While the Internet has taken an important role in the new media era, the debate between new and old media is increasely stronger as many people may concern whether Online Jounailsm may replace traditional newspaper one day. So, Does the Internet threaten the survival of the newspaper? If so, what challenges does the Internet pose to the traditional newspaper and print media?
Let me give a liitle introduction about online journalism first. 
There is only a short history of online journalism but no consensus exists on when the online journalism started. Someone argues that it was started from 1952; someone said it was started from 1969 and others said that it was started from 1993. Nowadays, Internet news has come from obscurity to ubiquity. Different large media companies own their news website which varies elements to report news. Sound, images and video can add features to the news story. These can give the audience more of a sense of involvement in the news. There is some evidence that newspaper suffered a decline in sales as more people turn to the Internet for their news. Some people are worrying that many people get their news from net sources unconnected to newspapers. At the end, the traditional newspaper and print media may no longer to exist. In my point of view, Internet news may really pose some challenges to the circulation of some newspapers but I do believe that newspaper still has its space to survive.
The most obvious advantages that people may choose online news is that the Internet can deliver news immediately. Internet operates 24 hours updated news and the deadline of the Internet reporters comes every minute of the day. In a 24-hour information society, readers expect instant access to national and international news; local news providers are under pressure to deliver the same level of service. However, the daily or weekly news fix offered by regional dailies, evening and weeklies is no longer enough. The greatest advantage that online journalism offers is the elimination of the fixed news deadline while it can be updated as and when news breaks.
The other challenges that online journalism posed is the interactivity. For the traditional newspaper, it had offered the audience few direct opportunities for interactive communication. A well-known means for feedback in print media is the Letters to the Editor section. Readers may write letter as a reaction to the media. Meanwhile, the Internet becomes a new medium that could extend interactive options in journalism. The biggest difference that the online news site offers is that users can take part in an online discussion about the news by using different techniques such as instant polls, e-mail, forums, bulletin boards, discussion groups and online chats with reporters or editors, and to see what other people think about the same news and post their own views at the same time. These channels can be immediate and active and they will become an increasingly important part for the online journalism development.
Moreover, a new relationship between journalist and reader is also built under the interactivity environment that is offered by the websites. While readers take part into the online news forum and began responding not only with opinions but also with information, they are likely to become sources of information and lead the journalist to new inquiries and stories. They could also provide valuable perspective to journalists and offering points of view that journalists would not hear in talking with the official sources. Although some of the material may be too subjective or self-indulgent, these still are a useful way of tapping into users’ needs and interests. This movement is called civic journalism, which could be taken to a new level to the web and it takes an advantage over the traditional one-way journalism. It also led the journalist to a closer step to their audience while they have become users as well as providers.
On the other hand, the hypertextuality led the audience access a text in a way that suits their own need and interests. These storyboards are linked to each other by means of hypertext. It allows the ideas to be linked into a larger, more contextual whole and at the same time journalists can express ideas without having to stick by the often constricting need to place them in a specific order. More importantly, audience can jump from one part to another of the story or even to a completely different story through the hyperlinks. How and what they consume becomes driven by the audience rather than the news provider.
Furthermore, the multimediality of online journalism also appeals to the audience. The Internet is evolving means the quality and speed of watching video or listening to audio have vastly improved. For instance, ABC debuted a 24-hour news service available only to the Internet users in spring 2003, which is called ABC News Live, it used live feeds of breaking news with some anchored, news summaries and even rebroadcasts the ABC News programmes. News on the Internet combines print with audio and video elements so it is far more flexible than the print media. The multimediality gives audience more a sense of involvement in the news.
All above are the reasons why Internet news becomes more and more popular while its immediacy, interactivity, hypertextuality and the multimediality really take great benefits for reporting news. It is no doubt that the traditional newspaper and print media may face the challenges by the Internet news. However, Internet news may not challenge the survival of print media in short. Until now, the traditional newspaper and the Internet news take different roles in news reporting; people may still use them in two very different ways...
