According to the survey of scholars, according to the website diversion situation of domestic print media in 2021, Google will account for 50% and Facebook (Facebook) will account for about 20%, showing that the two major digital platform operators have dominated the traffic of Taiwan news media websites.

(Photo by reporter Tian Yuhua)

[Reporter Chen Jiayi/Taipei Report] A survey report recently published by inter-school scholars such as Chengchi University and Jinan University shows that due to the rapid rise of digital platforms, the circulation of print media such as newspapers and magazines in the past 10 years is close to "half", while digital platforms The traffic mechanism and opaque algorithm also greatly affect the trend of news topics, which has a great impact on the production of professional news content.

Scholars believe that the media plays the role of the fourth power, affecting freedom of speech and the development of democracy. They hope that the government can learn from foreign experience and support the news media and digital platforms in negotiating prices.

Liu Changde, a professor at the Department of Journalism, Chengchi University, Zhang Chunyan, an associate professor at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Jinan University, and other scholars published a research survey on the "Influence of Digital Platforms on Publishing News Media". From 2012 to 2021, the number of newspapers and magazines declined by 51.2% and 52.1%, almost halving.

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In response to the development of digital platforms and the changes in the way the public receives news and information, print media, whether in print sales or in advertising revenue, have experienced a sharp drop, facing difficulties in media management.

According to the research survey, newspaper revenue has been declining, and the two companies interviewed have dropped from a total of 4.65 billion yuan to 2.48 billion yuan in the past 10 years.

In terms of advertising revenue, the traditional advertising volume of newspapers has dropped by nearly 80% in the past 10 years. Although the proportion of digital advertising revenue has increased, it only accounts for nearly 20% of the total revenue, which is difficult to make up for the decline of traditional advertising. While print advertising continues to decline, digital advertising has grown relatively fast, surpassing traditional advertising last year, and magazines have also mitigated the impact of digital platforms by holding courses and lectures.

In addition, according to the website diversion of print media in 2021, Google will account for 50% and Facebook (Facebook) will account for about 20%, showing that two major digital platform operators dominate the traffic of Taiwan's news media websites.

The study pointed out that now that everyone has one computer, the public relies on "indirect" access to news information through digital platforms such as Google and Facebook. As a result, news media websites have put news original content on digital platforms, hoping to use the huge traffic of digital platforms to guide reading and listening. Man clicks on news link.

However, the media's news content to win the attention of readers depends on the algorithms of large digital platforms.

Search engines such as Google determine the chances of news content being seen by the public through the sorting of articles; Facebook and LINE may use algorithms to filter news content according to the preferences of readers, which may exacerbate the stratospheric effect and make it difficult for the public to receive diverse information , and when public opinions become increasingly polarized, it will be difficult to achieve rational communication, which may impact Taiwan's democratic development.

Scholars pointed out that the influence of digital platforms is increasing day by day, but the algorithm and advertising profit sharing mechanism are not transparent enough. Today, digital platforms no longer just help media news content exposure, but play the role of screening news media content.

The advertising charging mechanism of digital platforms relying on traffic also obliges news media to meet the rules of the game of digital platforms, forcing the media to use sensational headlines and themes in the news production system to make news flow gossip and fragmentation, which not only violates the traditional journalism profession value, but also negatively affect the role of the media's fourth power.

Scholars suggest that the media should reduce their reliance on a single digital platform, increase the number of print and digital subscriptions, optimize website operations, or establish a subscription system for e-newsletters.

The news media needs stable revenue to fulfill their role as the fourth power.

Therefore, the digital news market needs to create a market structure in which the media can find stable revenue again. Taiwan can learn from the relevant laws on media bargaining formulated by Canada, Australia and other countries, and develop a sound profit sharing or payment cooperation through the government and the industry. and other models, to find the strength to compete with digital platforms, and to avoid the monopoly of the news market by large digital platforms.

According to the diversion situation of media websites, Google's influence has gradually increased in the past ten years, and Facebook has gradually decreased the proportion of news diversion due to its emphasis on the role of "social" in recent years and its strategic avoidance of controversy as a "media".

However, the two major digital platforms still dominate about 70% of the traffic to Taiwan's news media websites.

(taken from research report)

Affected by the Internet and digital platforms, the paper circulation of domestic newspapers and magazines has experienced a sustained and substantial decline from 2012 to 2021, decreasing by 51.2% and 52.1% respectively, and the decline has almost halved.

(taken from research report)

The traditional advertising volume of newspapers has dropped by nearly 80% in the past 10 years. Although the proportion of digital advertising revenue has increased, it only accounts for nearly 20% of the total revenue. It is difficult to make up for the decline of traditional advertising.

(taken from research report)