Online Newspaper Vs. Print Version

The contents of the Southeast Missourian online paper may seem so much more fitting with this day and age, but the traditional newsprint edition still offers their subscribers a lot more information.

The print version organizes the newspaper with pictures from various sections located at the top, side, and bottom in order to draw the reader in to the articles and advertisements. The online version is very to the point in its content in the fact that the Southeast Missourian does not have to sell the online version to the public or subscribers, this is seen online with minimal advertisements that deal directly with the surrounding area . With the unappealing online version having only a basic structure to the inner contents along with two pictures, and a lead story, it seems more like a quick reference of news for the person that doesn't have time to sit back and browse the newsprint edition.

The Web version displayed a different story from the printed newspaper. Another aspect of the online edition that didn't appeal to me was the format of the articles. The articles were broken up into lengthy segmented paragraphs; this gets very tedious by having to scroll down the screen to read. Although the contexts of the articles are the same, the newsprint edition is more appealing in the sense that each article has at least one or more pictures relating specifically to it, this helps with the interpretation by referring back to the pictures surrounding the article. Another element of the online version that I noticed was that I could not browse over the headlines and articles as I would in the actual newsprint. This to me is the essence of enjoying a newspaper anywhere you may be.

I found it very intriguing that the online adaptation has a thumbnail picture of the actual newsprint front page. After accessing this picture, it also gave other front page thumbnails of past issues. I think this is an advertising strategy in order to draw the online reader into purchasing a newsprint edition.

I prefer the actual newsprint edition to the online version because of the content. The online version didn't have any of the sport section scoreboards, crossword puzzles, or comics that I hold dear to my enjoyment of the newspaper. In accessing the coupons, I found this page to be a joke with no more that 10 coupons available for printing. The newsprint edition has endless coupons, along with sale announcements