“The medium is the message” Marshall McLuhan’s statement is completely relevant when thinking of the ways information is currently displayed on newspaper websites.

The online version of a newspaper should look very little like the printed newspaper and act completely unlike it. A newspaper is a finite, unchanging medium for displaying content. Once the content is paginated and printed, the product has been finalized and that day’s work is over.  Conversely, the online edition of a Newspaper must remain dynamic at all times, receiving content from the company, readers, and advertisers at all times. The Internet is a medium for multimedia interactive environments. Newspapers marginalize their online potential when they maintain the structure and function of a printed paper on their website. I don’t know why this is such a hard concept for newspapers to grasp. There should be more interactive features on newspaper websites.

A newspaper’s online site must be displayed in a format that is appealing to the sense and easy to navigate. Simply putting digitized newspaper pages online is penny wise and pound foolish. People will recognize right away that no effort has gone into the site and will just go elsewhere.

I would like to see more innovation at newspapers’ websites. Something that realizes the potential of the medium. Something more interactive and in-line with the customer’s needs. It’s easy to say that, anyone can say we need something better, but more and more online destinations are coming up with good ideas, unfortunately they are not newspaper companies.

At press time, a great example of innovation in newspaper websites is the Asbury Park Press Data Universe.

The bottom line is that more can be done to steer readers and advertisers to online newspaper sites. How many truly innovative, user-friendly newspaper websites have you come across? These companies have enough money in their coffers to fund an innovative team eager to come up with a great newspaper website. All that is needed now is a commitment from the Newspaper companies to embrace change.

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