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The newspaper has been around for many years , since 1690 to be exact, and it wasn’t until a few years ago that it began to plummet. The internet has put many things at risk; e.g. businesses, newspapers, and anything else in between. Even though there are still many people that still prefer an actual hard copy of a newspaper, there are even more people out there that prefer to get their news online, which has put the life of the newspaper in jeopardy.
As soon as I sat down to read today’s paper, I immediately saw a picture of a very cute dog between a chain-link cage. I immediately thought that Blue (the dog behind bars) was up for adoption, instead it was an article about Blue awaiting his trial. He has been given a death sentence for biting a small child that was near his food. His owners are in the process of getting him back, by filing a lawsuit against the city of Albany. If someone were to go onto the Democrat Herald website, they would see a small picture of Blue and a brief description and then before you can even blink, it moves onto another article.
Most of the stories in Tuesday’s paper were about Oregon news with a little bit of the President combined and they weren’t that long at all and instead were just “filler” news to make the paper a bit bigger. Tuesday’s paper didn’t really have “sections”. I mean they have their “sub-sections” like; ‘Your Community’, Obituaries, ‘Oregon Notes’, Editorials, Sports and then the Classifieds. The online version is much more advanced and if someone wanted to see a specific section then they would have to click on one of the tabs, up at the top.
In the print version, there is a fairly good amount of pictures and the only color pictures they had were on the front and back covers and then also on the front of the sports’ page and then the rest are in black and white. Now, of course the online version had all of their pictures in color, because who wants to look at pictures online that are in black and white when they can be in color???
Since it is so close to Valentine’s Day (ugh!!), I saw a BUNCH of ads for flowers and chocolate and then I saw their regular ads; e.g. car insurance rates, medical clinics, dental clinics, and then a random ad for ‘AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home’ in Albany.
Of course the online version is more up-to-date with the news and the print one is outdated as soon as the ink dries.
The Democrat Herald isn’t much different than the Corvallis Gazette Times or The Statesman Journal and the only difference, that I know of, is that it covers local Linn County news. And like the other Oregon papers, it also covers big statewide news as well as some nationwide news and if the story is big enough…world news; e.g. Egypt or when the USS George Washington was in Korea for their war games.
The style that I thought the editor did was that they put their biggest headlines on the front and then once you read the inside of the paper, the headlines became less important than the last and are commonly called “filler” news.
The 2 biggest strengths that I saw for the print version were 1.) that I had an actual physical copy and 2.) I knew where the paper started and where it ended. The 2 strengths that I noticed for the online version were 1.) that it is more up-to-date than the print version and 2.) the tabs at the top, make it easier to find the selection that I want to look at.
The 2 weaknesses of the print version were 1.) it’s outdated as soon as it is printed and 2.) I’ll admit it…I think that there should be at LEAST good ones and have more than 1 in there. The 2 weaknesses of the online version were 1.) that they don’t tell you certain things that are in the paper version and 2.) I don’t like the way the front page is setup, how the “top news” changes every 4 seconds…barely enough time to read the previous one.
I think that the primary target audience are people over the age of 21...the more mature adults. The ads that I saw online didn’t really seem to fit the articles, like an ad about ‘losing belly fat’ and the ones in the paper were mostly for people over the age of 25.
When I was reading the paper (both online and print) I noticed that the ads were stereotyped towards old people. For example, there were TONS of ads for getting better car insurance at a reduced rate,
I prefer the online version because I don’t read the paper and when I do, it is to find a specific thing and by reading it online I am saving money and being “green” while reading. Honestly, I think that the version that people prefer is the print version. People like the feeling of being able to hold a newspaper rather than having to go online and search for their news online….some don’t even know where to start.
The rare times that I read the paper, I ALWAYS read the comics and the personal section….they both make me laugh. Everyone needs laughter in their lives in order to be happy and healthy…who doesn’t want that???
I learned that during the week there really isn’t any “big” news and that most of the articles in there are just fillers. I learned that the newspapers will do anything to keep afloat and if that means filling their papers with mindless news and mindless entertainment , than that’s just what they’ll do.
LINKS:
RIP
COMPUTER
1ST CARTOON
SCREEN SHOT
2ND CARTOON
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