of the medium that allows all news stories to be updated around

the clock.

9.1.5 Revenue

Advertising is, and will continue to be, a primary revenue source for electronic

publishing (Minsing, 1998). According to Kamerer and Bressers (1998) there are

various sources from which online newspapers could generate revenue including

banner and classified advertising, subscriptions, transaction fees paid to sites when

readers make purchases, sponsorships with advertisers, paid access to archives,

Internetaccessservices,websitehostingand Web designservices.But in the caseof

Arab online newspapersthese alternatives are still a long way from being utilised in

full. Furthennore, Arab users are unwilling to pay subscription fees.

Concerning subscription fees, elsewhere,prior studies typically found that users of the

Internettend not to pay for readingInternetnewswebsites.One could arguethat this

could be explained by the fact that the Internet does not provide a reader with

a touchable product in the same way that a hard copy newspaper does. Yet, the

expectationon the part of usersthat the Internet provideslargely free contentis an

importantfactorbehindthis trend.For instancea GeorgiaTechUniversity studyfound

that two-thirdsof Web surfers,citing the costof computersandInternetaccess,arenot

willing to pay for accessto materialson the Web (GVU, 1997). In alike manner,

Berkmanfound that "usersareretlikely to pay for content,even news they consider

297
valuable, if free content can be accessedelsewhere"(ascited by McMillan, S., 1998).

A study by Weir (1998) also showed that people are rather reluctant to pay for reading

an e-newspaper. Mensing found a similar trend and attributed it to the dominant

opinion of the current nature of the Internet that demandedthat information be offered

for free (seealso Lyle & McLeod, 1993; Oppenheimer, 1996).

With regard to payment policies, the websites analysis found that Arab e-newspapers

could be grouped under Angevine et aL's (1996) three categories: (1) completely free

accessto the newspaper, (2) free accesswith prior registration and (3) accessfor a

charge. This study found that an overwhelming majority of Arab e-newspapersoffer

unrestricted free accesswith only two e-newspapersmaking subscription charges.Free

accesswith user prior registration (including username and password) is not widely

used, however. This indicatesthat Arab newspapersmay be missing an important

sourceof information about their readers,preferences,habits, and their distribution

worldwide.

The pricing of online newspapersposesdifficulties for Arab publishers and is certainly

one of the big issues in Internet e-businesses.

Free service, however, would not

generate the revenues necessary to defray development costs and will not help in

motivating publishers to invest more money in Internet publishing. So far, no Arab

publisher can clearly state how and when he is going beyond offering free content in

websitesthat is also free of adverts and not making any profit yet. Although there have

been varied pricing strategies adopted by content providers elsewhere,Varian (1995)

noted that many traditional pricing practices failed to provide clear guidance on how

digital information goods should be priced. Given this state of uncertainty, the

298
common advice is that subscription fees should not be totally rejected but should be

economical enough not to deter potential readers until publications can build up the

advertising revenue to pay for their cost.

Altematively, e-newspaperscan charge fees for accessto specific services such as the

newspaper'sarchive. Even then, subscription chargesprobably need to be modest. As

this studyfound, someusersof the Internetbelievethat all Internetinformationshould

be free and will often avoid e-newspaperthat chargethem for reading its content.

The fact is that most Arab publishersare still thinking of doing market studiesto

assesstheir presence on the Web, and have not yet moved past that position to

consider more practical initiatives. The fact is that not every newspapercan continue

to publish online editions at a loss, drawing financial support from their print

resources.

9.1.6 Impact Of Electronic Version

Although it is still early to decisively identify the online newspaper'simpact on the

Arab print newspapers,the majority of Arab publishers(59.3%) indicateda positive

impact of the online site on the print product. This view is largely basedon speculation

or intention and not on systematicmarket studies.

indeed, the Arab publishers interviewed here did not have specific plans to investigate

formally the impact of their online edition on the print copy. At the time of this

research many Arab publishers simply wanted an online presence.This trend is not

only the tune of Arab newspapers.Jackson and Paul (1998) reported that only 40 per

cent of the American online newspaperpublishers indicated their site was guided by a

299
clear mission statement.The researchersnoted that that the majority of US newspapers

do not have a clear vision to guide new media development. The current analysis

shows that most Arab newspapers tend to limit the content of their Web edition

assumingwrongly that this policy may drive the readerto buy the print copy.

9.1.7 Services

The study reveals that only few Arab newspapersmake full use of the Internet by

offering additional services with their websites. With the exception of archive

services, the most popular services provided by western online newspapers, were

almost absentor only poorly developed by Arab e-newspaperswebsites. This includes

customizednews delivery, classifiedadvertising,interactivecommunication(instant

chatting facilities) and news stories supported with video or audio files. Below is an

examination of the performance of each service.

9.1.7.1 Archive

Over threequarters(79.3%) of Arab e-newspapers

providedarchiveservicesranging

from one to two days archiveto full searchablearchives(16.7%).A similar pattern

was noted by Gubman and Greer (1997) in America. They found that 69.9 per cent of

US e-newspaperssurveyedcontained archives of news content.

However, the only working service that has been offered by most Arab e-newspapers

is sevendays back issues(archive), while the use of full searchablearchive servicesby

some newspapershas proven unsuccessful at most sites. This is, in part, due to the

lack of technical support and programming weaknesses.The online world is changing

all the time making it difficult for unprofitable newspapersto keep pace with these

300
advances.For online newspapersto survive, they need to adopt new programming

technology and evolving browser capability, and make sure that the kind of service

they provide is popular amongstthe Internet population.

9.1.7.2 Customized News

One of the most unique aspectsof the e-newspaperis its ability to be customized to

suit the interests of each reader. However, no Arab e-newspaperoffered custornised

news for
services its Even
readers. in the US, only 9.6 per centof the well-established

online newspapers allow readers to create a customized news profile (Gubman

Greer, 1997).

9.1.7.3 Interactivity

Clearly, the Internet has brought hopes as an interactive medium that could help to

extendcommunicationoptions betweennewspaper
and readerinto a more dynamic

relationship (Schultz, 1999). The interactive nature of the Internet has still not been

fully realised. Arab newspapersseemedto ignore this facility, as only one newspaper

provided a chat room, and neither the newspaper nor the chat room gained any

popularity amongst Arab readers. Chat room services were also found to be unusable

in US news websites as ninety-two out of 100 online newspapers offered no

synchronous chat at all (Schultz, 1999). Further Dibean (1999) found very few

newspapersites used chat rooms (2.3%).

