Now that newspapers are getting thinner and people are reading less, maybe a new approach to newspapers in Japan may be the wave of the future. As reported in Wired Magazine, people in Japan love their newspapers. Its biggest daily, Yomiuri Shimbun, has 10 times as many readers as the New York Times. But since young people don ’t read as much as the older generation, a new media outlet, the Manga Newspaper (Mango No Shimbun) is tailoring news to the younger high-tech online generation. Text-heavy approaches of a traditional newspaper like the staid New York Times or the national news synopsis approach of USA Today are out. Instead, the online Manga newspaper is structured like a comic book since it combines short descriptions of the latest news events with graphic images.
What look like political cartoons or comic strips are real news articles that cover all the topics a traditional newspaper might feature, from breaking news reports and politics to entertainment and crime. Yet, it looks like a comic book—each piece is illustrated and the text is put in blocks or bubbles like in a comic book. For example, a report of a military training exercise in North Korea features line drawings of airplanes and rockets; a speech by Korea’s president Kim Jong-il about promoting his goals for foreign policy features an illustration of him holding a microphone.The popularity of this new form of news is reflected in Manga newspaper’s large staff of over 100 artists who draw the illustrations, and the news is kept current with updates about a dozen times each day. Moreover, readers can get their news not only from a Web site, but also get it on an iPhone, and plans are in the works to offer it on other mobile platforms, including the Android.
As of August 2010, this newspaper format is available only in Japanese, but the publishers are exploring international options and publishers in other countries are likely to consider this as a possible way to reduce declining sales and can easily set up their own graphic art newspapers. This trend makes perfect sense, since increasingly publishers are turning out graphic novels, and nonfi ction how-to books are more heavily illustrated than ever, such as the Complete Idiot ’s Guides andDummies books. At the same time, more people are getting their news from online sources, like the Drudge Report and Breitbart; from TV news reports and magazines, like the View and Good Morning America; and from tabloids featuring celebrity news, scandals, and fl ashy photos such as the National Enquirer, Globe, and Sun.
Thus, news stories driven by illustrations can be expected to expand their appeal and to reduce the cost of having photographers in the fi eld as well as reduce the danger to them in confl ict situations—an artist can draw what ’s happening much like artists draw pictures at trials.
In any case, the popularity of this new medium in Japan seems likely to help publishers in other countries create their own papers based on illustrating the news, both in print and online. Down the road, there might be new awards for excellence in manga journalism, as well as courses in schools on this new type of melding of graphics and news stories to create manga news.
Extracts taken from "The Very Next New Thing ~ Commentaries On The Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life" by Gini Graham Scott (2011)
Extracts taken from "The Very Next New Thing ~ Commentaries On The Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life" by Gini Graham Scott (2011)
In my opinion manga or comic version of a newspaper is a really intriguing idea, and supposably able to increase the younger generation interest read in reading. On the other hand, my main concern about this new breakthrough is the accuracy of the news itself. Since manga artists will have to interpret the news and transform it into their work. There may be something that might be lost in the interpretation process, and for news that is unacceptable. And another one of my concern is the fact that all of those processes needs time, and in the journalistic industry accuracy and real timing is the main trade. Yet it will still revolutionize journalism, and also our culture. By converting news into comic the industry will become less formal, although the Japanese already have this peculiar humour on some of their news program, and it would not be something out of the ordinary for the Japanese, but the rest of us have to get used to it.
ReplyDeleteImagine you are holding a newspaper but the content were filled with bunch of drawings and short text; that is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. Because usually, newspapers are identical with a long text content and minimum of drawings. By converting news content into Manga or comics, this idea will certainly helps to boost the business prospects for every newspapers businesses. Using more drawings, less context of text, yet still provided updated news are the best innovation strategy in order to increase newspapers sales in current era. These new methods will indirectly encourage many teenagers to start buying newspapers and to get to be more aware to read physical texts. As in result, it will significantly helps to regenerate the numbers of newspapers readers. On the other hand, the idea of comic in newspaper will also create a huge job opportunity for many passionate artists in the entire globe. Eventually, many unemployed artists will start to have their job that is indeed relate to their passion.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I read a newspaper when I was a kid, I would always head to the comic section of the newspaper. But if there is none of it, I would just put the newspaper back to where it belongs. Then again, most of the children rarely read some newspaper let alone touch them. But by making an article, in the newspaper, in the form of a comic, could spark some curiosity and bring some attention from the children. Other than that, it could give a job of opportunity for some illustrator to put their talent to a good use. But the downside for some people is that when they read a newspaper and then they read a serious article, like a political issue, they wanted to read it in a focused manner with no distractions. And for some people, comic in a newspaper would definitely distract them. All in all, I would really like to see this kind of newspaper in the near future, even though it could be a bit of a problem for some people.
