"Britney Spears ate my crocodile": an analysis of online content down under

By monitoring the online sites of two major broadsheet mastheads and two tabloid mastheads in Australia this paper will set out to explore the current news values operating in the Australian market. Australian print media, in common with other Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, has been undergoing what many have described as the “perfect storm” of the biggest structural change ever to journalistic practice. This change has seen an increased speed and intensity to the nature of the journalistic form now delivered over multiple platforms, with the role of news consumers and news producers becoming increasingly blurred. Allegations have been made that Australian online sites have been greatly impacted by the twin forces of cost cutting and a desperate bid for revenue which have resulted in a plunge down market and a consequent “dumbing down” of content. Specifically this has led to a rise in tabloid type content on online sites. If online is now the driver of modern news production, then this paper will explore the implications of a tabloid trend in online content for the broader terrain of news gathering and news production in Australia