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9.1.7.4 E-mail

Publishing e-mail addressesof reporters is only of value if the reporters actually reply

to queries from readers (Kamerer & Bressers, 1998). This study found e-mail

addresseswere provided virtually by all Arab newspapers,but a complaint that was

repeatedly reported by readers was that very few editors replied to their messages.

in agreementwith this analysis, Newhagen, Cordes, and Levy (1995) revealed that

editors did not even look at e-mails from their readers,although they had encouraged

people explicitly to send comments. Schultz (1999) found also that almost every

newspaper he studied provided at least one general e-mail address. Further, Dibean

(1999) found in his examination of U. S. daily newspapers usage of Internet

technologies, that the maj ority (59.8%) of online newspapers he studied provided

electronicmail addresses.

Some critics have argued that newspapersare not taking advantage of such special

featuresof the World Wide Web as interactivity,hypertext,andmultimedia(Cochran,

1995). Yet, Eric K. Meyer the managing partner of the NewsLink online research

(newslink.org) refuted the claim that readers want interaction with information

providers and regardedthis as one of 10 myths about online publishing. What readers

really want is to be able to consumethe information interactivelyand to gain some

control over how the infonnationis received(Meyer, 1999).

9,1.7.5 Other Services

Although Arab publishersindicatedoffering other additional servicesthe analysisof

their websitesfound that most of theseserviceswerenot availableeitherbecausethey

had beendiscontinuedor neverofferedin the first place.This appliesto the statements

302
made about the usage of multimedia (video and audio files) by three respondents.

Elsewhere audio and video services were found to be rarely used; for example few

American newspapers offered such services (audio 12.1%, video files 10.6%)

(Schultz, 1999).

Although 37 per cent of Arab e-newspaperssurveyedreported offering classifieds, the

analysis shows most of these adverts were of crude design, outdated and in some cases

led to broken links.

9.1.8 Future

This time in the history of Arab media is critical due to dramatic political and

technological changes.The crux of the matter lies, of course, with the new media that

has grown rapidly in the late twentieth century. Direct state control of media is

diminishing in many Arab countries due largely to market imperatives, Pan-Arab

media, and global influences from satellite channelsand the Internet. While use of the

Internet by other nations has increased significantly in the last few years, however,

Arab citizens still use the Internet less than many nations. Low Internet use by Arabs

not only gives them less accessto information and services available online, but also

can have negative economic consequences.

As new technology reshapesmost elements in the current media structure, it without

any doubt offers Arab publishers a new opportunity for worldwide distribution of their

newspapers.At the same time, publishing Arabic content on the Internet involves

many complex issues socially, technically, and economically. And still major

obstacles face the spread of new technology in the Arab World such as weak

infrastructures,high illiteracy rates and the economic hardshipsin most countries.

303
Despite these issues,Arab newspapershave speededup their online initiatives. A key

factor to bear in mind, however, is that the majority of Arab population has access

only to cheap state-ownedmedia. Given the low literacy rates, the very limited reach

of newspapersand the readership profile, the role of new media has been seen very

weak in terms of information dissemination. If we take Egypt as an example that has

had Internet servicesfar longer (since 1993) than most Arab countries, it yielded a low

response in the readers' survey compared to its big number of inhabitants (60.3

million). According to a recent (1999) report published by the World Bank, however,

51.9 per cent of the population in Egypt live below under poverty line, and the country

has high rate of illiteracy. Recently Foley (2000) summarised the whole issue and

stated that "the cost of PCs, and even telephones, is prohibitive for many Arab

families. Illiteracy rates are also quite high in the region and those who can read and

write are faced with a dearth of content and software in Arabic". Only with a little luck

and a lot of e. commerce,the Internet may yet transform the Middle East for the better.

Leaving aside theseshardships, it was found that most Arab users are heavy users of

the Net and are daily readersof online. This finding shows signs of a promising future

for online newspaperspublishing in the Arab World in terms of potential consumer

interest.

Arab publishers are required to promote their online activity actively amongst Arab

readers and advertisers and provide technical support to new readers. Ultimately,

although it is impossible to forecast the future pattern of the Arab online newspapers

market, it is certain that readersof this new medium will grow rapidly. Whether news

websites will rely on subscription fees or on adverting revenue or may be both they

may eventually take their position as a new sophisticatedmethod of news delivery.

304
9.2 Conclusions

With the spreadof the Internet in the region, many Arab publishers and governments'

media bodies have begun to include websites and other new media means in their

outreach programs (see Alterman, 1998, Alsheri, 1997). Thus, the objective of this

study was to provide a preliminary of

assessment how Arab online newspapershave

begun to changethe way Arab readersand publishers deal with information and news.

The upshot of this thesis was basedmainly on the literature review, the results of the

reader (main) survey, publisher's survey findings and the analysis of Arab online

newspapers.

Nevertheless,from the literaturereviewed,one can seethat no clearpicture existsto

guide research that involves Internet application and to explain the communicative

nature of the medium itself as a new medium (see Jankowski & Hansen, 1996; Filder,

1997).At this point in time, effort should be madeto examinethe processof how

people use the Internet (see Morris& Ogan, 1996; Singer, 1998). What has taken

traditionalmediaseveraldecadesto accomplish,the Internethasmatchedin lessthan

a decade.

Clearly, this phenomenon has its social, cultural and economic dimensions, each of

which provides interesting areas for further research.If this can be done, researchers

will have better understanding and therefore encouragedto work to develop a new

framework and theoretical approach to guide Internet research to new horizons. As

McLuhan stated "The medium is the message.Any understandingof social and

cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as

"
environments. (McLuhan &Fiore, 1967, p 26).
.

305
This dissertation has sought to explore the general condition of Arab e-newspapersin

order to examine the challenges and potential of this new medium. As with any study

that utilizes researchmethods that focus on technology-related issues,it is simply not

possible to capture or convey all the dynamic change that is present in complex

Internet applications (seeWeir, 1998; Shoemaker,1994 ).

