Online news is not only changing the way people get information everywhere, but changing the nature of news itself.

The audience can now view only the stories that interest them, without the “filter” of an editor or an agenda. Opinion is proliferating at the expense of facts. What can’t be definitively “proven” gives rise to countless online communities sharing common views about any given issue.

Many in the “Google Generation” consider free online content a basic human right. Yet most news websites are completely dependent on traditional news organizations that invest in (and profit from) original reporting and storytelling. Without the “mainstream media” the most popular online news sites would be just another blog.

How traditional news organizations fit into the online world is still being discovered. Online, broadcasters are working more with words; newspapers are working more with images.

But compared with traditional broadcast models, consistently engaging audiences online (and making online news profitable) remains elusive.

Click on the links above for ideas to engage online news audiences more effectively.


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