Running Head: DIGITIZING THE CARROLL NEWS · internet, transitioning to an online format would...

Digitizing The Carroll News 1

Running Head: DIGITIZING THE CARROLL NEWS

Digitizing the Carroll News For Benefit of Environment, Readers, and Staff

Alexander Butsko

John Carroll University


Table of Contents

Introduction …………………….....….……………………………………………....4

Background ………………………...…….…………………………………………..5

Environment Benefit .....……………..……...…………………………….....5

Readership Benefit ....…………………....….………...………………….....7

Staff Benefit ……………………………….……...…………………….….....8

Research Questions ………………………………………………………..……….10

Research Methods Proposal ……………………………………………...………..10

Method ……………………………………………………………...………...10

Procedures ……………………………………………………………...…….11

Sample ………………………………………………………………...………12

Data Analysis ……………………………………………………....……...….13

Study 1………………………………………………………………………………....13

Method ……………………………………………………………………..….13

Results ……………………………………………………………………...…16

Interpretation ………………………………………………………..…………18

Limitations and Future Research ..…………………….………….…………20

Study 2 ……....……………………………………………………………….…………21

Background ..……………………………………………………….………..…21

Method …………………………………………………………….….…………21

Research Questions …………………………………………….………..……22

References ……………………………………………………...……………………...24


Appendices …………………………………………………………...………………...26

A ………………………………………………....……………...……………….26

B ………………………………………………….………………...………….…29

C …………………………………………………………………...…….…….…30

D ………………………………………………………………………....…….....31

E ……………………………………………………………………....………….33

F …………………………………………………………………………………..34


Digitizing The Carroll News for Benefit of Environment, Readers, and Staff

The Carroll News provides a source for the student voice at John Carroll

University with advisor and Emmy award-winning, Dr. Bob Noll. In recent years, the

university’s campus newspaper has received trouble in a couple areas of service and

reach. Dr. Noll and staff have had conflict deciding whether or not the campus

newspaper should publish in a digital-online format. This current struggle originates

from younger writers within The Carroll News pushing for an online edition while senior

editors and writers do not want to create any change or extended efforts.

This struggle relates to a secondary issue that The Carroll News has repeatedly

faced in recent years, increasing readership. In relation, these two issues can find

solvency when being exposed to the benefitting factors of an online edition.

This study demonstrates how these problems can be solved by digitizing the

campus newspaper, while giving explanation as to how such a solution would be

beneficial to staff. This is provided by secondary research found by Carlos Cruz and

Phil Ghanash (see Appendix E). Also found in this study, is how this solution would be

beneficial to the environment, target audience, and the staff writers themselves. The

current issue, stemmed from poor audience interest in print publications and staff fear in

change, is a simple fix after understanding audience demands and the simplicity in

digitizing the print edition. Overall, an online edition would have earth-friendly benefits

as well as increased readership and staff gratification.


Background

Environment Benefit

For decades, institutions have been creating policies to help improve their

campus’ environment-friendly features. Ever since eco-friendly and environment-friendly

discussions populated on campuses across the nation, this topic has only increased in

importance over the years. With the environment being such a vital contribution in

making a campus accessible, each possible factor that could improve campus

sustainability must be weighed (Alshuwaikhata, 2008). For this reason, common

changes are made on campuses all around the nation. According to a study from

ConnectTable.com, the three most common of these changes consist of class blogging

for notes, online-assignment submission platforms, and converting the campus paper to

a digital format. All these changes are in hopes to make campuses practice

sustainability and convert to a paper-free campus, as much as possible (Dublick, 2017).

John Carroll is an academic institution that has taken action to practice campus

sustainability in the recent years. In fact, John Carroll has already put in efforts to

practice two of these changes. Many courses on campus allow online blogging and

eNotes in order to save paper. John Carroll’s Canvas login allows students to submit

assignments and professors to share class materials electronically, to prevent

unnecessary amounts of paper use from thousands of students. With that, the next step

for John Carroll to continue their sustainability practice would be to transform the Carroll

News to a digital, online-format. Digitizing the campus newspaper and pushing to further


practice sustainability properly promotes the John Carroll mission statement and

commitment to service and the community.