Further, the complexity of studying Internet services like e-newspaperslies in the fact

that many elements must be considered: the technological level which involves

computers (hardware and software), the service offered, the nature of the

communication channel, and the human level which involves people and their use of

this new medium to consume news services. Nevertheless, this study have attempted

to go beyond a description of the Internet and e-newspapers,and explore some aspects

of what readersdo, need and how they evaluatethis new method of news delivery.

The history of e-newspapersin general and the Arab newspapers presence on the

Internetis remarkablyshort.In just under 10 years,the numberof newspapers

on the

Net have grown dramatically. During this time there has been much debate about the

best ways to present electronic publications on the Internet. In the Arabic publishing

arena, such discussion has extended to the type and the amount of information

(content) as well as the fonnat of the Arabic text that online publications should

consider.

As multilingual operating systems technology advance such as the promising

Windows2000, and Arabic enabled browsers such as Sindbad and Microsoft Explorer,

306
Arabic text viewing may grow in popularity, and more Arab publishers may begin to

take Internet publishing more seriously.

Besides the impact of high illiteracy rates, low economic level, and old infrastructure,

the study has indicated an important relationship between the educational level of

Arab users and use of the Internet. This may give the impression that the Internet, as

an advancedtechnology dominated by the English language,requires a sufficient level

of education to be usable. This may prevent the majority of Arabs from making full

use of its services. Hence, Arab policy makers must consider all these factors.

Investors, meanwhile are advised to produce more Arabic content and Arabic services

to the meet the needs of the potential market of Arab users who are less fortunate in

their educationlevel.

The findings of this study supports, to an extent, the stereotypeof the typical Internet

user as a young, male, probably a college student, who the

accesses Internet everyday

(seeNielsenMediaResearch,1996;PewResearchCentre,1996;GVU, 1997,1998).

Arab online newspaperstherefore need to present content not only of appeal to this

but
market, alsoto attract from
readers othersectionsof the population.

Although many Arab publishers are still doubtful about the revenue potential of

e-newspapers,it is critical for them to take into consideration that new media represent

important tools, that complement, rather than threaten, traditional methods of news

delivery. The increasing costs of newsprint, the relatively small circulation size of

many Arab newspapers,and the deviation of the younger generations from reading

newspapers, as well as the wide dispersion of Arab readers, make most Arab

307
newspapers ideal for electronic versions delivered online. The dilemma for

publishers, however, is how best to approach a business model that will allow the

online newspaperto grow and even flourish. Unfortunately this is no easymission.

Certainly the Internet has presented Arab newspaper publishers with fresh hope to

reach new markets. However, the Web has created new challenges for publishers as

well. Although the Net offers a fairly accessibleplatform for news delivery, it has its

downside: technically, it is not (very) easy to use, needs specific hardware and

software,andis slow andcumbersome

in mostcases.

Practically, for Arab publishers the business environment is becoming increasingly

competitive and complex. They are confused about when and how to make money

online, with no clear strategies,a weak market and above all customers(readers)who

are reluctant to pay for what they read. In addition, Arab online dailies are competing

for the samesmall slice in the samesmall market.Yet, in the rush to the Internet,it is

importantnot to lose sight of the needto incorporateInternetfacilities within a well-

planned future strategybasedon researchand market analysis.

This study has tried to provide some insight into the state of Arab online newspapers,

their readers' needs and how Arab publishers can better improve their Internet

participation. This work has highlighted the extent to which Arab e-newspapersface

a critical task in wining new readers.

In order to diagnose the whole issue and to investigate Arab e-newspapers'main

challenges,one must first articulate the basic componentsthat make a successful

e-newspaper.In the case of Arabic online newspapersand this may apply to similar

308
cases as illustrated in Figure 23, there are a number of challenges that need to be

addressed. First, there is the issue of 'identity' this new product faces. Is an

e-newspapera new medium or just an extension (supplement, complement) of an old

one or is it simply a new delivery method? Does it have the vital elementsto survive

in the longer-tenn or is it just a short-term fad? Can print and electronic news(paper)s

live side by side, for how long, and which will survive eventually?

Figure 23: Main challenges to Arab c-newspapers

Arabic E- newspapers
Main Challenges

Identity

Onlinejournalists
fij-( Web developers
Skiffid
staff

Qualitv Content ) ý Volume

---

AccessibilitV ýý Fonnat )--ý Fdendliness

New
GlobalMedia players Pan-Arab
Corporabons Publishers
M, -ket

Advertiser Reader
Local,nationalor global

- Mass market - Hardware & Software

- Reliableviewership - Internet
connection
measurements - Subscription
- Culture -Technicalskills
- Not's culture of freeness

309
Second, it was clear from Arab publishers responses, interviews that most Arab

e-newspaperslack skilful (IT) staff both for performing reasonableonline journalistic

duties and for developing and presenting an appealing online product in terms of

content and design.

Third, although Arab e-newspapersmay have market demand as long as they remain

free of charge, readerscomplaints of poor, limited or unbalancedcontent, if not acted

upon will eventually push them to look for better alternative.

Fourth, formatting Arabic text is still the most challenging task and it was evident that

publishers have not taken any serious measuresto tackle this problem. Instead, they

are completely dependenton what Microsoft and other software manufacturersoffer.

In this respect, many serious difficulties are facing readers of Arabic e-newspapers.

Most newspapersalso seemto undervalue or ignore the importance of the accessibility

element and the use of dynamic friendly interfaces in attracting users.

Fifth, if publishersfail to deal with the aboveissuesreadersmay tum to other web

news sources,of which there to

are plenty supply their news diet.

Advertisersand readersalike have countlesschoiceson the Internet.In the caseof

Arab users, however, economical factors are crucial. In any pricing policy, publishers

need to take into consideration what the market can afford and also what the

is
competitor offering. Further, young people who seemto be less interested in reading

newspapers,representthe largest group of potential users in most Arab countries, with

some 50 per cent of the total population (of the Arab World) aged under 20 QPPF,

1998).

310
This study revealed new findings about the attitudes and behaviour of Arab users of

the Internet, that should have relevance for Arab publishers wishing to conduct their

businesseson the Internet. Although the outcomesmay seemto indicate that a number

of technical and economic barriers need to be reduced there is undoubtedpotential for

e-news in the Arab World.

