There are so many headlines, so many pictures, things ready to jump out of the screen at me. But like the paper, I can ignore what does not relate to me, I can shy from the things that make me uncomfortable, and I can come and go as I please.
I would say there are significant differences, though.
For one, if I buy a newspaper or other form of print journalism, I have paid for each article. On the other hand, if I go to a website and scroll around, but only click on a few articles, what sort of service am I doing for the journalism online?
The waters start to get murky online. I can't tell who or what I'm supporting. I don't know if I'm clicking on ads or articles! I don't know if I'm just another number on their page views or if they actually care to put out news.
Maybe it's because I'm an adult now and I have to pay attention to the news, or maybe it's because it really has changed -- I don't know. But I do know that online news is a constant stream. As one of my professors put it, it's like a river. Twitter, for instance.
It just never shuts up.
But if you read the paper in the morning when you're drinking coffee or on your way to work, maybe even in the bathroom, you flip through the pages you want, get the news you need, and put it away. There can't be any popups, any additions -- the rest has to wait until tomorrow. The important stuff makes it and the other stuff falls away.
Have you noticed lately that it seems like everything is BREAKING news?
Or CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK ME, I'M IMPORTANT TOO!
Even when it's not? Even when it's about squirrels on Jet-skis?
No? ...Me neither...
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