Abstract
There has been much talk within journalistic circles in recent years of the ever-impending death of print journalism. It’s true that print subscription rates have been steadily falling for years, and this holds true even in countries such as Norway, which has enjoyed historically high levels of readership. A measure that has seen growing popularity among newsrooms is the introduction of paywalls to attempt to charge customers for access to digital content. In this thesis, I follow up on Helle Sjøvaag’s 2015 study of three Norwegian newspapers in which she analyzed the kinds of content the newspapers placed in front of and behind their paywalls. She looked at Aftenposten, Bergens Tidende, and Stavangers Aftenblad. I examine Drammens Tidende, Gjengangeren, and Tønsbergs Blad. Sjøvaag categorized content in genres such as politics and sports. I perform a similar study and further examine 12 news values, as outlined in Galtung’s and Ruge’s 1965 article, The Structure of Foreign News, to determine which of them appeared in front of and behind the various paywalls. The results show that while there exists a fair amount of variation in the types of genres the different newspapers prioritized in front of and behind their paywalls, the placement of news values is far more consistent. In fact, four news values stand out in terms of where they tend to appear. Stories that affect a large number of people or that constitute breaking news coverage and are reported as they happen appear most often in front of the paywalls. Meanwhile, stories that focus heavily on the perspectives of various individuals and their stories and experiences appear most often behind the paywalls. Furthermore, interviews with staff at each newspaper revealed that other factors beyond the values or genres of a given story– primarily a focus on having a set percentage of stories in front of the paywall and a set percentage of stories behind it – play a role in determining how stories are placed. While paywalls might not be enough to make up for ever-falling print revenues, this study makes it clear that dedicated paywall strategies play a role in how and where editors place their digital content.