'9.3 Limitations

The primary limitation to this study is that it is largely frozen in time. It focusesfor the

most part on the last three years of the passing (20th)century, and thus is limited in its

investigation of long-term trends shaping e-newspapersreadership and Arab readers

attitudetowardsthem.

Since the study also focused on the available Arabic (language) applications, the

findings may have limited applications to other e-newspaper experiments such as

those that appear in languagesof Latin origin. In this respect also, the findings do not

reflect the impact of the new browsersintroducedlater in 1999,such as Microsoffs

multi-language browser (Internet Explorer version 5) which will revolutionise the way

people read Internet content. It will be the job of future researchersto examine the

impact of such software and other new applications and compare newspapersformats

andreaders'satisfactiontrendswith this study.

The time limitation also meansthat this study reflects many of the circumstances

(Internet spread, illiteracy rates, governments policies etc.) surrounding Arab

e-newspapersas they were in the 1997-2000 period and may not provide an adequate

account of some of the dilemmas facing other nations practices with e-newspapers.

311
In spite of its limitations, the current study provides an in-depth examination of the

circumstances shaping readership and acceptance of e-newspapers. As such, it

provides researcherswith an opportunity to ask questions about related issues in

smaller or larger magnitude which could help to develop new methods of examining

levels of readers'satisfaction and industry plans. Additionally, it offers a profile of the

wide range of literature published in recent years covering aspectsof e-publishing and

may well prove valuable to publishers who wish to obtain a global perspective about

the differentcircumstances
facingArab e-newspapers.

9.4 Suggestions for Further Research

While there may be a significant amount of researchavailable on classic media, there

is a paucity of literature particularly in relation to modem communication

technologies. A great deal of further researchis necessaryfirst, on the communicative

nature of the Internet to provide a solid understanding of the rapidly changing

environment of new media. More and more people will come to rely on the Internet as

a basis for communication, information, shopping and education. There is a need for

more researchthat will provide us with a better understandingof this phenomenonand

predict the trends and outcomes of future advances. In the Arab World, further

research, both quantitative and qualitative, should take place to investigate the

publishing of Arab newspapers on the Internet. This research would record Arab

newspaperspractices, assessthe nature of the output, and any developing issues that

relateto readersatisfaction.

312
Researchon Internet usageas an emerging form of communication is still developing.

Most of what can be found is merely commercial, descriptive and/or practical and

comes from the marketing professionals and software and hardware developers. But

when it come to audiences,most Internet major studies conductedthrough the Internet

during 1995-1997, were very much concerned with the problem of demographic

profiling of the market.

Yet even at the demographic level in the Arab World there is a lack of reliable

information about Web users that would help advertisers and marketers intending to

promote or use this new medium. This study looked at three significant factors

associatedwith Arab e-newspapers:the readers of these publications, the publishers

and the e-newspapers' websites. Extended studies could focus on either one of

these aspects. I hope the topic of this dissertation would inspire Arab researchers

particularly to undertake further researchand fill some gaps left by this researchfor

obviousreasons.

The current research did reveal some problems with Internet research methodology

and future researchmay want to refine the survey and the data collection methods used

in this study. Pre-testing indicated that users could complete the survey in 3-8 minutes,

but it appears that some users took longer. Future research may wish to conduct

multiple shorter surveys that addressseparateissues(e.g., demographics,connectivity,

attitude, readership). This research focused primarily on the readers of Arab

e-newspapers.Further researchcould, for example, examine Arab e-publishing market

trendsandwhat role hasthe currentstructureof Arab online newspapers

beenplaying

in detennining future publishing strategies?

313
Another component of this dissertation needing much more exploration is the entire

Arab -industry
sphere of newspaper strategies toward e-newspapers.What are the

advantagesand disadvantagesof this very low cost production and distribution of 'free

of censorship newspapers'?Who gains and who loses when the newspapersindustry

competes with itself, with newer Net players, and the open marketplace of the

Intemet?

Another area for researchcould be to examine the economic aspectsof the Internet for

the publishing business.A related topic, but inside the realm of Arab e-newspapersas

a primary researchfocus, is that of e-newspaperspricing mechanismsand the costs of

reading them.

An additionaltopic deservingmore researchis online staffing. To what extenthas it

become an acceptedpractice by the newspaperindustry that dedicatedstaff are needed

to produce online editions? How has the academic arenain the Arab World responded

to this need?Hasit madea changein mediacurriculato meetsuchneeds?How is this

relatedto the needfor dedicatedstafP

Finally, it is believed that in the years ahead,many changesmay occur at the Internet

domain which will fundamentally changeaudiencebehaviour and alter the way media

operate. It would be interestingto conductthis samestudythreeor four yearsin the

future to seewhat changesin readers'opinions and publishing practices have occurred.

Are they the same types of readers (background, education level gender, etc.)? How

doestheir attitude differ from that of people surveyedin this research?

314
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Appendices
Appendix A: Arab World Political Map

Lebanon Kuwait
ý yr, a
Bahrain
Morocco "T nisia Palestine Iraq Qatar
dýd an UAE
Algeria

Libya
Egypt Saudi Arabia Onja
Mlauritania

eme 0
Sudan I outiý
PS
,. 9malia
The Arab World
j J

Comoros

344
A
Appendix B: Arab Readers Online Survey Form

This survey is designedto investigate the readershipof the Arab daily newspaperson
the Internet. It representspart of my Ph.D. project at the University of Sheffield. This
project is under the supervision of ProfessorBarrie Gunter Director of Researchat the
Journalism StudiesDepartment. Pleasereply to every question. All answersare

completely confidential.
Many thanks / FayezAlshehri

I- ol6andunder
2- 1317- 25
3- o26-35
4- o36-45
5- o46-55

6- o56 andover

2-

1- oMale

2- oFemale
ýiationality. ]
3- -.(Pleaseselectftom the list) ------------------

4- lOccupatio

I-
o Student
2- o Researcher

3- oBusinessPerson

4- oRetired

6- oGovernment Employee

6- oOther (Pleasespecify) -----------

345
5- Where do you live now?

