News coverage

Citation

Palmer, S. (1998), "News coverage", Journal of Property Valuation and Investment, Vol. 16 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpvi.1998.11216eag.001

News coverage

Keywords Business, Economics, News and current affairs, Politics

News coverage

One very convenient feature of the Internet is the ability to get up-to-the-minute news coverage. This includes access to most of the daily newspapers (some of which are updated online throughout the day) as well as dedicated news services such as the Press Association site. Most of these services require an initial, free, registration before allowing access to their whole Web site. However, once registered, users often have free access to additional facilities such as the ability to search an archive of the publication.

In this article I shall review some of the Internet versions of major British newspapers and in the next issue of this journal I shall look at the availability of more in-depth coverage of news and current affairs over the Internet. Of the broadsheet newspapers my preferred site is The Times which can be found at www.the-times.co.uk. Without registering users can only view the top news stories. However, the registration form is relatively short and registered users can bookmark a site that bypasses the need to input an id and password. The Times has been online since 1996 and the Internet version of the newspaper is virtually the complete newspaper. Full access to The Sunday Times is available from the same site.

The publication says of itself:

As the first British newspapers to publish truly comprehensive Internet editions, we take advantage of the new technology by providing links from each day's news and feature articles to related items throughout today's and recent issues, and provide a comprehensive and detailed archive of material for background and research that no single day's printed edition could ever hope to match. As a time-saving aid, we allow the busy reader the chance to delve into the background via the Back Issues search, and News Update builds on the day's paper with all the latest news eight times a day.

The "links from each day's news" is a particularly useful feature that alerts you to related stories in the same issue of the paper, important stories are updated hourly via the "Resources" link. This link also provides access to the "Library" which is an archive of The Times and The Sunday Times from 1 January 1996, to date. There used to be an excellent search facility which allowed users to search right across the archive, but "problems with the database" has resulted in the suspension of the system. However, "they are being rebuilt and we hope to come back with an improved service in the near future". In the meantime users can still call up any individual issue of The Times from January 1996 onwards.

In marked contrast to the clear layout and ease of navigation that are hall-marks of The Times Internet site, the entry page for the Daily Telegraph is a nightmare in design. The initial page has a black background which is "complemented" by electric blue and sunshine yellow text. As with The Times, users must complete a short registration form in order to gain full access to the site. Once registered, users are able to get beyond the garish entry page and into what is a well laid out and extremely useful resource. The Home Page of The Electronic Telegraph can be found at www.telegraph.co.uk As with The Times users are altered to related stories and there are also direct links to coverage of a story as it unfolded in previous issues. For instance, the lead item in the City pages of 11 August is "Asia markets fall as Japan admits slump" ­ links at the bottom of the article take the reader back through the story to "23 December 1997: Japanese share slump heightens Asian crisis". An extremely useful additional feature of The Telegraph is the links to external coverage of any particular story. For example, the "Asia Markets" story includes links to IMF coverage (a clickable link to "The IMF's response to the Asian crisis [27 July '98] ­ IMF") and to Nikkie Net in Japan.

The main news story of the day: "Bomb suspects held as US offers reward of $2m", is complemented by a link to further coverage in today's paper ("Relatives crushed by grief in search for survivors of blast"), four links to previous coverage in The Telegraph and seven links to external coverage including CNN, ABC News, the US State Department and Africa News Online. It is a shame that the initial impression of this site is so off-putting because once the user is actually in the site the coverage is excellent.

The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) is apologetic about its current Web facilities but promises: "We are currently hard at work on an ambitious new network of Websites for TheGuardian and The Observer which will be launched later this summer. We are confident that they will be among the most innovative and exciting sites on the Web, but for the moment our online presence is necessarily limited". The site also explains that "unlike most major newspaper sites, we don't publish all the stories from our print editions daily, nor do we try to organise the content on the site in the same way a newspaper might". Despite these caveats the site is very well laid out and the "From the Paper" section (as the name suggests) covers stories found in the printed version of the paper complete with links to previous coverage and related external sites. For example, the "Business" sub-section of today's paper covers the mis-selling of pensions story under the headline "Prudential promises sales investigation". There are links back to previous coverage of the story and a direct link to the Prudential's own Home Page. There is also a link to a "print version" of the story which allows ease of printing for those who have trouble printing from within a frames environment.

The Independent online (www.independent.co.uk) is continuing to improve its service but, for some reason, has very short line lengths which makes reading articles a rather tedious affair. This service does not require registration. It is a useful starting point for news and business information for the user who finds registration too time-consuming or for those who prefer a basic, no-frills service.

The Financial Times (www.ft.com) requires registration which is free but, unlike the other newspapers reviewed, some of the facilities are chargeable. Registered users can access full coverage of the news under three main headings: "Latest Headlines", which are updated throughout the day; "Newspaper in Brief", which offers access to a synopsis of articles in the newspaper with the option to move to the full story complete with links, and "Press Reviews", which is a review of the major business stories carried by the broadsheet papers.

The FT "Special Reports" are also available online and give more detailed information on topical issues. The "Market Data" link offers information on "markets today", "London latest" and "world indices". All this information is available at no charge to registered users. For further information on a topic, users can search the Internet version of the FT for the past 30 days and this service is also available at no charge. Users can also search the FT archive which contains all the articles which have appeared in the FT since July 1996. However, while you can view the headline of relevant articles retrieved, the full article can only be downloaded for a fee. This is the first fee charging service I have come across on newspaper Web sites and we can only hope that it is NOT the way forward.

Finally, a mention for the London Evening Standard online Home Page which can be found at www.thisislondon.co.uk Until the launch of their Web site, this newspaper was only available to purchasers in and around London, but the Internet has brought this publication to a world-wide readership. While much of the news coverage has a London bias, the "Business Day" section, which is updated throughout the day, provides excellent City information and includes links to "Money Markets", "Share Prices" and the "City People Diary".

For current news and business information the Home Pages of the major newspapers are a very valuable resource. The information is generally presented in an easily readable form and is a quick way of catching up with the day's events. In the next issue of this journal I shall look at some of the services that provide a more in-depth coverage of current affairs, providing the stories behind the headlines and research level business information.

Scarlett PalmerThe Department of Land Management and Development, University of ReadingE-mail: s.h.palmer@reading.ac.uk