All the News That's Fit To Print (or Blog)

For quite some time now, traditional news sources have had websites to publish more up-to-date news stories. Newsweek, The New York Times, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch--all have websites which update on a regular basis throughout the day. This allows traditional publishing times to fly out the window.

No longer does the Post-Dispatch only print stories that happened yesterday, or Newsweek only stories that happened in the last six days. Stories can be updated as they unravel, completely changing how print media works. No longer do the television news sources have the up-to-the-minute breaking news advantage.

Some news sources exist only in cyberspace. Some are blogs, run only by one or a few people, others are fully actualized news websites, the only difference between them and "traditional" sources being the lack of actual printed content. Slate is a good example of the latter.

In addition to constantly updated websites, news sources now push their content into their readers' awareness. Email updates, RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook all allow readers to get informed of news stories without even opening a browser and checking out the website.

Another benefit of the online presence is the ability to publish content only available online--it's not featured in the newspaper or magazine. This can range from further commentary to related slide shows to articles not picked up for inclusion in the published version.

Some printed versions will acknowledge the online content, and others will merely assume that the reader will seek it out if interested. Newsweek has a small section in each weekly magazine of what the most popular online stories were for the previous week.

Additionally, some news sources permit the general public to read an article for only a limited time--a few days, a week--and, in order to view older articles, one must be registered. The registration may be free, may be included with subscription to the print version, or may require a specific subscription.

These innovations are great for the consumer--easy access to updates, more current information, access to additional information--but they may quickly spell the end of traditional print news.