Pleaseselect one:
oArgentina oAlgeria oAustralia oAustria oBahrain
oBelgium oBrazil oBulgaria oCanada oChile
ciChina oCzech oDenmark oEgypt ciEstonia
oFinland oFrance i3Georgia oGerinany oGreece
oHong Kong oHungary oIceland oIndia olraq
oIreland oItaly oJapan oJordan DKorea
oKuwait oLatvia oLebanon oLithuania oLibya
oMalta oMalaysia oMauritania oMorocco oNetherlands
oNorway oOman oPalestine oPoland oPortugal
oQatar oRomania oRussia oSaudi Arabia oSingapore
oSouth Africa oSpain oSudan oSweden oSwitzerland
oSyria oTaiwan ciTunisia oTurkey oUAE
oUkraine oUK oUSA oYemen D Other ( ..........

6- What is the highest level of education you have completed?

I- EiHighschool

2- oCollege four years degree

3- oMaster's degree

4- oDoctorate

5- oTechnical or trade school

7- How long have you been using the Internet?

1- oLessthan6 months

2- 136months -1 year

3- ol -2 years

4- o2 -3 years

5- o3 -4 years

6- oMore than 4 years

346
8- What is your current Operating System?

c0on't Know ciWindows 3.x or Windows 95 (English)

DWindows 3.x or Windows 95 (Arabic) DWindows NT (English)

DWindows NT (Arabic) DMacintosh(Arabic)

DMacintosh(English) DOthere.g. MSDOS, Win95, UNIX, etc.

9- Browser Used:

DDon't Know o Tango (Alis) Arabic Browser

bNetscape(Navigator or Communicator) oSINDBAD with NetscapeBrowser

oArabic Internet Explorer EiEnglishInternet Explorer

ciMosaic oOther e.g. Netscape,MS Explorer, etc.

10- How often do you accessthe Internet every week?

_I- Every day I 2-o 4-6 days 1
o a week 3- o 2-3 days a week
4- o About once a week [i Less often
Tl-
II- Avprnae timo np.r Tntp.rnpt qe.q.qinn!
I- o Less than 5 minutes 2-o6-10 3-oll-30 4- v3l- 60

minutes minutes minutes

5- ol-2 hours 6- o12-5 hours 17- o5 + hours

12- Who provides you with Internet Service. rcheck all that apply]
I- oA Commercial Internet service provider 2-oAn educational institution

3- o Government Office 4-o Other On the weekends

13- Where do you mainly accessthe Web?

I-oA computer at work 2-o A computer at school/university

3- oA computer at home 4-o Internet Cafe (or similar)

347
14- Are there any other laces you accessthe Web from?
1- o none 12-11A computer at work 13- oA computer at school/university

4-o A computer at home I 5-o Internet Cafe (or similar)

15- Fnr me Intern etson reps nre! (nleaqe elherk nnnrnnrinte inumber.-O
1-Important cil o2 o3 cA o5 o6 o7 unimportant
2- of no concernto me cil o2 o3 [A o5 c6 o7 of concernto me
3-meansa lot to me cil o2 o3 o4 o5 o6 o7 meansnothing to me
4-matters to me ol o2 o3 o4 o5 o6 o7 doesnot matter

5-significant ciI o2 o3 o4 o5 o6 o7 insignificant

9 How would you rate Arab newspapers on the Internet in terms of.,

16 *Naviga ing in General:

I I I- I
cellent oGood ciFair oPoor oVery Poor

17 *Downloading ime:
I I
oExcellent cGood oFair oPoor oVery Poor

18* Content Updatina:

I
ciExcellent ciGood iiFa oVery Poor

19- 1 use the Internet mainly for:

1-
oWork
2- oPleasure

3- oResearch

4- oEducation

5- o0ther

348
20- Which printed Arab daily newspaper do you read most often? Please type
in one:
....................................................................................
21- What are the most common problems you have confronted when reading
Arab dailies on the Internet? Pleasetypein anyproblemsyou
haveexperience&

22- Which of the following online newspapers you read on a Regular basis:
[check all that apply)

Alawsat (Lebanon) Al-Hayat AI-Jadeeda

tayat (London) iAlIttihad (UAE) Daily Star (Libanon)
labas(Kuwait) i Alwatan (Kuwait) Khaleej Times (UAE)
I Alarab (London) i Alayarn (Bahrain) Gulf News (UAE)
Quds (Palestine) j Albayan (UAE) Al-Khaleej (UAE)
-ayah(Qatar) i Al-Gomhuria (Egyp Al-Sabah (Tunisia)
vtatn (Qatar) Al Dustoor (Jordan)
Al-Sahafah (Tunisia)
azirah (KSA) i Al Ra!i (Jordan) Al-Ayyarn (Palestine)
nadinah (KSA) o Gulf Times (Qatar) Arab News KSA
Safeer(Lebanon) i Alsharq (Qatar)
AI-Shaaab(Egypt)
Anwar (Lebanon) i AI-Masaeyah KSA
Other (specify) [
.............

23- Is there one online Arab newspaper you read more often than any others?
I-No
2- Yes (If "Yes" pleasetype in the Name of the Newspaper)---------------

24- How often do vou read Internet neWSDaners?

I- oEveryday 2- oMost of the weekdays 3- i3Onceor twice a week

4- o0n the weekends 5- bNo regular time

25- The most important thing for me in reading a Particular Arab Internet
newsnaner(s) is:
I- oft is free 2- oAlways available when I want to read it
3- ol can't get its printed copy where 4- olts printed copy is not permitted in my
I live country
5- cil prefer to read online 6- o0ther
newspapers

349
zo- uveran now satisliect are you in reacling Arab clailies on the Internet?
0 Very Satisfied 0 Somewhat Satisfied

0 Neither Satisfied or Dissatisfied 0 SomewhatDissatisfied

0 Very Dissatisfied

._ Ti t
-rA,
z./- now muen m ney (io you spena on imerney services every monin.,
1- oLess than 5$1 2- oFrom 6- 10 $ oFrom 11-15

4- oFrom 16-20 $1 5-o2l$+

Tl-

28- Would you be willing to pay a fee to cover the cost of reading your
favourite online newspaper?
1- 0 Yes
2- 0 No (If "No" pleasetype in why?) -------------------------

29- What do you like most about the Internet newspapers?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30- What do you like least about the Internet newspapers?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

31- If you know an Arab daily newspaper on the Internet that you think I

should include in my study, please type the URL here http: //wNvw----------------

32- Your E-mail:

Please make sure that you completed all the questions:

=C
LM I
Submit form lear form and start over

Thank you for participating in this survey.

