It’s out with the old and in with the new as new technology competes with print media, but what happens to the people who cannot join the new technology club?
It’s out with the old and in with the new as new technology competes with print media, but what happens to the people who cannot join the new technology club?
This is where a community newspaper comes to the rescue.
Print media, as the first and oldest news source, has always been the most trusted news source around the world. Even with the introduction of radio and television, newspapers have been regarded as the most reliable source of news and you can reference it, unlike radio and television.
Through the years and with the introduction of new communication technologies such as computers and cellphones, we have seen an increasing shift of interest from print media; as people can now read news anywhere and anytime by logging onto the internet.
Most newspapers have climbed onto the electronic media wagon and also have websites that contain the same content as the print edition, with some including extra content and special links. Grocott’s Mail also has an online edition, where you can read what is in the print edition by simply logging onto www.grocotts.co.za.
Some are even using social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook to update readers on breaking news, while the headlines of the day can be sent to subscribers’ cellphones. In January, Grocott’s Mail will be launching a free SMS service. Readers will be able to subscribe by sending an SMS at the usual charge and will then get the headlines and breaking news via SMS for free twice a week.
Until a few years ago, breaking news was not as fast paced and up-to-date as it is today. These days it is not about waiting for the next edition of your favourite paper but finding the information and broadcasting it through electronic media before other news organisations garb the story first.
Twitter, for example, often has information long before online publications manage to get the story published as any person can write about an event while it is happening and twits can be updated almost instantaneously.
Cellphones also open up the news flow as people have the power to publish their own stories, pictures, video and audio clips. In the past, the power was with the print companies, but now anyone with a cellphone can submit their own stories. On Grocott’s Mail Online, citizens can send an MMS photograph with a caption and it can be submitted minutes after it happened. This is called citizen journalism where citizens get to publish their own content and often journalists gets some good story ideas to follow up in this way.
News companies have also embraced new technologies. This however will affect those citizens who do not have access to the internet or cellphones that have internet access. This particularly applies to South Africa, where most people don’t have internet access.
One then starts to wonder what will happen to those who cannot afford to purchase computers and have access to the internet, and this is where community newspapers are able to close the gap by providing the community with all the information they need.
