Information is precursory to knowledge and it is well established that when any society or individual is misinformed or suffering from lack of sufficient information, chaos, flawed deductions and sheer illiteracy which precedes poverty and every other unfortunate situation imaginable becomes the order of the day.
Information is the virtual king of the society and as such every media employed in disseminating it is taking as a serious subject.
The past decades have witnessed print media rolling out tons of newspapers daily which are being bought by readers until trouble reared up positively in the form of the 21st century renaissance that ushered in digitalization.
Daily news are now been read online by a larger populace relative to print newspaper.
The hardcopy of national dailies are been left at the mercy of its old patrons and politicians who’s monthly bills covers the consumption cost of newspapers by the day.
In the light of this trend we look at the advantages and disadvantages of digital news.
Advantages
Easy Readability
Hardcopy newspapers can most times appear threatening unless you have a knack for gulping bulky literary contents.
From the front page to the rear there’s hardly any space, everywhere is littered with loads of texts in tiny fonts just to conserve space but online, every news is well arranged and spaced.
The texts are written in lovely and attractive readable fonts.
The columns are carefully arranged in tabs and you can choose whichever you find interesting and consume away.
Portability and Mobility
With a mobile hand-held phone or tab you can access breaking news on-the-go without having to stress yourself holding high volume papers and probably making your neighbor uncomfortable in the cab with your arms widespread.
You don’t need to inconvenience your seatmate when reading daily Nigerian news from Hynaija, Punch Nigeria, Vanguard Nigeria, Legit.ng(Formerly Naij.com) or Nairaland etc. The convenience of reading is a huge plus.
Wider Reach
When you’re surfing the web for news, you are entitled to news from as many news online outlet as your patience or time can permit.
Different sources of news are available to you all in one small digital device.
You could even read intercontinental and global news right at the laid-back comfort of the settee in your living room.
You can’t possibly order for today’s copy of the New York Times, Bloomberg or CNN.
The price and time it’ll take to arrive is enough discouragement but you can have all these and more in a couple of minutes at the price of peanuts.
Opportunity for Your Voice to Be Heard
When reading newspapers, you have the opportunity to air your opinion but you’ll have to mail the editor and wait for him to go through whatever you have to say and approve it before you can have your opinion read by others.
Online, you can comment instantly in news forums, air your opinion, give your facts, dispute unfounded claims and even report your own news all in less than a couple of minutes.
Information is cheaper
With an airtime of just a N100 you could have a bonus data that you can use to access all the benefits listed in this article.
More information at a lesser price, what could be better? a N100 worth of data can give you access to daily news for about a week but you’ll have to keep same price to purchase the papers daily that’s about N700 a week.
Disadvantages
Reading Garbage Daily
With the rise of news blogs all over the web space, most bloggers can just sit at home and write something out of the blues just to gain traffic for their blog.
The legitimacy of news sources online is questionable.
The online world is now filled up with falsity, misinterpretation of information, defamation of public characters, unguided and unfounded news.
Generally, the public consume garbage information and end up misguided and mislead.
The veracity of news being churned out online daily is a major bane of the 21st century information age.
Unemployment
The upsurge of digital news all over the country is gradually making print journalism staff who eck a living out of the hustle to be laid off as even the newspapers outfits themselves are now going digital making half of their staff go dispensable.
If you’ll be publishing online, you don’t need a large office space, cleaners, typists, tons of editors, receptionists and every other relevant staff involved in print media.
Promotion of Hate, Wrong Reforms And Anarchism
With the manner in which news online disperse like wildfire, it is very easy to influence more people negatively by promoting unjust movements, instigating people against the government and fuelling violence.
The fluidity and viral nature of any news online has made the digital media a handy tool in the hands enemies of the society, thus hate speeches and wrong vanguards are brewed online and taking to the physical level.
Photo Credit: Clicky.co.uk
