The topic I chose for this assignment was last week’s testimony by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The “in-print” article was pulled from The Buffalo News (business section) and was entitled “Greenspan rejects blame for economic crisis.” My on-line article was from CEP News The Real-Time Source for Global Economic & Market News (a Canadian website) and was entitled “Midday News Recap: U.S. Jobless Claims Rise, Greenspan Testifies.”
My preference is to read the printed versions of articles. I can usually access the same articles both “in-print” and on the web. You might wonder what kind of an idiot wastes time looking at both. Frankly, reading from a computer screen hurts my eyes. To read news stories from my Blackberry or phone is like reading the fine print on a contract. One benefit to “in-print” publications (newspapers, weekly journals) is that they can be quickly tucked away in my purse or briefcase; not so easily done with a laptop. I will say however, that the benefits of on-line articles far outweigh those of “in-print.” I can see why some people prefer them; there are places to go and people to see!
The article from The Buffalo News provided me with the same basic information and quotes as the on-line article. (The article from The Buffalo News was also available in their website.) It included a picture of former chairman Greenspan testifying. Unfortunately, it began on one page (D6) but finished on another (D7) so I had to flip and fold the page then search for the headline in order to finish reading it. There were no additional references on Greenspan, the FDIC or the Treasury where I could learn more about the testimony nor were there references to other articles. The article provided basic “highlight” information.
The article from CEP News offered much more. In addition to some common quotes such as the "once-in-a century credit tsunami", there was some additional basic economic information. The Buffalo News article was more critical of Greenspan and focused on his comments and accountability; the CEP News article was more informational and included many statistics.
The on-line story provided a way to print, e-mail or submit the story to several social networking sites (reddit, Digg, del.icio.us, newsvine). It also offered a section where you could review “Recent Related Stores” such as “U.S. Consumer Confidence Plummets to All-Time Low in October”
In addition, one of the benefits to on-line reading is its search capability. You can use CTRL and “F” key to open a quick search. That means if you wanted to find a certain quote or name, it could be easily done.
Here is what I do to combine the benefits of both. I set up news alerts via websites like Google and Bizjournals (they offer weekly publications in Buffalo, Rochester and Albany) for topics and names that interest me the most. I get news highlights from these sites that I can review quickly. They lead me to the full story should I choose to read it. If I am short of time, I print out the article and take it with me.
Usually, in addition to references, on-line articles usually offer hyperlinks that you can click on to learn more about the topic or person the article was written about. This one did not.
Citations
1. Crutsinger M., Gordon M., October, 24, 2008, “Greenspan rejects blame for economic crisis,” The Buffalo News, Business Today, D6
2. Huebl S., October, 23, 2008, “Midday News Recap: U.S. Jobless Claims Rise, Greenspan Testifies”, CEP News The Real-Time Source for Global Economic & Market News, http://www.economicnews.ca/cepnews/wire/article/single/144442/
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3 comments:
I totally agree with you that reading articles online hurts my eyes! It's much better to print them out and have them in front of you. You made a good point to utilize both online and print sources depending on how much time and effort you want to put into reading about the article.
That is a good idea of combining the benefits of both mediums. I like your point of just printing out the online article so that you are not forced to look at a computer screen for hours. Nice compromise!
I do the same thing too. I think print article is easy and convenient to carry around and have it with you. you don't have to worry about sitting the whole time infront of computer to finish one article. good point.
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