More news
Just like radio and tv created extra access gates to news, the internet expands our news landscape. On the one hand traditional news media are moving online, on the other hand we see new, fully digital news sources arise. Moreover, via search engines we can google for news and easily find all of these sources. Social media may also present us with news (or fake news) on our timelines unprompted. In short, there isn’t just an overload of news, but sometimes the news comes looking for us rather than the other way around.
Instant news
The news has never been as current as it is now: via the internet news can reach us almost instantly. Digital news media provide live streams and share news at lightning speed, because those who are not fast enough online risk losing news consumers to other (digital) information sources. Time being of the essence also has its downsides: this can lead to less accurate reporting. Language errors and typos are more easily missed in online news items and the news can be of lesser quality or even incorrect because there is no time to double-check sources.
Free news
The internet has made the news more accessible than ever before. We no longer have to turn on the tv at 7pm sharp or go buy the newspaper at the cornershop in the morning. What’s more, a large part of the news can be accessed for free. Research confirms that the use of traditional news media is in decline. Revenue from advertisement is also increasingly shifting to social media. New business models are required for this new reality. Both established and alternative news media online are experimenting with paywalls, with only part of the news available for free.
Personalised news
There is no such thing as ‘news to order’ in traditional news media: the newspaper looks the same for everyone, as does the tv broadcast. The internet has changed that. Major news apps offer users the option to decide for themselves which kinds of news they want to receive notifications for, or they present their readers with news that probably fits their interests based on their user data. Search engines equally try to predict which search results are the most suitable for you based on earlier search results and online behaviour. News personalisation has benefits and downsides: on the one hand you get to see news that really interests you, on the other hand you risk ending up in a filter bubble and relying on one-sided information.
