There are various pros and cons of print newspapers and digital news. However, if we look at the current pandemic situation we can say that newspapers are certainly facing a tough time ahead. Digital news is taking over the print news. The studies say that newspaper apps are the primary choice for people getting caught up on current affairs compared to print media.
It is no wonder that the latest developments in technology, access to the internet, smartphones, tablets are the reasons for the majority of people shifting from the print to digital. With the digital revolution, readers who are accustomed to waiting for the daily newspaper can now receive the news updates within seconds by browsing through news portals, apps, and sites and get the instant notifications about any event. Digital news is immediately accessible and convenient. If we are running late to the office we can read the news by just downloading the app without the hassle of carrying the newspaper. In fact, we can read the news topic wise from all over the world from one site, also there is no limit to how many articles one can read as compared to the traditional way in which people can only read the articles which were there in the newspaper. In the fast-paced world, we don’t want to waste our time fumbling through print newspapers to find an article which can be easily available online by just clicking a button. Also, there are short news apps that summarize the news and articles between 50-60 characters giving a better user experience with fast loading, latest news updates within the short time, offline use, and easy navigation designed for a thumb. Now we don’t have to go through long articles to get updated with the latest news. These short news apps are also available in regional languages. For example:- to get the latest andhra and telangana news, hindi news, gujarati news, kannada news etc one can easily download the app on their phones to get the latest news updates.
The pandemic situation also gave rise to the development of regional news apps in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Due to the shutdown of physical newspapers, regional news apps are filling the gap to make the latest news available in the local language to the readers, unlike the traditional news apps which were available only in English and Hindi. For Eg- There are readers who just understand Telugu and Andhra don’t have to rely only on a physical newspaper to access and read the latest news, they can rely on regional news apps localized to get the Andhra and Telugu breaking news. The embedded videos in these news articles are making it more interactive and user friendly. The additional app features like sharing articles on social media, highlighting the text, audio news and watching live Telugu news is making it more convenient to access the information.
Looking from the economic point of view, digital news is definitely a viable way of accessing the news from all over the world and making it safe without staggering the environment with paper waste. Leaving print and shifting towards the greener reading habit is the ultimate cost-cutting and the environment-friendly option to access news.
News apps are gaining popularity among readers over print newspapers. Overall the print newspaper business looks very bleak and is declining slowly as time passes by. In today’s electronic age, the shift from print to digital is the new future.
