More People Get Their Daily News Online These Days

By Jill Prichard (from the Hard News Cafe)

 

October 26, 2004 | Information is becoming increasingly available through a growing number of media. Endless mornings of reading the newspaper while drinking coffee are being replaced by reading the news on the Internet in the office, or even by means of a cellular phone. Is America becoming more informed through the use of Internet-based news sites?

 

Traditionally journalism has been limited to print, television, film documentaries, and radio. With the creation of the World Wide Web, life has taken a faster more effective way to get information out to the masses. According to Doug Millison, an online journalist, there are four distinguishing characteristics that separate online journalism to traditional journalism.

 

First, online journalism is published in real time. News happens constantly and not just in the morning and evening to make the deadlines for news stations, newspapers, and the radio's release time of information. An example would be this year's coverage of the Presidential debates. The candidates and their selected vice presidential nominees have had a total of four debates. After each debate there have been numerous articles written by online journalists, bloggers and researchers. These are posted instantaneously in lieu of the wait of the next morning's news edition. An example would be the news site for CNN. You can log on and read various news from world news to education, and see updates on stories and photos as they develop throughout the day. (See CNN.) You will only be able to read the same news story once in a newspaper with no minute-by-minute updates that the Internet allows.

 

Second, is shifted time availability. Work that is submitted, written or photographed, can be easily stored in the indefinite cyberspace realm. The days of cutting out articles and putting them in books as you watch them turn yellow over time are long gone as you can easily access archived articles and photos via the World Wide Web.

 

Next, is the use of the multimedia methods. This is perhaps represents all the news mediums in one. With multimedia your story not only includes your words, but also can include photos (even a clickable photo gallery), sounds, music, and motion video clips. What newspaper can offer that type of versatile news coverage?

 

Finally, there is the ability to be interactive. The Internet is an endless source of information. Instead of going from one person to the next for information, the world has become subject hyperlink mania. In-depth reporting online is untouchable compared to other journalism mediums. If a person was reporting on a subject such as how the NFL drafts football players, you can give limited, timed information on the television, radio broadcasts, and limited space available in print journalism. In an in-depth report by an online journalist you can go from these two Web sites, NFL Draft Rules or NFL Rules and then some to find this information, plus any other information you may want to know about football that is not subject to limited reporting.

 

In a survey of various people, ages, educational backgrounds, a series of questions were asked on how they kept themselves informed. Most people agreed that they familiarize themselves on local, state, and national news. These people also said that they preferred their news online rather than in the printed form. The majority of the people polled work more than 35 hours a week, and added that they often get their news throughout the day on the Internet.

 

So what is the big deal about online journalism? It is simply the fact that the news is delivered automatically with links for deeper coverage through other Internet sites, the use of multimedia abilities in each story, and also the ability to be informed in the time frame not possible through other journalistic methods.

 

The majority of the students that attend Utah State University are unaware that there is an online journalism site for student, local, social and other issues. The Hard News Café represents Utah State journalism students' reporting on issues that range from tuition hikes to stem cell research. The Hard News Café has won numerous regional and national awards for best all-around online journalism student\ publication. So why aren't the students more aware of this Web site?

 

Online journalism does change the manner in which we receive our news. Sports is no longer limited to a section, rather it has commentaries, hyperlinks, and blogs.

 

"I like that online news isn't delivered by someone else's time schedule and doesn't have to be recycled. I love the online site for USU because I am over 1,700 miles from Cache Valley, but I can still see what goes on in Logan and Utah State," shares USU alumnus and former employee Dina Nielsen.