By James Armstrong
Today almost anything you read in a newspaper can be found online. Major newspapers like the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the USA Today all have online editions which include every article from the print version, as well as many more. In addition to the articles there are more features as well. What before limited news to just words and still photos, now can be expanded to online videos, audio clips, slideshows and more.
In the last weeks, the South Lakes Sentinel has gone a dramatic change as you must know if you are reading this article. The Sentinel Online has followed the trend as room for articles and pictures is limited on the twelve-page Sentinel distributed monthly, and extra pictures, articles, and various clips can be seen online.
This change can be interesting. Are print newspapers becoming useless? With all articles from most newspapers online and available at your fingertips for free, why pay money for a bias newspaper like the Washington Post, when you can read the same article, listen to audio and see videos on your computer, PDA, or a fully equipped phone like the Blackberry or Blackjack? There’s isn’t a real good reason. If the internet becomes accessible to more people everyday then won’t there be a time that everyone has internet access? When the internet grows and newspapers throughout the world go online, then there may be a time in the near future that print newspapers as we all know may go extinct.
The Sentinel is being surfed, and so are other, very popular newspapers. Soon there may be a time when all newsprint editors decide to stop wasting ink and paper and go global.