There are many factors as to how an online edition of the Carroll News would

benefit the environment. Primarily, going digital would conserve paper from the

newspaper itself and cardboard from the shipment processes beings that the Carroll

News uses a printing press out of Parma, Ohio. In addition, this conversion would help

conserve cost as well as paper. Secondly, digitizing the campus newspaper would also

solve a current issue within the Carroll News’ morgue, or old archived papers.

According to Carroll News Managing Editor, Julie Hullett, the Carroll News has had an

issue with storage and the papers that do not get picked up in circulation. In recent

years, the newsroom has been piling up with old archived files. However, digitizing the

Carroll News would allow the staff to hold archive files on data memory stacks. Not only

would this solve this staff issue, but it would also prevent the waste of adding hundreds

of papers to local trash dumps. With that, Americans use 85,000,000 tons of a paper a

year, which averages to 680 pounds per person. Among this number, the average

institution throws away (not recycled) about 13,000 pounds of paper each year (Conn,

2018). Therefore, any help in reducing these numbers would benefit the environment

and allow John Carroll to fully complete the three most common practices of

sustainability and fully commit to their statements of service to the community.


Readership Benefit

According to a recent study from the UK, “people are now much more likely to

prefer to read from a computer screen rather than a printed book or magazine”

(Coughlan, 2016). With more and more people preferring to go online for their news

sources, a digitized edition of the Carroll News seems much more sensible. A current

issue within the Carroll News newsroom is not of circulation, but readership. The Carroll

News has done well with their mission to circulate their work in locations that are

accessible to all students and faculty. However, even with this appropriate circulation,

staff has not seen the numbers of readership that they have wished. With previous

studies, such as the UK study, showing that people prefer online over print, it is

believable that this issue could be solved by moving the Carroll News online.

There are many benefits to the readers of the Carroll News once moving to an

online format. These benefits range from preferred platform use to quick and easy

accessibility. In another study linked with similar results to the UK study and secondary

research from Pew Research Center’s statistics on print vs. online media, it is believed

that this desire for online platforms is linked with digital media’s accessibility. For

instance, mobile internet usage surpassed desktop usage for the first time in history last

year (Heisler, 2016). With a busy world and a society with as high as 84% access to the

internet, transitioning to an online format would increase target audience readership.

This is because the current demographic and psychographic for the Carroll News falls

among students ages 18-25. In this age range, 89% of surveyed students prefered

finding their news source outlet online rather than in print (Schmidt, 2017).


With these statistics, it is apparent that the target audience for the Carroll News

would much rather prefer finding their news online rather than in print. Beings that the

Carroll News does not have an online edition, they are losing the interest of most of

their entire audience. Therefore, creating an online edition would increase this interest

and demand for online sources and potentially gain the readership that the Carroll News

has been reaching for in past years. Overall, as a busy, fast-paced college student

psychographic, the Carroll News must make their service quick and convenient and

there is no better way to do this than digitizing the Carroll News.

Staff Benefit

A current struggle within the Carroll News that has limited the campus paper from

going online is the staff’s worries themselves. This current battle relates to younger staff

pushing to go digital and senior staff wanting to avoid change and producing more

efforts. Another struggle the newsroom is facing is the belief in real news to be delivered

in hard copy, or print. These struggles have caused the Carroll News to lack in an online

presence, which also causes the staff to be ineligible for winning university awards for

their journalism achievements. This is because a university can only apply for such

nominations if they have an online edition as well.

When debating whether or not staff should push for digital, it is important to

weigh the sides of each argument. After hearing from the Carroll News Managing

Editor, Julie Hullett, it is obvious that there is a possible solution to please both sides.

We learn that senior staff writers and editors fear going online for two main reasons:

creating more work and having public record of their word and work. These issues bring


fear in the senior staff, but can be easily adjusted to promote benefit for staff and

readers. First off, the Carroll News uses an Adobe product and service called InDesign

for layout and design of their weekly newspaper. InDesign has a sharing feature that

allows users to either submit their template to a local printing press for hard copy

production, or an electronic URL upload submission that would allow the Carroll News

to upload a digital copy on the web. With this feature being so easily accessible, going

digital would not cause the Carroll News staff any extra work upon the completion of

layout, other than the click of a button. Secondly, as the world has become more and

more politically correct in the past years, many writers for the Carroll News are worried

that their opinions could strike anger in online bloggers, exposing the staff writers to

possible harassment or embarrassment. As this has been a problem on campuses

before, such as the Texas State scandal in early December of last year, there have

already been alternatives to protect student opinions. An example of this also comes

from the Texas State scandal, as student-paper staff have been given permission to

write under anonymous bylines in order to protect their opinions within editorial columns

(Bradshaw, 2017). This is just an example of the many possible solutions to protect staff

writers, and display that there is nothing to fear about transitioning print newspapers to

online formats.