Note:Ifyou donothaveaformscapablebrowser,
or ifyou wouldlikefirther inforinationaboutthe
survey,pleasee-mailFayezAlshehri.

350
Appendix C: Countries of Visitors to The 'Arab Media Guide' website
Countries of visitors'to the Arab Media Guide Site from August 1998- September
1999
Country q Number of Hits
Iumber of Hits Country
I. Network/ISP (USA 6503 46. Indonesia 45
2. USA Commercil YII rA 47. US Government(USA) 31
3. Saudi Arabia 14642 48. Argentina 28
4. Canada 283 49. Hunparv 28
5. United Kingdom 4405 50. Nigeria 28
6. USA Educational 4311 51. Iceland 26
7. United Arab Emirates 3952 52. Venezuela 24
8. Sweden 3610 53. Poland 24
9. Australia 1750 54. Bosnia-Herzegovina 24
10. Germany 1651 55. Spain 19
11. Israel 1501 56. Romania 17
12. Netherlands 1487 57. Slovak Republic 12
13. Austria 1251 58. Philippines 12
14. Norway 1726 59. Zambia 12
15. Finland 990 60. Taiwan 11
16. Denmark 754 61. Cyprus 10
17. Bahrain 609 62. Brunei Darussalam 10
18. Japan 602 63. Pakistan 10
19. France 478 64. Old style Arpanet 10
20. Malaysia 459 65. Bulgaria 9
21. New Zealand 396 66. Morocco 8
22. Qatar 485 67. Niue 7
23. Oman 435 68. Thailand 6
24. Non-Profit Organizations292 69. Kazakhstan 6
25. United States(USA) 288 70. India 5
26. Brazil 270 71. Mexico 4
27. Belgium 240 72. Bolivia 4
28. Jordan 173 73. Dominican Republic 2
29. Ukraine 643 74. Macedonia 2
30. Switzerland 141 75. Slovenia 2
31. USA Military (USA) 135 76. Maldives 2
32. Yemen 123 77. Former USSR 2
33. Singapore 116 78. Zimbabwe 2
34. RussianFederation 114 79. Trinidad and Tobago 1
35. Kuwait 114 80. Mauritius 1
36. South Africa 112 81. Chile 1
37. Colombia 111 82. Iran 1
38. Egypt 211 83. SriLanka 1
39. Greece 72 84. Uzbekistan 1
40. Ireland 71 85. Costa Rica 1
41. Italy 69 86. Guinea Bissau 1
42. Lebanon 68 87. Portugal 1
43. Moldavia 62 88. Croatia 1
44. Turkey 59
89. Nepal 1
ý 5.
" Czech Republic 52
otal No of Vistors ri -V
I)-,
Produced by @XOOM.com 1999 (www.xoom.com)

351
Appendix D: Publishers' Online Survey (Hard Copy)

This survey is designedto investigatethe characteristicsof the Arab daily newspapers

on the Internet.It representspart of my Ph.D. project at the University of Sheffield.
The project is underthe supervisionof ProfessorBarrie GunterDirector of Researchat
the JournalismStudiesDepartment.Pleasereply to every question.
Many thanksFayezAlslichri

When did your newspaper first put up a wcbsite?

- Month [Click Here:to select)
13 January

13 February

CI March

E3 April

13 May

E3 June

U July

13 August

CI September

CI October

CI November

13 December

Year [Click Here to select]

13 1991

0 1992
0 1993
0 1994
CI 1995
0 1996
a 1997
a 1998
0 1999

352
URL of your newspaper:
http: /www
- --------------------------------------------

Do you have printed copy of the Newspaper?

ci No
o Yes. If Yes, how would you ratethe impact of your websiteon the print
newspaper?

[Click hereto select]

u Increasesinterestin our print copy

C) Decreasesinterestin our print copy
u Not clear
ci Otherpleasespecify
Do you estimate your number of daily visitors to you online newspaper?

E3 No

c3 Yes. If Yes, how?

Do you charge subscription fees for accessyour newspaper site?

oYes. - If Yes, how often do subscribers pay
[Click here to select]:
Monthly
Quarterly

u Every six months

c3 Annually
c3 Other Please specify ----------------
oNo. If No, do you intend to levy subscription fees in the coming 12-24 months?
Yes
No

Do visitors have to register before reading your newspaper?

Yes
No

353
What contents your website include:

" All of our print content

" Much of our print content

C3 Limited ion of our printed content

Q Breaking news only
C3 Headlines only
a Original content for our Internet version

13 Other please specify

What additional services do you offer your visitors? Please check that apply
(3 Searchable archives
a Customized news delivery

13 Classified advertising
C) Interactive communication
a Video/audio/filcs

0 Free software

C3 Other (please specify) --------

How many staff members work ONLY on the Internet edition?

13 None
1-3
4-6

13 7-9
0 10-12

0 13-15

0 16-18

D 19-21

0 22-24

0 25-27

cl 28-30

354
Would you like to add any comment?

Your E-mail:

Pleasemake sure that you complet d all the questions:

=submit
I I.
form C"learform and start over

Thank you for participating in this survey.

Note: If you do not have a forms capable browser, or if you would like further
information about the survey, please e-mail Fayez Alshehri.

