Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	duPlessis, Renee Chantal
URN	etd-0629103-134945
Title	A Convergence of Modes: Present Status of Online News Sites. A Content Analysis of 100 Online Newspaper Web Sites
Degree	Master of Mass Communication (M.M.C.)
Department	Mass Communication
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Xigen Li Committee Chair Jack Hamilton Committee Member Ralph Izard Committee Member
Keywords	online newspapers convergence cross-media owners
Date of Defense	2003-06-23
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract This study examines the current status of online news sites in terms of their level of convergence, and how they are affected by different organizational factors such as organizational influence, cross media partnerships and circulation size. A content analysis of the top 100 circulated newspaper dailies in the United States was conducted to provide understanding as to the current status of these online newspaper sites. A number of categories were examined including newspaper circulation size, updatedness, cross media partnership/ ownership, and level of convergence. Results showed that the majority of the Internet newspaper sites examined shared a media partnership on their site. It also showed that a significant amount of these newspaper Web sites had a high level of convergence, and that those with cross media partnerships had a higher level of convergence than those that did not have any partnerships. The study advances our knowledge on how these online newspaper sites have utilized technology in information delivery, as well as what types of partnerships they share and if they utilized their media partners' information. Future studies may further examine the different types of partnerships involved, whether they were strictly parent owned partners or simply affiliated partnerships. Also, time will only allow technology to advance even further, allowing further studies to examine the level of convergence on newspaper Web sites in the future, and possibly whether cross media partnerships still show a higher level of convergence over individually owned newspaper organizations.
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