“The Mission is to Keep this Industry Intact”

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The focus of this paper is the digital transition in major Japanese newspapers that sell millions of copies per day. By digital transition we refer to the shift to publishing content on digital platforms—in this case the shift from print to online and mobile media. Japan is globally one of the most important newspaper markets with the world's largest daily newspapers measured by circulation. The research focusing on the digital transition in Japanese newspapers and the implications of this shift has been hitherto almost non-existent. In this paper, the digital transition is examined by means of qualitative in-depth interviews with representatives from leading Japanese newspapers. The conclusion deriving from the empirical analysis is that for Japanese newspapers the most essential approach in coping with the transition to digital is protecting the printed paper and treating the digital platforms as supplementary.