What does news look like on the Internet? Well, what DOESN’T
news look like on the Internet? I’m clicking around the New York Times online
site without the intention of finding anything in particular. At first, I’m
simply interested in seeing how the site it set up and how stories are
displayed. I see videos, I see pictures, and I see words, categories lining the
sides of the page, links, ads, and a banner along the top of the page asking me
to purchase a digital description. As I scroll down the page, there are so many
stories for me to click on. Here, the Times has chosen what they think is the
most important. I take their word for it and starting reading a few articles
varying in content from Syria, the constellations and the upcoming anniversary
of 9/11. What I’m finding is that there is so much news on the Internet. Using
the search bar at the top of the page, basically any key word can produce a
resulting news story that was once published. The major lesson I learned in
this exploration is that sometimes, if you go looking for a news story on a certain subject, it takes a
bit of digging around. In the fast paced lives of news gatherers today, they
could be completely oblivious to any news that is not displayed on the home
page of the New York Times website. The Times isn’t alone as I find that mostly
all online news sources are set up similarly. The set up of websites means
everything, as people’s eyes go where they are strategically led. People, quite frankly, don't have time to casually peruse online like I'm doing now. There is a
lot that goes into web design and because I have always been so focused on the
news, I haven’t paid much attention to how news on the Internet is set up.
Until now.
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