Dec 17, 2020
The Benefits of Online Journalism
With online journalism never being more required due to the current COVID-19 climate, could this potentially result in an indefinite end to print journalism? I’ll let you know my thoughts.
When Sir Tim Berners created the renowned World Wide Web in 1989 our world as we know it undoubtfully adapted to a great technological change. This worldwide phenomenon created the foundations for online journalism platforms to flourish. Therefore, in my eyes I find it hard to understand why a publication wouldn’t have an online presence in the 21st Century.
Benefits of digital journalism:
1. Extensive Reach
When publishing a story on the internet journalists are instantaneously enabling their work to reach readers from all over the world. With the accessibility of online news at the touch of people’s fingertips due to beauty of devices such as smartphones and laptops the possibilities of reaching a diverse audience are guaranteed.
2. Cost Effective
By regularly purchasing a newspaper or magazine in order to enlighten yourself on current affairs you will find that this habit will eat away at your disposable income. With the price of print steadily rising, I can assure you that this isn’t going to be a cheap pastime. For example, the weekday edition of The Guardian is priced at £2.20 and the Saturday edition of The Guardian is priced at £3.20. These prices are coming in to be similar to the price of a Tesco meal deal, and when you can access the same information on The Guardian’s website for free, this seems to be a rather unnecessary expense. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t like to save some cash?
3. Interactive Audiences
When posting news stories digitally journalists have the ability to engage with their readers in a variety of different ways. For example, The Sun have a comments section at the end of every news story which enhances the way in which they can connect with their audience. Readers can post their thoughts and feelings about a story that The Sun have posted, however these comments might not always be positive, but it is a good way to help The Sun understand those that read the content they publish.
4. Report Stories Immediately
One of the most noticeable benefits of online journalism is that reporting news can be written, edited and published within a matter of days. The lead times for online and print journalism greatly differ. For instance, the monthly print magazine Cosmopolitan has to be planned, written and produced months ahead of the issue date which results in a lack of content about current affairs which is then left to their online presence to publicise as this can be updated instantaneously.
I took to my Instagram where I conducted a poll to ask my followers ‘HOW DO YOU READ THE NEWS?’ with the options being either ‘ONLINE’ or ‘PAPERS/MAGAZINES’. Take a look at the results below.
I can’t say that I am surprised by this result as we are living in an era where technology is at the forefront of almost everything we do. Let me know what you think about online journalism and it’s benefits over on my Twitter & Facebook. ❤
