Stories increasingly breaking online

Posted by Jeffrey Blyth on 21 March 2006 at 12:40
Tags: Journalism, Mobile Phones, Newspapers, Online, Radio, Television, United States

Where are the big scoops first seen these days? According to USA Today media columnist Peter Johnson, it’s the Internet. As the new technology allows news-buffs to get the latest news on their home or office computersor cell phones, news organizations no longer want to hold their big stories for the next morning’s paper or even the evening television news program.

Charlotte Evans, editor of the Rome News-Tribune in Georgia, speaking for lots of other editors these days when she told Johnson: “When we have breaking news we break it online. We save the pictures and in-depth material for the paper itself.�

Papers that wait 24 hours to tell their readers what’s happening are doing a disservice, Evans says.

These days even TV and radio executives have to grapple with the problem of whether to hold a story for their evening programs or to put it out on the web immediately – in the hope that it will ultimately attract viewers or listeners.

The only people not too happy about the trend are old-time newsmen who still prefer to see their stories in print. “Not all reporters find that breaking news on the website gives them the same satisfaction as breaking it on the front page� says Bill Keller, editor of the New York Times.

Tags: Journalism, Mobile Phones, Newspapers, Online, Radio, Television, United States