ReplyDeletePresenting news in comic form is actually a massive idea that could really change people’s method of reading news. This way of presenting news could boost the interest of the ‘z generation’ – people born in 1995 or later – for reading news and their concern towards what is happening in this world. However, I think that there are more negative effects rather than the positives if this idea is implemented in the future. First, from my point of view, explaining something by just using picture is not enough and people might have different interpretations when looking at drawings as they are too abstract. For instance, if the news of ‘Donald Trump declaring trade war with China’ is presented in comic form, people wouldn’t know about the 25% tariffs on Chinese products entering the states. People wouldn’t know what Trump does to attack China’s economy. Second, news has been presented in writings since a long time ago. If a sudden change in a way of presenting is made, in this case in comic form, people of older generations might have a problem in understanding it, and it would be lengthy for people to get used to news in comic form. Thus, I don’t really support this idea. But, it is actually a matter of personal preference. This opinion comes from someone who likes to read articles and books (not comics). People who like to read comics might have different view.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, people are less interested in reading newspaper and they prefer to read the news from websites. People described newspaper as boring and unattractive especially the young generation. The idea to interpret news in the form of comic may encourage the young generation to read the current news, as it is important to be well aware about the condition around us. The use of a manga illustration will present the news will less words. However, we also need to consider that most of the readers are people that age above 50. This idea may not suitable for the older generation. News in a comic form is a really contrasting idea with the usual newspapers. It is less sophisticated and considered to be an informal way to deliver the news. In conclusion, the idea to illustrate news in the form of comic may encourage the young generation to be more interested in reading newspaper but this idea is also contradicting with the general newspaper hence the older generation may not support this idea.
ReplyDeleteNews presented in the form of a comic is a step forward to the future of news. Today, news can be accessed anywhere, while many of us find it easier and cheaper to access news on the internet, there are still those who prefer reading actual newspapers. The popularity of reading news among children is not much these days, and the habit of reading newspapers is very important for everyone as it can offer a great sense of educational value. It provides information on politics, economy, entertainment, sports, etc., which tells us about the latest incidents, events, and other interesting things. Reading newspapers surely help people’s learning process, especially for students at school.
ReplyDeleteA lot of children might find reading newspapers very boring. There are too many words to read with difficult-to-understand vocabularies. News in comic form might be a solution to increase the popularity of reading news among children. This might help children to understand the outline of politics or other news that might be hard to understand, and eventually grow interest in the subject. Also, high school or college students might find it easier to read the news (in comic form) first, then read the actual article of the news. On the other side, this new form of news can be used as a great media for artists to express their works.
I agree with this ideas about getting news in the form of comics. Because, first I believe that paper news is not something to be left behind because of the technology. I believe that people still need to appreciate this type of news and shouldn’t leave it. However, it still couldn’t be denied that people has already start to leave this type of news. Therefore, in my opinion, we need to give paper news more creativeness so that it can reach their readers back or even gain new readers. This idea of using comic as paper news method is a creative one. People can understand drawings well since they are more interesting to look at. From what I can see, people start to leave paper news because they can read news in their gadgets which is free and more interesting. So, when paper news add comic as their new method, they can differentiate themselve from the news gadgets and gain new form of readers.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? The idea may actually encourage younger generations to read the news and develop their opinion on the issue. Drawings or illustrations can help people to better visualize what is actually happening in that news. Speaking from a personal standpoint, and as a visual person, I understand the news better when there are pictures or graphs with the informations contained within the news, but unfortunately, online medias nowadays tend to use stockphotos that barely illustrate the condition. But manga has a total freedom to it and news agencies can utilize that advantage to create the news less complex for the readers by visualizing it into panels of comics, because it is a fact that younger generations read comics in preference to news nowadays, and we love comics! A love so great that we understand the complexity of the Marvel Universe more than a paragraph of political issues. Another point to bring up is that in comics, what we usually see is the different illustrations for different parts of the story, so the idea of bringing comic panels into news reporting is actually very exciting and brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid manga or comic reader, i understand the appeal of using manga or comics in terms of publishing news, but I also understand about the the problems of this concept. the first problem that comes to my mind was the artstyle being used. Some artstyle of a manga or comic gives the idea of being serious and also some are the opposite. This means that if for a certain type of news is given to the wrong type of writer can lead to the news not being taken seriously. The second problem is the time needed to actually make manga or comic itself. Yes, this can be fixed with more manpower but this also can lead to artstyle inconsistency. And the third problem is manga or comic version of news wont be able to completely replace the original way of giving news therefore the only solution for this concept to work is to published side by side, but this solution can be costly.