On the production cost per story basis, nothing beats the news paper online. This can only
benefit the readers because by reducing the cost, the organization can realign
its investment somewhere else. Perhaps, the company can train the reporters to
become better journalists. Or maybe spend more to write investigative pieces
that require resources and manpower.
Extending
beyond borders
Apart from the obvious, such as reading breaking news as they happen
and get updated of the developments in real time, the lack of space constraints
also allow digital websites to make long narrative pieces with multiple sources
in order to give a more comprehensive product. This is its edge over print,
which is typically saddled with the problem of space. As a result, editors will
have to cut the story short in order to save space. When that happens, it’s the
reader who will end up the loser.
The newspaper
online is not limited by geographical constraints. That means an Indian
national who is residing in Iceland,
for example, can still get the latest news online
as long as he has Internet connection. That’s one advantage over the newspaper
which is contained in a particular area, depending on the number of circulation
and the budget of the organization.
One drawback to
digital age is that anybody who blogs about news already thinks he or she is
already a journalist. There should be a distinction between a blog and a news
site. The latter should have the necessary filters and gatekeepers in place to make
sure the final product has all the elements of news.
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