The Rise of Online News

According to O'Neil (2011), a survey by done D S Simon, the web video may become the main format for online news, because almost all forms of media have transformed themselves into online television networks. Most of the media outlets are using online video to cover more news than they did before, and the growth of online video is showing no signs of stopping. According to the survey, 85 percent of online media websites are now using online video content to cover the news. 

This is because it has been proven that consumers these days have shorter and shorter attention spans and watching a short news video is often preferable to reading a long news article.  Not to mention the fact that online video adds an additional source for monetization on media websites, which is becoming more and more important according to the survey. Video is a great channel for monetization, with pre- and post-roll ads and more. In May 2010 alone, there were approximately 3 billion YouTube views per day and 13 million hours of video were uploaded in that year alone (youtube.com n.a.).

This success can be attributed to Walsh (2006) concept of multimodality, in which multimodal texts have meaning that are communicated through a synchronization of modes, and can exist through non-print formats such as film and video, such as the case of Youtube. This is because Youtube utilizes design elements attract the viewer’s attention while providing ‘modes’ that enable to sharing of videos which in turns shares knowledge and interests, or CNN.com, in which information can be delivered in quick interactive chunks that can hold the viewers attention. 

An example of an Online News: The Young Turks

Walsh argues that being online is totally different than text, as it doesn’t need to work in symbols or metaphors, but does so by providing information that are based in fact using words, graphics, and images. This has therefore lead to the increasing use of online news portals and should remain a fixture for the foreseeable future.

Reference Lists:

O’Neil, M. 2011, 85% of Media Websites Now Use Online Video to cover News, Social Times, viewed 15 November 2011, <http://socialtimes.com/85-of-media-websites-now-use-online-video-to-cover-news_b60505>

Walsh, M. 2006, ‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts,” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, p.24-37


YouTube n.a, Statistics, viewed 15 November 2011, <http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics>