The Internet as a delivery system for news

This thesis documents the application of the Internet as a delivery system for news and journalism. Its principal focus is the use of the World Wide Web as a publishing médium by Australian media sources. The use of the World Wide Web as a delivery system for news was found to be commonplace, but conservative in its style. There was little innovation. Attempts to take advantage of the unique features that the Internet offers as a delivery system were uncommon. Content was mostly "legacy" content recycled from non-Internet sources of news. These were mostly newspapers. There was essentially no regular amateur journalism on any Web site. Readers of news on the Web were found to be more interested in the convenience of reading news on the Web than any of its special features such as interactivity or multimédia. The Internet can also be applied as a tool in the área of agenda-setting research. The monitoring of structured online polis for the variable influence of news stories on agendas was found to be the most successful research methodology conducted. In general, it was found that the basic paradigm of news delivery that existed prior to the arrival of the Internet has not been changed.