“Detrimental to the heart of journalism is the feeling in publishing a hard copy

print edition that a writer or editor can hold and be proud of” (Zoella, 2016). This is the

case for many journalists, especially with such a diversifying pressure of going digital

that our society holds today. However, this feeling can also be compared to that of


holding an award for such journalistic achievement. According to the Associated

Collegiate Press, an institution is not eligible to apply for contests, unless, an online

edition of the newspaper is present to the campus. Therefore, creating this online format

would allow for the Carroll News to finally be eligible for award nominations and provide

the newsroom with credible achievement.

Research Questions

This information gives insight as to why their is a need for research in order to

address the problems within The Carroll News. This research study should be driven to

answer the following research questions. Research question one should focus on how

students and staff view The Carroll News service and what their current perspectives

are on the newspaper product. The second research question should give insight on

whether or not students and staff feel more comfortable and confident in reading an

online edition or print edition of The Carroll News. A third research question should aim

to answer for what reasons an individual prefers print or online formats, followed by

what factors contribute to the fabrication of such a decision - whether environment,

accessibility, convenience, normality, or etc.

METHOD

In order to answer the previous research questions and the additional questions

that submerge from such data, focus groups and in-depth interviews are to be

conducted. With primary research questions concerning as to which edition is the more

preferable format and why, there are many more perspectives to be exposed. In

addition to current research questions, this study should answer concerns dealing with


why there is a diversity in perspectives on print and online formats among The Carroll

News staff, what readers expect and want from The Carroll News service, and

confirming the most successful ways to implement news services in a manner that is

most desirable by this target audience. From these questions, data must show a

connection and agreeable solution between the desires of readers and The Carroll

News staff. The most appropriate method to identify this data is conducted from focus

groups and in-depth interviews, in order to fully comprehend participants’ perspectives.

Procedures

With the research needed to be gathered in this study, the most suitable method

of qualitative research is found by conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews. For

reason that there needs to be full comprehension of why an individual prefers a

particular format over the other, studies that give extensive insight on the participants’

ideology are most appropriate. When conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews,

moderators have the ability to fully grasp participants’ reasonings behind their decisions.

This is because the moderator has the ability to ask questions face-to-face with

participants and identify variables such as tone of voice and body language, or even ask

participants more extensive questions. In both, focus groups and in-depth interviews,

the moderator, notetaker, and participants are engaged with one another in a manner

that allows flexibility in understanding questions and responses. This flexibility allows

the gathering of good data and pure consumer insight.


Sample

The current demographic for The Carroll News is the student body. However, for

this study, the target audience involves both the student body and The Carroll News

staff. In order to get best results from the student body, a focus group will be held in the

Grasselli and Breen Library Center. To influence interest and gain a better reach to the

study body, an online focus group is conducted. Allowing students to electronically

answer the questionnaire (see Appendix A) on their own time, at their own leisure, and

in their own personal comforts allows more students to be willing to participate. In order

to gather an accurate perspective from the student body, 15 to 20 students should be

sampled and act as participants in this study. These students are needed to represent

the perspectives and desires of other students on campus. In order to gather data from

The Carroll News staff, in-depth interviews will be held after a Carroll News reporter

meeting. Writers and editors who are interested in bettering The Carroll News services

will act as participants and be representatives for other staff members. With this, Dr.

Bob Noll will be asked to participate in an in-office interview, in order to hear from the

advisor of The Carroll News. These studies will share information concerning how staff

members of The Carroll News feel about the previously mentioned research questions.

Hearing from representatives of the student body and representatives of The Carroll

News will give insight on whether or not online editions should be implemented, and

explore the reasonings as to why participants come to such decisions. Overall, in order

to conduct these focus groups and interviews, a two-week time frame is expected. This

is due to the need for one night to be devoted to a focus group examining participants


representing the student body. Another night to interview Carroll News staff members

prior to their weekly meeting, and a third day to hold an in-office interview with Dr. Noll.

