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| Old new news. Pic: ERIO on Flickr, by ERIO on Flickr |
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Online news is a tricky one – there’s a big difference between newspapers that just copy and paste their print content onto the internet, and publications that have managed to create dynamic, living and breathing online communities where news can be debated, discussed, and the potential of multimedia can be used to it’s full extent. That being the case, this month, sadly, we only have nine subjects. Finding really dynamic sites was harder than I anticipated and the gaps between the really amazing ones and the just okay ones is huge. But what they all have in common is an ability to tell stories well, which, at the end of the day, is what we read papers for in the first place.
Guardian.co.uk
www.guardian.co.uk
If there was ever to be a battle of the online news sites, The Guardian Unlimited would come out the clear champ. This site, which is the online version of The Guardian newspaper offers all it’s content free of change, as well as offering readers access to their massive archive, and content from the Sunday paper, The Observer. As well as including all the print content, The Guardian Unlimited also has unique online content, which includes photo, video and audio. They upload several podcasts daily, including local and international news round-ups, cricket scores, and coverage of books, arts, music and science.
While blogs have always been a feature of the site, in March 2006, The Guardian launched a section called ‘Comment is Free’, which features opinion pieces by over 600 different writers. These are specifically written to generate debate and discussion, and responses often run into the hundreds. While users have to register to comment, there is no pre-moderation of comments, so it really is free. Although The Guardian has a traditional reputation for being left-leaning, with an average of 15 million unique visitors a day, the comments and opinions are pretty wide-ranging.
BBC.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
The ‘Beeb’, as it’s fondly known, is probably one of the best places to go for up-to-date news coverage. With the might of the BBC behind it, it’s no wonder that this website is able to offer free content from around the world on one of the biggest sites on the web. The site compliments the news and programming that is broadcast on the BBC television and radio stations, and includes video and audio footage, and a massive archive all of which is available in 33 languages. At the moment, the site is estimated to have over 2.2 million pages. Through their involvement with the Creative Archive Licence Group, some content is available in the UK for reuse and sharing.
New York Times
www.nytimes.co.uk
The ‘Gray Lady’ has been one of the newspapers that has fully embraced the possibilities of creating an online version. While not all of the content is free (stories are usually free for the first week, and become ‘premium’ content that has to be paid for) the range of multimedia angles included in stories is very impressive. Video, photos, audio and graphics are included in most stories, and there is a multi-media section, where longer, more documentary-style stories are available.
The Sunday Times
www.sundaytimes.co.za
The Sunday Times has been one of the first South African papers to start using multimedia in it’s digital version, and in the digital version of it’s daily sister paper, The Times. Most video, audio and images are kept in a separate multimedia section. All rights are reserved by The Times, but they do provide the code for embedding video and audio into blogs and websites. But be warned – some of this stuff is for strong stomachs only.
El Pais
www.elpais.com
First published as Spain made its transition to democracy in the 1970s, El Pais has become the largest paper in Spain, with an estimated 2.2 million readers. The online version features free content, and free access to archives, with an entire interactive multimedia section, loaded with photos, images, audio and video as well as blogs by regular and guest writers, and active community forums and chat spaces.
NPR.org
www.npr.org
Since the 1970s, National Public Radio has been producing news and cultural programming for audiences in the USA. Since they went online, though, this content has been available, either as streaming audio, or as podcasts, to listeners all over the world. The website offers text-versions of stories, as well as audio downloads of programmes produced by NPR and it’s affiliate stations.
National Geographic
www.nationalgeographic.com
It may not cover hard news, but National Geographic have been running in-depth, beautifully photographed and laid-out stories about the world we live in since 1888. The online version features stories that integrate video and audio with the beautiful stories that are the trademark of the publication. They also have a world music section where you can listen to and learn about music as diverse as Afrobeat and psychedelic pop from Cambodia, and take advantage of the regular free downloads.
Times of India
www.timesofindia.com
With a whopping 2.6 million readers of the print version, The Times of India was founded in 1838 as a paper for British colonists in India. The online version came into being in 2001, and all content since then is available for free on the site. Active blog and discussion forums run on the site, as well as video and audio sections that both compliment stories and stand alone.
tags: johannesburg south africa media-events online news newspapers multimedia media
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