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who is always too lazy to read long news paragraphs, the idea of having news in a comic form seems very fascinating. Just imagining the possibility of having news with a lot of visuals and short sentences being accessed in our gadgets already got me very excited. I personally think that a lot of people from my generation prefers something that are simpler and more time efficient. I also think that it is a problem that a lot of people from my generation refuse to read news which lead a lot of us to be ignorant about the world. I truly believe that comic news has a great opportunity to be successful among the millennial generation and generation Z. Comic in general are relatively more engaging and eye catching compared to regular articles. It is also important to bear in mind that the product does not need to be printed at all. The majority of millennial generation and generation Z would prefer to access the comic news on their phones or gadgets. Moreover, I believe that the idea of news in comic form should be explored and considered further.
ReplyDeleteThe saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ has never been more relevant to millennials. Due to our shorter attention spans, we find the act of reading tedious. As most of us are visual learners, we prefer spending our free time watching movies rather than picking up a book full of text. Along with the transformation to the digital age, it makes sense why printed newspaper aren’t as appealing as they were before. But comic styled newspapers could change that.
ReplyDeleteMillennials and sufferers of dyslexia could enjoy this more entertaining form of media, as well as creating greater demand for artists and develop a greater appreciation for them. But with every change we have to think about the consequences. Writers, editors, and photographers might lose their jobs in order to make room for artists. And as interesting as comic drawings are, they might not be able to deliver the same crucial details as a traditional newspaper article would. Could it somehow impact the literacy rate of the world in the long run? Will kids of the future generation reject learning the skill of reading due to their new found comfort in comic styled books and consider it unimportant? Although I do think that what the Manga Newspaper is very innovative, but it must also be taken into consideration of the risks that comes along with changes as big as this.
A Comic Newspaper sounds SUPER COOL. As a teenager, I personally think that reading newspapers is super boring. I myself would prefer reading news through the online news website, such as Line Today, Google news, etc. rather than to read the ordinary conventional newspaper. I do read newspaper though, but I tend to only read the front page, since it’s the only page that has colors and pictures in it. With the development of technology, people’s tendency to read conventional newspapers is decreasing. I think the idea of comic newspaper is awesome. It definitely can improve people’s reading interest. I believe that people, especially teenagers, would more likely to read something with pictures and illustrations since it will help them to understand more about the topic/situation discussed, rather than to read heavy articles that is hard to comprehend. Making comic newspapers definitely is going to be quite costly (since you have to pay illustrators) and time consuming though, but it’ll be great if they really make this idea real.
ReplyDeleteNews in a form of comic is a very enlightening idea. Young generations out there are not really fond of the current newspaper consisting of a boring picture followed by long paragraphs. That is the reason of why majority of the news readers are young adults and above, while actually news is meant for everyone. It is the job of the mass media company to make a design attracting those layers of society, whose untouchable by the current form of news. Taking an example of the Manga newspaper that successfully operated in Japan shows how high the demand is for the kid-friendly-kind of newspaper. The fact that children are enjoying reading magazines and comics reflects that it is a good idea for newspaper producer out there to combine the lengthy words of the latest information with colorful pictures and cartoons. Not only fulfilling the demand of kids and teenagers, but also shall it rise the profit of those media companies as there will be more audience for their new product –the News in a Comic Form.
ReplyDeleteThe utilisation of comic art to inform about news is a good idea because it can convey sensitive message and easily distribute among the people, and it is usually make it easier for the reader to process the information because the information is informed in a light yet informative way. I think it will be useful to discuss or inform a sensitive issue such as political issue which bound to further problem with the parties involved in the news, hence this usage of comic art to deliver information and aspiration through mass media, so beside providing ease it also provides security in delivering information and aspiration. Security here meaning it will be seen more as entertainment with a hidden agenda behind it so it is not directly criticising the news right away. The other benefit is that it can encourage young generation to know about current news, because of the interactive and creative ways used in delivering the news or message.