Data Analysis

Prior to the focus group and interviews, a framework for interpreting the data will

need to be created. This framework will need to display how the gathered research

exposes an overall decisions among the participants who are representing either the

student body or The Carroll News staff. This data analysis will include exploring results

of whether or not students want to read an online or print format of The Carroll News,

and whether or not staff writers and editors desire to work with online formatting. This

data will justify the study’s findings and clearly display answers to the desired research

questions.

Study One

Method

In this first study, an online focus group (see Appendix C and D) was conducted

to insure an outreach to a fair and representable number of participants in comparison

to the few thousand students that attend John Carroll University. The ten students that

participated in the online focus group were recruited through convenience sampling as

they were the first ten students, at random, to complete the questionnaire. The students

were sent an email (see Appendix B) containing a hyperlink to the online focus group

and asked to complete the questionnaire with honest and complete answers. Each

member of the focus group is currently attending their third or fourth year at the

university, giving these participants a knowledgeable sense of experience on and


around campus. This is beneficial as multiple years on campus gives each of the

participants enough experience to be aware of The Carroll News and understand their

services without moderators having to explain or give any additional information. To add

to this demographic, there is a fair proportion among male and female participants.

Some participants were also diverse from one another in ethnicity. Therefore, all

participants were randomly selected to adequately represent the student body, aware

and knowledgeable of The Carroll News and their services to show understanding,

proportionally mixed among sex to insure neutral gender exposure and representation,

and competent in diversity to display a total encompassing of an interracial student

body.

The procedures for this online focus group were conducted through

focusgroupit.com (see Appendix C). The online focus group was chosen over a regular

sit-in focus group in order to give students the ability to complete the questionnaire

within their own free time and comfort. This procedure avoided making students travel

to a designated location as well as allowed students to participate at any hour of the

week they prefer rather than being forced to participate at a specific time. Both of these

factors allowed for more participants and research data. This is because giving students

the option to respond to the questionnaire whenever they choose allows for more

available and willing participants as well as more compelling responses. This optional

time frame not only creates more willing participants, but also allows for

student-participants to give deeper input as they are not pressured by interviewer or

social acceptance bias.


The protocol for this focus group was to explore what students think of The

Carroll News, how they perceive the newspaper, and the reasons why these

perspectives are formed. In development of this research protocol, the gathered data is

to expose the common thoughts and perspectives this representation of the study body

upholds. The first few questions of the focus group are simple clarifying questions to

see how often students read The Carroll News and allow participants to feel comfortable

for future probing and more in-depth questions. These questions are designed to

understand whether or not the participants are active readers of The Carroll News and

what they wish to obtain from the campus newspaper. The following questions are

implemented to help expose what students are looking for in a news source. These

questions ask for more complex and compelling responses to explore what readers find

most important. Gathering this data helps show what students demand from The Carroll

News and what The Carroll News can incorporate in their services to increase

readership. The remaining questions are designed to find out which method students

prefer when discovering their daily news. In these questions, participants are asked

whether they prefer gathering their news from online sources or print copies. At this

stage in the focus group, the information gathered is to inform The Carroll News of their

audience demands when considering an online source and a print source. Overall, the

research protocol is designed to show how The Carroll News is currently viewed, what

can be done to improve their reach, and whether or not staff should consider digitizing

their services to meet the demands of their audience.


Results

The results from the online focus group displayed overall views and perspectives

as most of the participants’ responses were very similar. As it varied whether or not the

participant was a reading of The Carroll News, all participants preferred gathering their

daily news from an online source. Of the participants that said they did not read The

Carroll News, their reasoning was due to already obtaining their news from a different

mobile source. From the first few questions regarding the participants’ perspectives on

The Carroll News, data showed that many believe the newspaper only covers campus

topics and issues with no national news coverage. Responses that support these

findings include, “I find news other places, specifically those that I can easily access on

my phone or laptop,” ”I don’t typically read The Carroll News because I get most

information from other news sources, like The Skimm (an online newsletter),” “I’m

content with reading the news about what’s going on in the world, rather than just at

JCU.”

