Web journalism is closer to news agency journalism than to print journalism. Both have instant deadlines, require constant updation and feed users across geographic locations and time zones.
There are two characteristics that news agencies, also known as wire services, share with web journalism. These are:
# Instant updates
News agency journalism is instant. Reporters file reports as soon as an event is over. They are also the first with news breaks. Reason: news agencies feed news copy to hundreds of subscribers across the world. Each subscriber has a different closing time, based on its geographic location or newscast time. The news agency report becomes meaningless if news desks can’t access it before closing time.
The same is true of web journalism. It is a 24/7 medium. Users are logging on from different geographic locations round the clock. You can’t hold back a report. It must be published instantly. You will have more users returning to your website if there is fresh content. News outlets that delay web postings or hold back exclusive stories are doing an injustice to their web users.
# Constant updation
News agencies constantly update news reports. They monitor each breaking story zealously. The news break, if it is big, is announced as a news flash alerting news desks of a major news development. The first report will then be moved. If need be, it will be updated as more facts are obtained.
If the story continues to develop, the news agency editors will decide to club the first takes, and move a new story slugged Lead. As required, the story will be updated and a Second Lead moved to subscribers. There may be a Third Lead or even a Fourth Lead depending upon the magnitude of the story, and unfolding events. To make it easier for subscribers with late deadlines, news agencies even move Overall Leads.
This is precisely what is expected of web journalism. The news reports must be constantly updated. They should be rewritten to reflect the changing news points.
Since each web report is time stamped, it becomes easier for returning users to know if a story has been updated or not since their last visit. These users will always prefer those websites that constantly update news reports.
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