Better News Reading from the New York Times
Posted on David Pierce | 4 Comments
As a media fanatic, and an aspiring journalist myself, I’m constantly trying to figure out and help understand how newspapers and journalism can coexist with the Web.
The Internet – what it means and the changes it brings – could mean great things for newspapers, and in fact already does mean great things. Readership of newspapers is in many cases higher than ever before, but most have not figured out how to monetize that Web news-reading experience.
One key, one thing that’s going to make the whole newspaper migration to the Internet a lot faster and easier, is ways of reading the news that better simulate the newspaper reading experience. At the forefront of this, right now, is the New York Times.
The Times has released two relatively excellent ways of reading the paper. One’s for subscribers only, and one’s for everyone. Without further ado:
Times Reader
This one, as best I can tell, is only for those who subscribe to the Times. Even if you don’t want to read the paper, this application alone might be worth the price of a subscription. When you close the application, it can live in your system tray, always keeping your news up-to-date.
The Times Reader downloads to your desktop, where it synchronizes the news for you. Everything is downloaded, so you can read your news offline. The interface is easy to navigate, and looks and feels much more like a newspaper- headlines, multi-page articles, and the like. Its look changes depending on how big the window is, so it’s always optimized for your screen.
You can save, print, email or write notes about any given article (can’t do that with a newspaper). You can also change the text size, see pictures, and generally make your reading easier. If you’re a subscriber, or debating it, you’ll love the Times Reader.
Article Skimmer
The Times is doing its best to try and make skimming the headlines and the paper easier for the online readership. The new Article Skimmer app looks and feels a lot like the Times Reader, letting you easily skim the headlines and leads for all the various sections of the paper.
Reading the articles you’ll pull out of the Article Skimmer requires you to sign up for a New York Times account- a minor, one-time irritation, but it’s free and worth doing. A click on an article takes you to a new page – not as simple as the Times Reader, but still easier to use than the NYT website.
As more and more people get their news from the Web, newspaper corporations are re-evaluating what reading on the Web looks like. The Times is way out in front, and I can’t wait for others to catch up.
How do you read your news? What do you wish would change?
Photo: wongyangyong
David Pierce, the founder of Digitizd, is now Reviews Editor at The Verge.
I think the sooner that people start disconnecting “newspapers” from “journalism,” the faster they'll find a way to do journalism online effectively. The dynamic is about to shift, to date it's been newspapers trying to figure out how to distribute on the web, soon it will be web journalism trying to figure out how to provide a printed format that works. The change isn't bad – but it is change. It's the proliferation of information that's changing newspapers, not necessarily the digital form of the web. Figuring out how to do journalism in that world is going to be key; then, the distribution outlets and revenue structures will begin sorting themselves out.
I think the sooner that people start disconnecting “newspapers” from “journalism,” the faster they’ll find a way to do journalism online effectively. The dynamic is about to shift, to date it’s been newspapers trying to figure out how to distribute on the web, soon it will be web journalism trying to figure out how to provide a printed format that works. The change isn’t bad – but it is change. It’s the proliferation of information that’s changing newspapers, not necessarily the digital form of the web. Figuring out how to do journalism in that world is going to be key; then, the distribution outlets and revenue structures will begin sorting themselves out.
Interesting stuff, though I’m not sure I totally agree. I think journalism is bigger than newspapers, but that they’re still definitely connected. I think, and I hope, that people always want the quality that is associated with professional journalism, but the paradigm is certainly changing.
Also, you say “It’s the proliferation of information that’s changing newspapers, not necessarily the digital form of the web.” While that’s true, I don’t think it’s the whole story. Readership for newspapers (online and offline) is way up, but there’s no simple way yet to monetize the online readers in a manner suited to the medium.
You’re definitely right, though- figuring out how journalism and the Web work together will have a critical effect on journalism as a profession in the Internet world. Thanks!
Interesting stuff, though I'm not sure I totally agree. I think journalism is bigger than newspapers, but that they're still definitely connected. I think, and I hope, that people always want the quality that is associated with professional journalism, but the paradigm is certainly changing.
Also, you say “It's the proliferation of information that's changing newspapers, not necessarily the digital form of the web.” While that's true, I don't think it's the whole story. Readership for newspapers (online and offline) is way up, but there's no simple way yet to monetize the online readers in a manner suited to the medium.
You're definitely right, though- figuring out how journalism and the Web work together will have a critical effect on journalism as a profession in the Internet world. Thanks!