Mediamorphosis of Regional Newspapers: Utilization of the Internet’s Potential by Kannada Media

Abstract

The advent of the internet has posed threats as well as offered new opportunities for the traditional news media industry. The innumerable potentials of the internet include instant delivery of news, multimedia content and other user-friendly features to media consumers. Since digital news consumption is proliferating in India, it is important to study how Indian regional newspapers have adapted to new media technological advancements. Using Zamith’s (2008. 9th International Symposium on Online Journalism, 1–8) methodological framework, we identify various potentials of the internet that can be utilized by the traditional media offering news online. The study examines the extent to which Indian regional news sites have incorporated these potentials—interactivity, hypertextuality, multimediality, immediacy, memory, personalization, ubiquity, creativity and other latest new media technologies. Roger Fidler’s ‘mediamorphosis theory’ is employed as a theoretical approach to examine how regional language newspapers are responding to technological advancements. The study looks at three news sites of the most circulated Kannada language (a regional language of Karnataka state) newspapers. Our study finds that Indian regional news sites only partially use the internet’s potentials and are unable to explore some of the internet’s features due to their rigid organizational policies and a lack of multiskilled workforce.