The Sunday Times: a longitudinal content analysis of print newspaper in new media age 2013 – 2017.

Abstract

Several arguments have emerged following the development in communication technologies. The Internet in particular has transformed the manner in which newspapers have conventionally been produced, distributed and read around the world. In South Africa, the rapid expansion of the Internet has enhanced access to news presented in digital forms. The outcome is that the print newspapers’ content, circulation and revenue have been altered. This research focused on the leading weekend print newspaper, the Sunday Times and investigated the extent of new media impact within the South African media landscape. This study employed the longitudinal content analysis approach and generated data by comparing frequency count of five articles such as general news, politics, advertisements, business and sports over a five-year period 2013 – 2017. The results, however, revealed no significant impact from new media on the Sunday Times print newspaper contents. Instead, the results indicated an exponential increase in advertisements, constant coverage of local news, business and sports, as well as, constant coverage of international news. Though there was a slight decrease in the number of pages over the years, however, it is difficult to determine the cause as a direct impact from new media, factors such as formatting, layouts, fonts and designs could be considered.