355
 Appendix E: Arab Electronic Newspaper Part 1.
Arabfic) Internet NeWSDaDers(PartiCiDants in the Survev )
NewspMer ý:OUE! g / Iýi!j Language URL
Alayarn -.
Bahrain Arabic http://www. alayam.com/
Alahram Egypt Arabic http://www. ahram.org.eg/
Addustour Jordan Arabic http://www. arabia.com/Addustour/
Alra'i Jordan Arabic http://www. accessme. com/Al-Ra'i
JordanTimes Jordan English http://www. accessme. com/JordanTimes/
AI-Riyadh Saudi Arabia Arabic http://www. alriyadh-np.com/
Atiazirah Saudi Arabia Arabic http://www. al-jazirah.com/
Alqabas Kuwait Arabic http://www. moc.kw/alqabas/
Alwatan Kuwait Arabic http://www. alwatan.com.kw/
Alnahar Lebanon Arabic http://www. annahar.com.lb/
Alsafier Lebanon Arabic http://www. assafir.com/
The Daily Star Lebanon English http://www. dailystar.com.lb/
Alarab London Arabic http://www. alarab.co.uk/
Asharqalawsat London Arabic http://www. asharqalawsat. com/
Azzaman London Arabic http://www. azzaman.com/
Alhayat London Arabic http://www. alhayat.com/
Alanbaa Morocco Arabic http://www. mincom.gov.ma/
Alwatan Oman Arabic http://www. watanom.com/
Alquds Palestine Arabic http://www. alquds.com/
Alayyam Palestine Arabic http://www. al-ayyam.com/
Alrayah Qatar Arabic http://www. raya.com/
Alsharq Qatar Arabic http://www. al-sharq.com/
Alrayalaam Sudan Arabic http://www. rayaam.net/index.htm
Tashreen Syria Arabic http://www. teshreen.com/
Alkhaleej UAE Arabic http://www. alkhaleej.co.ae/
Alittihad UAE Arabic http://www. alittihad.co.ae/
Gulf Times Qatar English http://www. gulf-times.com/

356
Appendix F: Arab Electronic Newspaper Part 11.
Arab(ic) Internet Newspapers(Non-participants in the survey)
Newspaper Country / City Language URL
Elkhabar Algeria Arabic http: //www. elkhabar. com/
Elshaab Algeria Arabic http: //www. ech-chaab.com/
Alyoum Algeria Arabic http: //www. el-youm. com/
Bahrain Tribune Bahrain English http: //www. bahraintribune. com/
Alalam. Alyoum Egypt Arabic http: //www. alalamalyoum. com/
Alwafd Egypt Arabic http: //www. alwafd. com/
Algomhuria Egypt Arabic http: //www. tahrir. net/
Almessa KMt Arabic http: //www. tahrir. net/
Almassy'ah - - Saudi Arabia Arabic http: //www. al-jazirah. com/
Alanwar Lebanon Arabic http: //www. alanwar. com. lb/
Alquds Alarabi London Arabic http: //www. alquds. co.uk/
Oman Daily Oman Arabic http: //www. omandaily. com/
Oman Observer Oman English http: //www. omanobserver. com/
Alwatan Qatar Arabic http: //www. al-watan. com/
Thawrah Syria Arabic _ http: //www. thawra. com/
Baa!th Syria Arabic http: //abaath. com/
Albayan UAE Arabic http: //www. albayan. co. ae/
Gulf News UAE Arabic http: //www. gulf-news. com/
Khaleej Times UAE English http: //www. khaleejtimes. com/
Algumhuryah Yemen Arabic http: //www. y. net.ye/al-gumhuryah/
Althawrah Yemen Arabic http: //www. althawra. gov. ye/

357
Appendix G: Publishers' Comments

o Ad-dustour (Jordan).

"We still try to make our site more effective".

e Alrai (Jordan)
I would like to thank you for your interest in our online edition".

9 Alsharq (Qatar)

"Most of our onlinereadersareresidentoutsidethe Arab World wherewe dont

distribute our print copy, and even in some other Arab countries, so the Internet didn't
have an impact on our printed newspaper,instead it gave a wider publicity for our

newspaper".

o Al-Raya(Qatar)
"We are going to renovate our site very soon".

9 Alarab (London)
"Nobody works solely on the Internet site, so we do the best we can with the limited

resourceswe have as an independentnewspaper.

9 Alhayat (Iondon)

"A PDF copy of every print page is automatically createdand sent to the site. There is

no human intervention in providing the PDF pagesapart from about half an hour spent
on providing the page' namesrather than the pages'numbers.
e As-Safir (Lebanon)

I supposeit was easierand faster than you expectedto get the survey filled".

358
Appendix H: Newspaper's website Analysis Form

Date: /.... /1999

......
1. Newspaper'sName 2. Location
3. URL: http:// -------- 4. First Intemet issue ---/ ---/199

5-Language 1 Arabic
2 English
3 Arabic & English
4 Other

6-Arabic text format: 1 Text only

2 Text Image only
3 Text & text image
4 Portable Document Format PDF
5 Other
7-Fees No 1 Method of access
Pre-registration 1Instant access
2
Yes 2 Notes
1 Monthly
2 Quarterly
3 Every six months
4 Annually
57 0ther
8-Advertisements No I Yes 2 How

9-Other services Yes I No 2

I. Searchablearchive Notes
2.Customized news delivery
3.Classified advertising
4. Interactive communication
5.Video/audio/files
6. Free software
7. Other
I 0-Is there a printed copy? No IT -Yes 2
Notes

359
Appendix 1: Editors' Interviews: Question Guide

Arab E-newspapers Research ProjecA

E-newspaper

1. Do you make money (profit) from your online newspaper?How?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------
2. Do you think online newspaper will replace the printed newspapers?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
3. What do you think Arabic e-newspapershould look like? ------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Do you have planes to invest more in your online version?
----------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Is there any adverts market for your online newspaper?How? Where?

--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Do you assign special staff for publishing the WWW newspaper?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
7. What qualifications do you think online j oumalist should have?
----------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

360
 8. In what way(s) doesyour WWW paper differ from the print version? ---
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YAW
1. Do you know what is the most common technical problem facing the
reader of your newspaper?How do you react? --------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Do you think the Internet (will) affects print journalism? How? ------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Do you have any plans to invest in developing software to improve the

way readerreadsyour Internet edition or the way your paper looks?
How? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. How do you look to the WWW as distribution channel of news? ----------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. What do you think the most issuesthat might prevent Arab online
newspapersfrom reaching more audience?------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reader

1. What do you do to attract more people to read the online version?

---------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

361
2. Are there any marketing studies,how do you measureyour audience?

3. Why readerstend not to pay for reading online news, how to changesuch
attitude? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. What is the bestway [mechanism]to collectthe subscriptionfees?

