Culture B2 Unit

News online Top 10 news websites in target markets (% internet users who visit website)
UK USA France Germany
1 Work with a partner. Look at the BBC News 47% Yahoo 28% Google News 17% Spiegel Online 17%
infographic. What does it tell Mail online 14% Local paper 18% 20 Minutes 14% Bild 17%
you about how some people are Sky News 12% Fox News 17% Le Monde 13% N24 14%
Yahoo Huffington Post Le Figaro n-tv online
following the news? 9% 17% 12% 12%
The guardian 9% Local TV news 16% Yahoo 11% Local paper 12%
Huffington Post 9% MSN 14% L'Express 10% Google News 11%

2a Read the article. What is the Local Post 7% CNN 14% TF1 9% Focus online 11%
Caily Telegraph 6% Google News 12% BFM TV 9% zdf.de 10%
main difference between open Google News 5% NBC 11% Le Point 8% Ard.de 10%
and closed journalism? MSN 5% NY Times 9% Rue89 8% Sueddeuts-che.de 8%

Open journalism
collaborative news

O
pen journalism refers to a new practice that
further involves its readers. Where closed
journalism publishes its complete and finished
stories to be read, open journalism opens up a
network of information where readers are encouraged
to give their input, to contribute, participate and to
shape and influence the news. This might be via social
networking, shares, tweets, comments, posts, etc. which
have all led to a greater freedom in reporting online.
Online newspapers, like The Guardian, and various
magazines began by opening up select articles
to comments from the public. This encouraged
sharing knowledge, discussion, opinions and an
extension to the topic that a journalist alone
can't be expected to cover in a single article.
Now open journalism is as much about the
original reporter as it is the readers and people
commenting. Due to its online content, the input
from its readers can be from anyone, anywhere in
the world. With input coming from around the world,
open journalism starts to create something more than
just the news and it begins to be a culturally rich
source.
In a report commissioned by the BBC in 2014 it
stated that the UK has one of the leading online
news sectors and from newspapers such as the Mail
online, The Guardian, Telegraph and BBC it sees around 460
million visitors, of which two-thirds are from outside
of the UK. It also reported that 35% of the UK accessed
national news online as their primary source, compared
with 38% of Italy and 22% of Germany. With all of the
perks does come a downside to open journalism and
discussion online
unfortunately is
open to negative
comments and
trolling but the
intention of most
open journalism
is to encourage
UK Italy Germany valuable debate.
National news online as primary source
So, with the ability for anyone and
everyone to be a reader or reporter
France at any time, how is open
journalism used and developing
in other countries? Analysis
Italy of the digital traffic of online
Germany newspapers around the world
can start to reveal a little about
this. The most online views of
general news (not finance or
UK business specific) tended to be
US for US newspapers like USA Today
and The New York Times and then
UK based newspapers like the Daily
Mail and The Guardian – along with the
Percentage of people
Washington Post, these made the top five
accessing news via
social media in 2015. 2012 saw two online newspapers
from China in the top ten.
Social media means people can instantaneously share
news, share their perspectives on news and also release
breaking news via social media platforms. Over the last
few years Twitter and Facebook have seen an increase in
the number of people who use it as an actual source of
news. Reuters Institute Digital News report 2014 showed
how the percentage of people accessing news via social
media does vary from country to country with France at
14%, Germany at 15%, the UK at 17%, the US at 28% and
Italy at a high of 34%.
News content is spread far and wide and along the way
it collects shifting perspectives and levels of engagement
from readers. This form of journalism creates a level of
transparency in the news; more trust is created when
readers are being invited to express feelings, opinions
and worries worldwide

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Culture B2 Unit

2b Complete the sentences with the words in the   Gateway to culture

box. There are two extra words. 3a Work with a partner and discuss the questions.

accessed  • ​anywhere  • ​breaking  • ​increase  • ​influence 1 Do you follow the news? How?
intention  • ​leading  • ​online  • ​shifting 2 What are the benefits of open journalism?
3 Is open journalism used in your country and how
does it compare to other countries?
1 China had two newspapers in the
top ten. PROJECT

2 There has been an in people using 3b You are going to prepare a small presentation
social media as a source of news.
about open journalism around the world. Read
the questions and prepare for your project
3 One of the online news sectors is in research.
the UK.
1 Work in small groups. Choose three different
4 Valuable debate is the of most countries, one being your country and another two
open journalism. abroad. Think about an international news story
and research how it was reported, shared and
5 Open journalism enables people to comment from
commented on in the three different countries.
. 2 In your groups, think about the points below when
6 news can be published via social you do your research online.
media. ■ story – Was it of more/less interest in each

country?
7 34% of people in Italy the news via
■ journalists – Who wrote the article?
social media.
■ readers – Who shared/commented, where were

2c Read the article again and answer the questions. they from?
■ social media – Which platforms were used to
1 What does open journalism encourage?
share or discuss the news story?
■ comments – Who commented, how many

2 What are some of the ways people can access news comments, where were they from?
online? ■ perspectives – Did people’s views or opinions

change from country to country?

■ Any other useful information.
3 How can people share news online?
3c Present your findings to the class. Choose the

most interesting points and add some of your
4 Who are the majority of online visits from to the UK's personal thoughts and opinions, too. Discuss
news sector? the differences and similarities you found
between each country’s news coverage of the
5 How can readers get involved in open journalism? same story and how the public commented and
shared the news story.

6 Which are some of the leading online newspapers in
the US?

7 Which country had the smallest percentage of
people accessing the news via social media?

8 Is social media the only way to comment on the
news?

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