The difference between online and print journalism

              
  

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Online journalism and print journalism - both terms substantially familiar to possibly every journalist. So, what is the difference between these two major fields of the journalism world? To me, online journalism means news that are available to everybody on the Internet. I define it as the reporting of facts when produced and distributed via the Internet. Print journalism, as then name suggests, is then news that are produced and distributed on papers, be it magazines, newspapers, or newsletters. With the growing circulation of newsflash on the internet, more and more readers no longer want to buy newspapers or magazines to read about information they might be interested in.

As a simple fact, who would want to spend money on tangible newspapers and magazines that might possibly end up collecting dust in their homes, after they are done with browsing them? Furthermore, to cater to the increasingly literate and gadgets-dependent audience, it is little doubt more and more news companies will turn to online journalism. Eg. TODAY, TheNewPaper, The Straits Times. Just by going online on their Iphones, Ipads, laptops or other portable devices, people are able to retrieve information on-the-go, without the unnecessary hassle of flipping the pages on a newspaper. 

One major difference between online and print journalism is that online newspaper can be updated immediately so they would have the newest information as opposed to print newspaper's which must first be written, then printed and then distributed.

Another difference is online newspapers can be interactive and include multimedia elements such as video and audio, whereas print newspapers have to rely on just words and pictures to convey news to the public.

To be honest, these two major advantages online journalism has over print journalism is already enough to draw more and more readers into the realm of online journalism. Not only does online journalism makes news more interesting and interactive, it also has a more effective circulation model that allows people to get the latest updates of news almost immediately.

However, even though online journalism has more of an effective circulation, print newspapers, in contrary, will most likely have less errors than online news, as they are usually more thoroughly edited before they are printed and circulated. All types of newspapers can present the wrong information, but I feel that online newspaper will have a higher likelihood of presenting false information as anyone on the net, if given the necessary access and tools, can fabricate information about a particular subject and post it online for mass viewing. Print newspapers, in this aspect, then has more credibility, compared to online news.