In the following question responses, results displayed what exactly participants

are looking for in a campus newspaper and what is most important to them. These

results varied as participants had different desires of The Carroll News services. This

range involved factors of convenience to prefered topic coverage. Many of the

participants demand a more convenient method in means of obtaining The Carroll

News, while some want to see more of their preferred articles. Responses that support

these findings include, “Primarily, campus-wide news, although I’m interested in World

News and Business (as these sections would expand their coverage),” “If there was a


website (not medium) or application for The Carroll News, I would be more inclined to

read it more often,” “The Carroll News is good for things going on at John Carroll and

the Cleveland area, but not necessarily national.”

The findings from the last group of questions, regarding a preference among

online and print editions, heavily favored one side. Results showed that each participant

would be more inclined to read The Carroll News when delivered in a more convenient

method, such as digital. Participants responses were comparable to one another as

many believe an online edition would increase their readership. Responses that support

these findings include, “If The Carroll News were online, it would be easier for me to get

access to it,” “It’d be nice to have an email subscription where they can send the paper

electronically and I could sign up to receive it,” “The Carroll News is only in select

places around campus. If it were online, more students would read it.”

Overall, these results displayed three common themes among the demands from

The Carroll News audience that would benefit readership. The first theme is the obvious

demand for convenience. As the participants mentioned, an online platform would give

readers the ability to pick up The Carroll News at any moment, increasing readership by

more availability. This factor of convenience is important to the student body in a means

of gathering news, as proved by the many participants who either claimed to already

receive news via internet or those who claimed they would read The Carroll News if it

were made more electronically accessible. The second theme came from the

participants’ responses to their prefered article coverage. Like previously mentioned,

many participants negatively view The Carroll News as a news outlet that only covers


campus issues. Although campus issues are prominent in a university’s newspaper,

many want to see some coverage of national topics. However, The Carroll News does

cover national and international issues often. This concern only arises from those who

do not read the paper and the reputation The Carroll News has on campus. The final

theme ties in with convenience, but displays an overall favorited method of gathering

news information. All but one participant stated they prefer gathering their news while

mobile or on the go. These participants claim to not have schedules or deviate time for

when they check the news. They prefer to either receive alerts and notifications or be

able to check a news feed whenever they acquire downtime.

Interpretation

When analyzing and interpreting the results of this study, one must take into

consideration that these ten random participants represent the student body as a whole.

Their responses create a general understanding of the student body’s beliefs and

perspectives on The Carroll News. From these responses, the following interpretations

are made to assist The Carroll News in acknowledging what their audience desires in

order to increase readership.

Data from this focus group shared new insight on the how The Carroll News is

perceived by the student body and what expectations the student body demands from

The Carroll News. The results show new information that was not conducted in previous

secondary research. New data showed how participants favor three previously

mentioned themes, convenience, digital platforms, and mobile access. In each of these

themes interpretations can be made to support the participants’ opinions.


When interpreting convenience, it is obvious from the focus group that the

student body values time greatly. This meaning, students have a desire for quick and

simple access to their news mediums. This importance of conveniency exposes how

students truly feel about gathering their news sources. When deciding how to gather

their news, students aim for the most convenient and accessible medium rather than

any other reasoning. According to signpost.com, blogs, e-newsletters, and online

articles are the most convenient and accessible methods in gathering news updates

(Kayal, 2015). This source also states that gathering news information by access of a

website or enewsletter is a strong method in today’s society due to four main reasons.

First, gathering news from an online source is exclusive. This is because updates can

constantly be made when able to work with a file upload, rather than shipping to and

from a printing press, weekly. Second, they are effective in the sense that they can

target and reach just about anyone within their demographic. For instance, when

articles are posted online, anyone with active internet connection can open and view

them. Which leads to the third reason, nearly all participants willing to gather news have

an email and the ability to sign up or subscribe for daily news updates. Every participant

within the focus group has a smartphone or tablet capable of researching updates within

a news medium. Last to mention, is the importance of conveniency. (Kayal, 2015).

College students do not have a much time outside of class, work, or other

responsibilities. Therefore, they are constantly searching for the easiest and most

accessible outlet.


