Summary Of Andrew Rossi's Documentary 'Page One'

“Page One” Analysis Andrew Rossi’s documentary, “Page One” addresses a slew of issues, controversies, and challenges that the news industry has faced, and continues to face today. The de facto poster child for the current transition in the world of Journalism is The New York Times, one of the most recognized newspapers in the country, and perhaps even the world. By the late 2000’s, the internet had surpassed print media in terms of viewership. The Times, along with many other newspapers, faced staff cuts, a massive decline in advertising revenue, and a dwindling readership that increasingly used the internet as a primary source for news. Each of these issues had to be tackled for the paper to survive; however, that does not mean no one suffered.

The first issue is that readers’ trust in mainstream media has declined over the years. Another problem is the evolution of the digital age. Paid print media has become less convenient for those who can use a search engine and find thousands of hits on any news story for free. To progress with the new era of news, The New York Times has continually improved their online coverage. Now, stories break first online, and later in print. Also, the paper can use their website as another revenue stream from advertisers; however, the ad money for online is worth much less than that of print media. This principle is called “Dollars to Dimes”. In addition, the paper has been forced to create “paywalls” on its website. These paywalls block the website’s visitors from viewing content without a paid subscription. Rossi’s documentary describes several changes to the news industry, such as the aforementioned paywalls and “online first” mentality in reporting. Another thing that has changed in news industry is the way news can be found. With print media, each paper typically displayed its own original content. Now, sites such as Gawker have “aggregate stories”. These are often just links of trending stories, leading to the site of the