Katelyn Garmong

‘If what’s happening in Seattle and Minneapolis is indicative, then local online newspapers really are offering a product that is fundamentally different in content focus as well as content and delivery,’ they write.

Research: If it bleeds, it leads — online, but not as much in print by Andrew Beaujon

My school paper’s online version is almost exactly like the paper one. We’ve just started to get some exclusive stories and videos up there, but for the most part, the text of the stories is the same. I know that’s not how a realistic model anymore.

If print goes away, which it probably will eventually, where will we get our long in-depth stories? According to this study (and it is only one study, of course), one of the print versions had three times the words. That’s a considerable amount of information that readers aren’t getting if they read online. Maybe it’s just quotes/opinions. Is that information really necessary? I may be old fashioned, but I think there is value in longer, more detailed stories. I also think we lose something if we don’t learn to read and write that sort of news. Is it out of date?

Only by clicking into the depths of an online news site is an avid reader likely to find the same news stories featured online as on the front page of his or her local newspaper. These results have significant implications for the news industry and the reading public. … At stake is not only the solvency of local newspapers but how local audiences read and learn about the issues and events shaping their communities.