In analysis, The Carroll News must incorporate this principle of convenience

within their services to meet the expectations of their target audience. This is to be done

while also supplying the newspaper with a proportionate set of articles that expose what

is happening on campus and around the globe, like participants want. An applicable

solution for making The Carroll News more convenient and accessible to the student

body would be to convert the paper to an online format, like the secondary research

supported. This proportionate set of articles is to be further examined to find a better

representation of what students want from within The Carroll News. The next step in this

process will be to conduct a survey to explore how students wish to receive their news

and what exactly they expect to see within the articles’ topics and issues.

Limitations and Future Research

As mentioned, to further explore what topics and issues students desire from The

Carroll News staff, a survey must be conducted. Before producing this survey,

secondary research must be gathered to give a foundation as to what topics are most

commonly demanded in a campus newspaper and which issues students are interested

in most. This secondary research will allow the next study to uphold accurate

representations of the possible topics and issues students find interesting.

However, moving forward with a survey does strike a couple limitations within

research. When conducting a survey, participants are required to only answer what is

listed, rather than give more-thoughtful responses. This is due to limitations between

effort and participation. In order to reach an appropriate number of participants with a 25

question survey, each question will need acquire little effort from the participant as


college students will more than likely turn down more thought-provoking paperwork

(Schmidt, 2017). Making questions multiple choice, one word response, and use of the

Likert scale should help the study prosper despite these limitations.

Study 2

Background

This second study is designed to help understand what students expect in a

campus newspaper in effort to assist The Carroll News in increasing readership. After

using the previous study to support a decision in whether or not students prefer

gathering their news from an online source, this study will help display the topics and

issues that The Carroll News demographic demands.

With secondary research found from the NewsDaily Corporation, information is

gathered on what exactly students are looking for from their news sources. According to

Student News Daily of the NewsDaily Corp. (see Appendix F), students are more

preoccupied with gathering world news rather than local news. Therefore, this study will

assist The Carroll News in discovering what topics and issues, global or local, their

demographic desire to read.

Method

In this second study, a 25 question survey is required in order to gather

information in regards to the remaining questions previously mentioned. A minimum of

25 questions is required to appropriately display the perspectives of the possible

respondents. These questions will target what interests students have within news

coverage, as well as how often students check news feeds and their methods of doing


so. To gather this data, the survey will obtain simple and easy response questions. This

is to avoid participant rejection as most students turn down optional-challenging

paperwork (Schmidt, 2017). These simple questions will consist of multiple choice

responses; one word, short answer responses; and make use of the Likert scale to

show measures of agreement and likability.

To spread this survey and reach an appropriate number of respondents, surveys

will be distributed through email as well as paper copy in the Grasselli Library and

Breen Learning Center.

Research Questions

From the previous study, two research questions are left to be answered. After

finding a solution to the debate between online and print editions, understanding what

sparks interest in readers and how these readers consume news will also assist The

Carroll News in gaining readership. Therefore, the remaining research questions are

designed to discover how to increase reader interest and how readers choose to

consume daily news. The first research question simply asks respondents to declare

what news issues and topics they find most interesting. This research question will

show The Carroll News which issues and topics to focus on in order to please their

demographic and increase readership. The second research question will ask

respondents to give their perspectives on when and how often they check their news

feeds throughout their day. From this research question, information gathered will show

whether or not students require mobile access to The Carroll News and how often

students expect feed updates. This information will support The Carroll News with


enough data to explore their digital options in compensation for what their audience

desires.


References

Alshuwaikhata, H. M. & Abubakar, I. (2008). An Integrated Approach to Achieving

Campus Sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 1777-1785.

Bradshaw, K. (2017, December 1). Texas State’s Student Paper Recieves Death

Threats From Controversial Column. Retrieved from

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Texas-State-s-student-paper-rec

eives-death-12398468.php

Conn, J. (2018). Paper Recycling Facts. Recycling Revolution. Retrieved from

https://www.usi.edu/recycle/paper-recycling-facts/

Coughlan, S. (2016, May 13). Young People ‘Prefer to Read On-Screen.’ Retrieved

from http://www.bbc.com/news/education-22540408

Dublick, S. (2017, March 4). Top Campus Sustainability Ideas. Retrieved from

http://theconnectable.com/green-campus-sustainability-ideas/

Heisler, Y. (2016, November 2). Mobile Internet Usage Surpasses Desktop Usage for

the First Time in History. Retrieved from

http://bgr.com/2016/11/02/internet-usage

Kayal, A. (2015, March 9). 5 Reasons Why Enewsletters Are So Popular Right Now.