5. Do you think that readersmight taken away from you to another online
newspapers?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

362
Appendix J: Software and Plug-ins

9 RealPlayer: http://www. realaudio.com/products/Player/

RealPlayeris a live and on-demandRealAudio and RealVideo player which functions

without download delays.It is provided by RealNetworks, Inc. and is available for

Macintosh, Unix, and Windows 3.1/95/NT as both a plug-in and helper application. To
test your RealPlayerplug-in, visit any of the sites listed in their showcase.The plug-in
is compatible with many popular browsers.For a complete listing visit the RealPlayer

systemrequirementspage.

e QuickTime: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
QuickTime, a product of Apple, Inc., is capableof delivering multimedia such as

movies, audio, MIDI soundtracks,3D animation, and virtual reality. It is available to

Macintosh and Windows 3.x/95/NT. The QuickTime packagecontains a plug-in and
helper applications. The QuickTime Plug-in allows QuickTime and QuickTime VR

content to be viewed directly within a browser. The MoviePlayer and PictureViewer,

helper applications, allow all QuickTime multimedia to be played (file creation and

editing can be completed with QuickTime Pro).

o Shockwave: http://www. macromedia.com/shockwave/

The Shockwaveplug-in, provided by Macromedia, Inc., allows multimedia files

createdusing Macromedia's Director, Authorware, and Flash to be viewed directly in

your web browser. The plug-in is compatible with NetscapeNavigator 2.0 or later and
Internet Explorer 3.0 or later on Macintosh and Windows 3.1/95/NT platforms. The
Macromedia site also provides detailed information about Shockwave,including a

section called Shockzonewhere userscan view Shockwavein action.

o VivoActive Player: http://www. vivo. com/products/Playfree/vaplayer.

html

VivoActive Player delivers on-demandvideo and audio from any website offering
VivoActive content. This product, provided by Vivo Software, Inc., is available for
NetscapeNavigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers on Power Macintosh

363
and Windows 3.x/95/NT platforms. Learn more about the VivoActive Player and test
its capabilities at the Vivo Software website.

* Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www. adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/

Acrobat Readerallows you to accessPDF files on the web. It is provided by Adobe

Systems,Inc. and is available for Macintosh, Unix, and Windows 3.x/95/NT.

e ActiveMovie: This plug-in is included in Internet Explorer and plays

multimedia files.

* Cosmo Player: A VRML viewer available to Windows 3.1 / 95 / NT or UNIX

(IRIX) versions of Netscape,createdby Silicon Graphics,the companythat makes
graphics effects for movies like JurassicPark. A newer version is available from
Cosmo Software.

9 NetscapeMedia Player: Plays WAV, MIDI, Sun au, and Macintosh Aff
soundsfiles. It also plays Netscapepacketized audio files, though this author has
never encounteredthem.

* Java: A Java interpreter allows the browser to display java applets, applications
that have a variety of uses.Most java appletsare used for menus and Times Square
news tickers. They also have the potential for delivering educational applications
over the Internet. The disadvantageto Java is they load slowly comparedto other
web media. The advantageto java is one program for all platforms, culminating in
the motto thatjava allows one to "write once, run everywhere." The realization is

not there yet, giving the popular alternative motto "write once, debug everywhere."

Sources:
http://Www.columbia.edulitclitclwebdevlarchivelbrowsers.
html
Source:http://ýcout.cs.wisc.edulindex.
html

364
 Appendix K: Samples of Some Online Newspapers Banners Rates

Al-sharq al -Awsat online bannersRate

1- Advert is placed on any page*
2 cm x 2.1 cm 1000US Dollars
5x2.1 cm 1500US Dollars
10 x 2.1 cm 2000 US Dollars
Full page plus a link 5000 US Dollars
2- Advert is pl ed on index page:
2 cm x 2.1 cm 1500 US Dollars
5 cm x 2.1 cm 2000 US Dollars
10 cm x 2.1 cm 2500 US Dollars I
IFull pageplus a link 5500 US Dollars
Source:al-Sharq, 41-awsatwebsite
* Prices per month

Banners Advertising Rates at al-Anwar.

CostPerThousandRandomPageViews:$35
Sections CPM
PageOne $45
LebaneseNews $40
Arab news $35
World News $33
BuisnessNews $40
TechnologyNews $40
Art&Entertainment News $29
Health&ScienceNews $29
Sport News $29
Special Features $30
Editorials $40
Cartoons $29
People $29
Crossword Puzzles $25
UpdatedNews $45
CPM( Cost per thousandimpressions)

365
Advertising rates on al-Nahar Internet Edition

jDaily
Price / No. of No. of
Page (Section) Html flIes eckly
Month Pages Banners
0
onthl
Homepage annaharonline. com $500 1 8 D
Front Page front. htm $350 2& more 2 - D
Political mahalsya. htm $350 14 & more 3 D
Economic eco.htm $200 10 & more 3 D
Int'l & Arab News arabalam. htm $250 12 & more 3 D
Cases kadaya.htm $100 5 &rnore 3 D
Justice kadar.htm $100 6 &more 3 D
Forum nadwa. htm $100 1 &more 3 D
Reports tahkik. htm $100 1 &more 3 D
Editorials edito. htm $250 15 & more 3 D
Municipalities baldat. htm $250 5 &rnore 3 D
Ecological beaa.htm $100 4 &rnore 3 D
Agenda mofakara. htm $100 1& more 3 D
Cultural edu. htm $100 6 &more 3 D
Student mim. htm $100 12 & more 3 D
Obituaries wafiat. htm $200 1 3 D
Sport News htm _ $100 12 &. more 3 D
spo.
Last Page end. htm $250 3& more 3 D
Sport Supplement riyada. htm $250 6 &more 2l w
Cultural Supplement cults. htm $250 10 & more 2 w
Internet Supplement inter. htm $250 6 &more 2 w
Directory Supplement dalil. html $250 10 & more 2 w
Youth Supplement chabab.html $250 10 & more 2 w
Arab & World Supplement arabal. html $100 16 & more 2 M
Monde Diplomatique lemond. html $100 & more 2 M
116
Annahar (Pdf) annahar.com. lb $500 1 13 D
Direction pdfed2. html $250 1 2 D
_$250
Cartoons cartl-2-3. html 3 2 D
Subscribers' Table (Fv) page42. html $100 1 2 D
Subscribers' Table (Iod) page52.html $50 1 2 D
Archives archi2. html $50 1 2 D
Subscription form2. html _ $50 1 2 D
Opinion opinion2. html 2 D
-$50 -1
11
Annahar Audionet annahaninco. com. 10 200 D
Classified ind2. html 1$150 11 0

366