ReplyDeleteTurning the text-heavy newspaper into a manga or comic version might be a brilliant idea to encourage younger generation who don’t read news paper as often as the older ones to be more aware of the news. As far as I know the number of people who read newspaper tend to decline presently. The younger generation seems to be more interested in short readings, or even better accompanied with illustrations. Most of them get information from social media which could spread fast, yet sometimes the source of information is not credible or might contain some false information. Encouraging the younger generation to read the news are crucial in order for them to become fully aware on the ‘real’ facts of events that is happening in the world. Thus, I fully agree that a more “Interesting” form of a newspaper should be available to the public. But, in my opinion the existence of the classical newspaper is important as well. Because, a comic version of the newspaper might seem informal or maybe there’s some kind of news that is inappropriate to be illustrated into comics.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of making a new breakthrough really intrigues me. I suppose I would like to read this new kind of newspaper. I think that it would be interesting if we have this sort of newspaper here in Indonesia, since the younger generation read less especially newspaper. And I suppose news in comic form will interest the younger generation to read. But as a matter of fact comic is different from newspaper, it’s not as informative as our current version of newspaper. In my opinion, it would be similar on the current gadget boom if we see it from addictivity perspective. Furthermore the waste created by this phenomena would be more polluting since more paper are being utilized to print this new kind of newspaper, and the higher the demand for papers means the more trees are being cut down. I know for a fact that the comic newspaper is a double-edged-sword and it could possibly shoot ourselves in the foot. Yet I suppose it is still worth giving it a shot.
ReplyDeleteI believe that presenting news in a comic form is an idea that has never seemed to cross my mind before. Not only would it make people adopt a new perspective towards how news are delivered on a newspaper, this idea would also attract people coming from younger generations to engage in getting their hands around a newspaper in an attempt to reintroduce to them the long forgotten medium which became the spark that inspired all the different news media they see today. Portraying news in a manga form also gives the artists the ability to alter the way readers view the situations being depicted in the newspaper, be it that the artists aim to indulge the readers in a pool of compassion or to pump a sense of nationalism in the readers’ hearts. This has been proven many many times in the way that manga artists have successfully attempted in taking sports as the settings for their stories and amplifying the different emotions that the readers develop through witnessing a series of matches that the team of the main character has to tirelessly go through in order to finally achieve the greatest achievement of their lives. Haikyuu!, a manga about volleyball, a sport equivalent to baseball in terms of how boring can the two sports get, has proven many of its readers otherwise, as well as convincing them in actually trying the sport. Have you ever experienced goose bumps while reading a newspaper before? Well, this new innovative way in bringing newspaper back on its feet in the market will give you just that.
ReplyDeleteThis idea is really good thing since most young people who mostly use social media and not like reading newspaper that costing them money and time. It certainly will spark the interest of younger generation to read newspaper to get information about the world. But I think this idea work best in online world rather in physical paper since most people get their information online rather than buying newspaper. There are things I concern with this kind of newspaper. First the cost of this new form of newspaper surely pretty high since it need someone to actually draw the illustration about the news and it need more ink to print especially if the newspaper colored. The time to make this newspaper also can be quiet long and can hold back production of the newspaper itself. With those concern I have, I believe the best platform to this newspaper is online. Not only it will reduce cost significantly because there aren’t many ink being used, people will easily access it without wasting many time.
ReplyDeletePeople read news a lot, that’s the basic of all human. Maybe not all of human like and able to read, but reading a news is a basic that should be fulfilled for all human. Being able to read the news will open up our mind about the world, and make us see the world more. However, reading the news in paper form is being left behind a little by little nowadays. People like to read the news in the form of digital that is more easy to access, free, and more interesting to look at. Watching this digital news form replacing the printed news, is catching my attention. How if the printed news will be fully replaced and will dissapeared? That will be very sad because printed news is the traditional news that should be kept in the world. So, having the ideas of having news in comic form is a good idea since it will bring more fresh air to the printed newspaper and giving it new customers.
