News moves with the digital times

Do you remember when fish & chips were wrapped up in newspaper?

Trying to find a favourite section in the paper is as annoying as finding newsprint on fish & chips.

It is a common thing to find free news on the internet.

In some places it is even more common to find people now switching from subscribing to newspapers to internet news.

Major newspaper publications in the US such as the New York Times have decided to go digital to keep an audience, but in future will have to look at selling up assets such as about.com website.

On New Zealand shores it seems the digital revolution has yet to take a real effect.

It is partly to do with how isolated we are and that our broadband subscribers only just reached over 800 000, in 2007.

The age group accessing news on the internet for free is not defined.

In fact a Year 12 media studies student, Robert Moke-Gatt, at Logan Park High School said he reads the paper every day and only watches the six o'clock news if there is something interesting on news updates.

This contrasts with American professionals who would normally buy three papers a day and now have their laptops out at the table in mornings.

But what will keep newspapers here going are the local stories.

The Otago Daily Times reports and supports local stories and opinions, which is what this article is.

The ODT's decision to capture a new audience by going online in 2007 with a digital edition in addition to their live website was a good strategic decision.

What separates their live website from the print edition is how it is used to conduct polls and blogs from local people, and updates news all day long, including world news..

They also offer a little bit of what's going to be in the next day's paper.

As a young observer I think it will be curious to see as we progress into new information technology how the digital subscriptions will compete and see if their sales overtake the print edition like the radio did to daily newspapers worldwide in 1954.

 

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