Retrieved from http://blog.signpost.com/5-reasons-why/enewsletters

Nelms, H. (2015, June 4). Print Newspapers vs. Online Editions: Pros and Cons.

Retrieved from https://www.honorsociety.org/articles/

NewsDaily Corp. (2017). Student News Daily. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from

https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Texas-State-s-student-paper-rec

http://theconnectable.com/green-campus-sustainability-ideas/

http://bgr.com/2016/11/02/internet-usage

https://www.honorsociety.org/articles/


Schmidt, A. (2017, September 22). Trends in News Consumption: 1991-2012. Retrieved

from http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/in-changing-news-landscape

Zoella, J. M. (2016, September 19). Print Versus Online News: Pros and Cons.

Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/print-online-news

http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/in-changing-news-landscape


Appendices

Appendix A

The Carroll News Research Question Protocol

Question Function Rationale Time

Please state your name and why you participate in reading The Carroll News or why you choose not to read it.

Introduction Set the stage for common ground among participants. Begin to unravel why they participate in readership or not.

5 minutes

If a reader or not, assuming you do read the paper, what section is/would be your favorite and why?

Transition Get participants comfortable with talking about their favorite topics and sections in the paper.

5-6 minutes

What type of information are you gaining or searching for while reading The Carroll News?

Clarifying Reflection upon their personal motives behind their readership and interests.

5-6 minutes

(Follow-up Question: Taking common response) Seeing that you all have “this motive,” how do you think it relates to how you

Adjoining Relates their motives with the article topics and clarifies what influences them to read, whether seen in The Carroll News

8 minutes


view news outlets outside of The Carroll News?

or not.

What could spark more interest in you to read The Carroll News more often?

Funneling Reflect upon their behaviors and reasonings as to why they are reading the paper or not.

3-4 minutes

Tell me more about how you consume your news content.

Probe Begin to probe of any instances of mentioning internet consumption.

4-5 minutes

What makes the way you currently consume news convenient to you?

Clarifying/Probe Additional probing to see what digital options are presented. Begin leading the conversation towards convenient ways of news consumption.

6-7 minutes

How do you feel The Carroll News makes consumption of the paper convenient for John Carroll students?

Elevating/Probe Raise the issue of accessibility of news content online. Raise awareness to the group the benefits of sharing stories and content online.

4-6 minutes

How often do you receive news content from an online source compared to print?

Probe Probe for potential feedback regarding readers accessing content via digitally or paper copy.

4-6 minutes

When digital, are Funnelling Editors begin to 8 minutes


you more likely to read news content on a desktop or a mobile device, and what factors influence this decision?

describe what other forms of media other universities offer. Dive into the convenience of a digital medium.

Do you feel other methods of sharing The Carroll News content should be explored? If so, why or why not and what methods do you think would work best?

Probe Discuss how different universities use print or digital formats for their campus newspaper, and which is more beneficial to the student body.

7 minutes


Appendix B

Online Focus Group Participant Recruitment Email

Subject: Participation in The Carroll News Focus Group Message: Hello John Carroll Students, The Carroll News and Communication Department would like to invite you to an online focus group starting March 13th and open until March 20th. This focus group should take no longer than 30 minutes and you are free to complete the questionnaire when convenient to you. Participating in this study would benefit The Carroll News services by providing information in conjunction with research regarding readership of campus newspaper. Click on the following link to participate in the focus group: https://focusgroupit.com/groups/1dcde09f/questions Thank you for your participation and cooperation.

https://focusgroupit.com/groups/1dcde09f/questions


Appendix C

Website Used to Conduct Online Focus Group


Appendix D

Questions and Responses Within Online Focus Group Transcripts



Appendix E

Research Protocol for The Carroll News Staff

from Carlos Cruz and Phil Ghanash


Appendix F

Student News Daily Webpage of The NewsDaily Corporation

Date post:	25-Aug-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	0 times
Download:	0 times

Running Head: DIGITIZING THE CARROLL NEWS · internet, transitioning to an online format would...

Documents