ReplyDeleteI think producing news in the form of comic is a good marketing strategy, this is a way to widen their age range of buyers. Usually, newspapers are purchased by people in the age of 30-60, with the help of this comic newspapers, their customer age range could widen to 15-60. This would open a job slot for editors or comic creators to have a steady job. Aside from that, this would bring a new change to the industries of newspapers. There would be a tight competition between different newspaper brands as there are not much newspaper that could produce a good quality of comic. The only thing that we should change is the usage of newspapers. As amount of newspaper produced increases, there will also be an increase in the usage of papers. My advice is to start relying on E-News or the news that is available on our gadget. They are compact, mobile and eco-friendly.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of changing the obnoxiously long paragraph in a newspaper to a bunch of comic panels is actually a brilliant idea. Recent generation tend to read things in their smartphone and it is usually news or statement with a short amount of words. By making the newspaper in the form of a comic it could bring back the interest of those young generations. I personally think that the main goal of reading a newspaper is not to hone your reading skills, it is actually to know what’s happening around you or even across the world. Again that is my personal opinion and because of that I think making the newspaper into a whole new form (being a comic) is a good idea as long as it covers the entirety of the news that the newspaper has to offer. Another good reason would be that it creates new occupation other than just journalist.
ReplyDeleteSome of the main reasons that a lot of today’s youth refuse to read the news are because it’s not interesting and that they are too lazy to read. This becomes a problem because if the youth are reluctant to read the news, it is likely for them to be ignorant. Having the alternative of news in a comic form is a really good business opportunity, especially when it targets the youth. Today’s youth wants everything simple and time efficient. A lot of activities done by the youth today are conducted via gadgets. I think that E news in a form of comic is a great option that should really be explored further. Moreover, I personally believe that having news in comic form would be more intriguing for the younger generation. It is also a good way to make sure that the younger generation are aware of what is going on around the globe.
ReplyDeleteI personally don’t really read newspaper. When I was a kid, I used to act like I read newspaper while the truth is I was only looking at pictures on the newspaper. After reading the article, the idea of making comic book news is really creative. Some news are not quite understandable by people who are not used to it. By making news in comic books shape, not just making it more understandable and not boring, but also attract younger people nowadays to read it. It also provides platform for comic book artists to express their creativity. The application of drawings to describe the even that is happening can also make people become more appreciative towards comic books. However, making news into comic books might seem informal, especially for older generation. Maybe the newspaper should include the comic and the original writings so it can be read by all age audience. The use of online reading can also be more effective, especially for young people nowadays.
ReplyDeleteFrom my opinion, creating a new innovation of a newspaper is great. By making a newspaper like a comic, it will boost the mood of some people while they are reading the news. Besides reading the news, the reader will be entertained by the pictures drawn on the newspaper. They don’t have to look at the letters all the time or even get tired because of the letters. The new innovation also gives a positive impact for those who are not used to read newspaper. If they don’t like to read newspaper, now, they might be thinking twice when they see the new kind of a newspaper. They probably see the newspaper as an interesting media for them. Because the new newspaper is more attractive, more people will read newspaper. The awareness of the newest information will increase. More people will be curious to see the next edition of the newspaper. So, by this idea, the Manga Newspaper innovation has given a good effect for the society.
ReplyDeleteOne reason why people, especially the youth generation, losing their interest towards the news paper is because first of all, most of the news paper out there were currently using the exact or at least a very similar template as it was used back in 1605 when the first news paper published; grey and thin paper with a bunch of text and with a very minimum picture. The older generation might not be troubled by this, however most of the youth are surely get bored and lose interest right after they see the opening. Therefore i believe that the implementation of comic-newspaper will have a great potential to attract more millennials reader. I have a good feeling that this idea will work because it’ll definitely add an extra value to the newspaper and it’ll make the newspaper became much more interesting and less boring to read. However, this concept will surely need a hand of an expert who can guaranteed the accuracy of the news yet still bringing the fun side out of it.
ReplyDeleteNews in Comic Form. What a brilliant idea!. Most people nowdays think that reading a newspaper is a boring things to do because usually newspaper comes with long text and minimum of drawings. To attract more people to read a news in a paper is to find a new idea, and make news deliver to the reader in interesting way, so for me news in comic form is brilliant idea because its something new and unique, I think if we read news in comic form we will not feel bored, and also it could encourage the young generation to read a news in comic form because drawings and illustrations can help the readers to visualise what is happening in the news and could delivered the information accurately. But the problem in this idea for me is people will still choose online news over this news in comic form idea because of the easy acces of the online news.
ReplyDelete