Newspapers and the Web
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Introduction
Technology is constantly changing the way information is received to individuals. Before the internet existed, the newspaper was the primary mean of information. However, in recent years, the newspaper has been slowly replaced by online journalism. It has become the major source of news in the world. Although online journalism is extremely beneficial to the public, it is not perfect.
Online journalism is lacking in the area of credibility, quality, and creativity. Online journalism has too many writers that repeat the same story, but they are not necessarily the most reliable writers. The quality of journalism was sustained at a higher rate in newspapers. There are fewer editors online than there are for printed newspapers. Also, the creative titles of newspapers are now gone to meet the needs of search engines on the internet. Aside from the few negatives, online journalism has many positives.
Online news articles offer, more information, a variety of sources, easy access, and quick access to stories. Newspapers do not come out with a story until the day after, but online stories come out almost instantaneously. There are also many different sources to look at. Information is also quickly accessed from anywhere, which helps keep the public informed. The public is arguably better off now, but it is important to know how the transformation began.
Background
Newspapers were created to inform people of the events that were going on around the world. Fifty years ago, this form of media was one of the few information sources that the public had. The newspaper is filled with different sections such as sports, advice columns, comics, entertainment news and television listings. It attracted people to subscribe to the newspapers. Fifty years ago, the newspaper was also one of the few mediums that the public had for information (Pickard).
Today, the public has an abundance of choices for information. The television offers different views on the news, as well as the radio channels and magazines. However, online journalism has been the biggest replacement of the newspaper. It offers information at the click of a button. People have the choice of reading about their selected topic, and reading a variety of views. The stories almost come out instantly as events happen, and can also be viewed from almost anywhere. Also, online journalism is free. Newspapers come at a cost to the public, but online journalism is free access with the internet (Pickard).
The newspaper will eventually die out due to lack of consumer purchases. Newspapers need to cover the printing costs, as well as the news staff. Consumers are surely benefiting from free news online, but online journalism could lead to potential problems. Advertisement on the internet pages of online journals does not cover the cost of newspapers. “Free cannot cover the costs of the content selection, creation, processing, production and distribution and no other effective mechanism currently exists to cover the costs. (Pickard)”
The problem at hand is that newspapers cannot simply charge for their content online and expect to get an equal amount of consumers. The New York Times has attempted charging for online newspapers and was very unsuccessful. The public may not be ready for the online newspaper, but something must be changed. Consumers are not willing to buy online newspapers if the content is the same in print. There must be a clear benefit in order to make a profit. Also, charging for newspapers online means that newspaper companies will have to rely on readers. They will not receive as much advertisements (Pickard). However, online journalism has many potential benefits.
Potential Benefit
The internet has offered quick access to infinite information. This information can be used to improve the quality of online journalism. Sources online must be checked of course, but the internet can be used for good. If online journalists use reliable sources on internet to collaborate news stories, than journalism will still maintain quality. The speed of the internet also offers quicker access to information for journalists, which in turn offers quick information to the public (Geimann).
Online journalism has many great qualities including: "ubiquitous news, global information access, instantaneous reporting, interactivity, multimedia content, and extreme content customization (Lazaroiu)." Online journalism has no boundaries. Stories are posted from everywhere in the world and can be accessed by the public. The information is also easily accessed on a global scale. People do not have to worry about picking up the paper to read to news. Consumers can simply access their newspapers online in almost any location. Reports are also published almost instantaneously. With online journalists competing against each other and other news mediums, stories must be published as soon as possible. People also have an opportunity to get involved with the news stories and share their opinions through a comment box. The public has the option of making their very own blog to share their views. Also, multimedia content gives people access to a variety of content to include videos, documents, interviews, and much more.
Technology is said to have improved efficiency, speed and accuracy of communication. The use of the internet allows online journalists to site their sources. Their job is to report and analyze the story, but not change the facts. This error is prevented when online journalists input hyperlinks of their sources from their stories. Technology can be used to improve accuracy in news stories with citations (Lazaroiu). Unfortunately, there are negative aspects to online journalism.
Online journalism has potentially taken away from the quality of the newspaper. For example, newspaper staffs must meet deadlines and need to make sure that the story is well written and edited. In online journalism, there are no deadlines. The stories must be written now, which takes away from the quality of an article. There are many potential errors that can occur and story will not be as written as well. Online articles also have a comment box that may be filled with the comments of ignorant people, which result in uneducated statements (Abramson).
The quality headline of the newspaper has also been removed from journalism. The newspaper is filled with attention grabbing headlines, while online article titles are designed for search engines. Gene Weingarten’s example was about Conan O’Brien’s decision to quit instead of giving up his time slot for a later one. The Washington Post’s headline in print read, “Better never than later”. The Washington Post online newspaper’s title read, "Conan O'Brien Won't Give Up Tonight Show Time Slot To Make Room For Jay Leno." The originality of the headline is completely absent from online journalism (Weingarten).
Dean Wright talked about online journalism ethics in his video. He mentioned that a journalist should be honest with audience. The problem with online journalism is the quantity of journalists. There are so many journalists that are reporting the same story and it is difficult to know which journalists are credible. Journalists should have a biography page about themselves so that the reader will know if the writer is in fact credible (Wright). The local news may be the only form of newspaper that will still exist since the local papers are funded (Chyi). The way information is communicated to the public has changed immensely over the past half century.
Conclusion
When the newspaper began, people would have to wait to have access to information. Today, internet users have the power to view whatever story they want, whenever they want. The possibilities are endless through the use of the internet. The public is enjoying the benefits of the media on the internet very much. However, there are pros and cons to online journalism.
The internet offers a free source of information to the public. Consumers do not have to purchase their news articles, but newspaper companies may soon have to start charging for their products. Writers cannot simply rely on advertisements to keep publishing their work. It simply does not fund the need for the costs of an article. This is a problem that will have to be solved, and this problem might end up hurting the public.
Online journalism will also need to find a way to keep its credibility. The printed newspaper is dying out. There will be no more creative headlines, nor high quality articles. Journalism has started a new era, and news writers will need to conform to this era. It may not be all positives, but online journalism has surely made a positive impact on the world.
