My Journey

I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest -(Napoleon)

Monday, March 06, 2006

Newspaper's online edition - how to make it better?


One never knows when something which we take for granted can so easily disappear from your life. Few years ago, I had the luxury of holding a newspaper in my hand every morning and poring over it. Now I don’t. Sometimes I hold the newspaper in my office but only can see the pictures and relate to the news. The only time I get a newspaper in a language which I can read is when I go out of country. The online editions of newspapers have become my lifeline so it is only proper to devote one of my posts to online newspapers.

Almost all print newspaper/magazine have their internet version as well. They seem to have very happily integrated both the online as well as print edition in their business model. But sometimes I feel that there is lot more to be desired from those wonderful print newspapers in their online avatar. So, what is the difference between an online version and print version for those newspaper companies? What should be their USP for online version?

If we look at customers then they are not always mutually exclusive. There are people like me who read only the online version and people like my father who would never check the online version and there are people who do check both the online and print version. For a country like India, I think people who read print version would be far more than those who read online version.

From the business point of view advertisements appearing in print edition would have far more reach and hence more valuable. But online version doesn’t lag far behind this. It is only the online version which gives the leverage of targeted customer. For example, when I open the website of any Indian newspaper the advertisement are of money remittance facility, air fare deals, calling card or hotel reservations. The same space would be used for different advertisements like government advertisements, etc for a reader in India. So though the reach is less, I am pretty sure the advertisements are more effective in online version.

By above, we can say that a newspaper company can't afford the online version to play a second fiddle. I think there are many ways to make the online edition more effective.

For start the online version should contain all the news items, analysis, reviews, op-ed pages in full. It may not be possible to keep everything in the main page but neat, easy and clear links could be given for those pages. Most of the newspapers don’t put the local news in online version which is found in print edition. This is wrong. I would very much like to know what is happening in my home town everyday, irrespective of whether I am visiting that place or not.

Secondly for the newspapers to attract those who read their print edition to read online edition as well, updating the site with latest news would work wonders. The news in print edition can be updated only once per day, but no such limit exists with website. I have found many newspapers severely lacking in this aspect.

Thirdly an online version gives easy method of searching for some particular news and also the archives. This greatest advantage of internet adds more value to online edition and also enticing for readers.

Fourthly, the online versions give the unique advantage of putting comments for each and every article and thus lead to a healthy debate. This could also become one of the star attractions of online edition. Most of the present online edition fare very badly on this count.


There can be many other ways to make the online edition more attractive but then this post has already become long.

13 Comments:

  • At 5:27 AM, Blogger Abhinav said…

    Very well put satya....have u checked e-paper of TOI? it is the exact copy of print paper i get in the mrng, the advantage is that i can see all newspapers TOI has published today frm different cities.
    Yea true online papers caters to different kind of audience and has become a vital source to generate revenue however more stress should be provided to the content and not on the adds, e.g., browse a leading economic daily's site and u will notice that the story spans for 4 pages which should have been covered in 2 if it were not for adv.
    Yea the true advantage of online newspapers is that u can search for any particular news item.

     
  • At 8:21 AM, Blogger greensatya said…

    Yeah TOI and Indian Expres have e-paper, they are good. But here I was comparing the online edition with the print edition.
    You are so true with the number of pages for a single news item and I guess you are referring to TOI. Now a days that paper has become tabloid and no one takes it seriously.

     
  • At 8:22 AM, Blogger Raj said…

    As far as indian newspapers are concerned, most of their websites suck.

    However, the epaper of TOI is not bad. It was very slow initially but it is okay now.

    However, the website and epaper of DNA is very good.

     
  • At 2:50 PM, Blogger Akanksha said…

    even hindustan times e paper is quite cool..
    i read it whenver i get time!

     
  • At 3:01 PM, Blogger Y said…

    Can't read the online papers for long.

    Though I used to read New York Times online, coz thats the only way to read it. I was a big fan of Friedman's and Krugman's cloumn. Until NYT made that paid. Also NYT has a great section on cars.

    Since we are on newspapers I dont think as highly of the Indian Express..which I think is u r fav. I like the Asian Age and Hindu is what I think is the best newspaper.

     
  • At 5:46 PM, Blogger greensatya said…

    Raj - I think there isn't much difference between e-paper and the print edition. So the points I listed is not applicable to e-paper. But sometimes when I have time I love to read the e-paper but not of TOI.

    Akanksha - So you are back ! and I Hindustan Times, the less said the better. I don't ever check even the website of Hindustan times. It is full of mindless and useless ads.

    Sher - I don't have any option so I read all the newspapers and magazines in their online avatar.

    Yeah Indian Express is my favourite and I also like Hindu. But Hindu and IE are different genre and the only Ethical newspaper in India is Hindu.

     
  • At 8:49 AM, Blogger Freeze said…

    i dont read online newspapers! so i got no clue!

     
  • At 10:40 AM, Blogger Twilight Fairy said…

    I felt the same during both my onsite trips! the papers just leave out the local news and that's exactly what I wanted to know... but the e-paper which looked *exactly* as the main paper (TOI) was good that way.. it had all the local ads too and I knew what deals were there in India..

     
  • At 1:06 PM, Blogger Y said…

    Satya, can u open my blog?

     
  • At 9:42 PM, Blogger greensatya said…

    Freeze - Yeah now you have access to print edition to go with your morning coffee. But some of us don't have that luxury.

    TF - So you could not stay away from deals even when you were not in India :p. E-paper of TOI is good but it can't match the web-edition if it is made better.

    Sher - Your blog is working now :)

     
  • At 11:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It was very aptly put down by you that, "the online versions give the unique advantage of putting comments for each and every article and thus lead to a healthy debate."

    Not many of the Newspaper provide you with that feature, and even if they do its heavily moderated and only they know when your views actually got published.

    For this very same reason, now i just go to IndianPad which is a small indian community linking and commenting on various articles from different newspapers.

     
  • At 11:40 PM, Blogger greensatya said…

    Anonymous - That's true not many newspaper are taking advantage of this opportunity. But good to know about Indianpad and I am going to frequent it as well. Thanks for letting me know about it

     
  • At 9:42 AM, Blogger Unknown said…

    E newspaper are very helpful and they can provide a great response as you know the normal newspaper goes to the radi wala its waste of paper so E newspaper would be helpful in future



    Avadhnama Mumbai

     

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