Potential Benefits of Net Edition of Newspaper

Newspapers in print may have decreased, but this does not mean that readership has decreased. According to Nielsen Online, 75 million people viewed the net edition of a newspaper in January 2009, compared to 66 million viewers from two years earlier (Goldstrom, 2009). These numbers indicate that a little less than half of the people who use the internet on a regular basis viewed a newspaper’s website in the first month of 2009 (Goldstrom, 2009), showing that the online editions of newspapers are a success. Many people are now reading newspapers online, who possibly did not read the paper before. Being able to access the net edition of a newspaper on one’s laptop, anytime and anywhere, is more convenient than going out to buy a printed newspaper.

Some readers are relying on the web editions of the newspaper to be their reliable news source. Carnegie Corporation reports that almost forty percent of readers under the age of thirty-five depend on the internet and will continue to depend on the internet for news coverage (Alterman, 2008). This indicates that an increasing number of people rely on online web editions. The internet is proving that it makes news easy to reach and more accessible than the printed newspaper.

Another positive factor of having a net edition of the paper is that net editions are more entertaining and interactive. This entertainment comes from having forums (Peng, Tham, and Xiaoming, 1999). The readers communicate through forums by expressing their thoughts, which is something that cannot be done on the printed newspaper. The forums are updated immediately and people can read others’ viewpoints on stories and certain topics. On net editions, there are also hyperlinks, which show more contents (Wurf and Lauf, 2005, p. 4). This also cannot be done on the printed newspaper. More people would prefer reading the newspaper online by allowing readers to have more interaction with the net edition of newspapers.