Online news paper
An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet. Modern printed newspapers all over the world are developing and running web newspapers. Going online created more opportunities for newspapers for instance, it allows newspapers to effectively compete with broadcast journalism in presenting breaking news online in a more timely manner than printing allows. The credibility and strong brand recognition of well-established newspapers, and the close relationships they have with advertisers (particularly in the case of local newspapers), are also seen by many in the newspaper industry as strengthening their chances of survival.[1] The movement away from the printing process can also help decrease costs.
Not only do they allow for instant updating of news stories in text but allowing equal opportunities for access for disabled groups as well as adding more interesting features for the viewers to use leading to more interest and more advert opportunities.[2] As distinctions between modes of communication become blurred, and as mass communication transforms itself every day with innovation, anyone who has a cellphone on a hike in the woods may now be in instant contact with news and events worldwide.
Web/online newspapers are not precisely like blogs or forum sites; however, it is not unusual for newspaper reporters and editors to maintain blogs, or for newspapers to add forums to their websites, for easy response from readers. Online newspapers must abide by the same legalities as do their sister publications. Professional journalists have some advantages, as editors are normally aware of the potential for legal problems.[3] The big difference over blog and forum sites as to online newspaper and news sites is that blog and forum sites are not media based websites. As bloggers and independent citizen-journalists become more prevalent on the web, the potential for an explosion in lawsuits looms as they are not regulated in the same way as it is down to the public and not professional reporters to post stories in most cases. Blog sites can contain misleading information that could be seen as libel, questions regarding negligence or actual malice, or suits regarding invasion of privacy torts (such as appropriation, intrusion, private facts and false light). This problem was brought up in In November 2006 the issue about blog sites and newspaper sites when it hit national headlines in the UK. The Press Complaints Commission director Tim Toulmin commented at a London media conference:- "We're not in favour of regulating the internet. You can't regulate it. But unless there is a voluntary code there are no forms of redress. The flow of information should not be regulated by the government."[4] In fact the PCC did cover online newspapers, but not blog and forum news sites.[5] Soft-copy newspapers are much like hard-copy newspapers and have the same legal boundaries, such as laws regarding libel, privacy and copyright,[6] also apply to online publications in most countries, like in the UK. Also in the UK the Data Protection Act applies to online newspapers and news pages.[7] As well as the PCC rules in the UK. But the distinction was not very clear to the public in the UK as to what was a blog or forum site and what was an online newspaper. In 2007, a ruling was passed to formally regulate UK based online newspapers, news audio, and news video websites covering the responsibilities expected of them and to clear up what is, and what isn't, an online publication. [8]
News reporters in progressive newsrooms throughout the country are being taught to shoot video[9] and to write in the succinct manner necessary for the Internet news pages. Many are learning how to implement blogs and the ruling by the UK's PCC should help this development of the internet. Journalism students in schools around the world are being taught about the "convergence" of all media and the need to have knowledge and skills involving print, broadcast and web.[10]
Responses to this sea-change in the competitive environment have varied. Some newspapers have attempted to integrate the internet into every aspect of their operations, i.e., reporters writing stories for both print and online, and classified advertisements appearing in both media; others operate websites that are more distinct from the printed newspaper. Many in both camps believe that newspapers will increasingly leave breaking news to online and broadcast media, with print publications focused on comment and analysis.
The moderator of television’s longest-running program began his career in news delivering armfuls of newspapers in Buffalo, New York. Decades have passed, but Tim Russert of NBC's Meet the Press said during a press conference at Mount Union College that he can't imagine doing his job without print news. “I am very reliant on newspapers. I read them all, six or seven a day,” said the former paperboy. Although he could scour the internet for news, Russert said, “I still like to hold a newspaper; it’s part of my upbringing.” Russert, 55, who is also a political analyst for NBC Nightly News and The Today Show, said this in response to Akron Beacon Journal reporter Sandra M. Klepach’s questions while delivering Tuesday’s Schooler Lecture at Mount Union College’s Timken Building.