Newspaper apps for tablets and smartphones in different media systems: A comparative analysis

This article proposes a comparative analysis of the newspaper apps developed for tablets and smartphones within different media systems. It studies the multimediality, interactivity and commercialization models adopted by newspaper publishers and journalists for these apps. The theoretical framework embraces two main topics: the media system models, starting from Hallin and Mancini’s proposal, and the characteristics of the media systems, particularly in the countries selected for this sample, focusing on the digital and mobile media scenario. In order to collect comparable data from a common source, we have selected indicators from Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016. The total number of app versions analysed came to 148 (81 for smartphones and 67 for tablets) from 20 newspapers in 10 different countries. One conclusion is that newspapers’ commitment to the tablet and smartphone, in general, tends to be conservative and far from independent of pre-existing print and web-based media. This article shows how media systems have become more complex in the digital scenario, in which apps are an important, but not exclusive, aspect. So, it is necessary to take into account trends in news globalization and ‘convergent journalism’. Finally, this research confirms that crossplatform management and multichannel strategies are still weak, which has consequences for the innovation of app editions.