All The News That's Print To Fit


    I remember being about ten, discussing television with my best friend. The conversation started with shows we actually watched (CHiPs, That's Incredible, Barney Miller, etc...) and quickly progressed to shows that we'd never seen but sounded cool (Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, The Rockford Files, etc...). This one-upmanship continued until my friend played his trump card, claiming that he watched…

    the news.

    If there is a defining moment when you are truly no longer a child it's the day you turn on the nightly news or pick up a newspaper with the specific purpose of learning the news. In that moment, you've realized there is more to the universe than your life and you've decided you should know about it.

    The World Wide Web is such a unique vehicle for communication, traditional media publications and broadcasters have rushed to create a presence, with varied success.

    So let's name names.

    Newspapers have the benefit of strong similarities with the web in the way information is absorbed: you read it (multimedia bells and whistles excepted).


    USA Today succeeds in making a garish digest of a newspaper into an attractive and interesting website. Lots of color, pictures, and succinct articles do a great job of whetting your appetite for more substantial news.


    The Washington Post has made its second foray into cyberspace with washingtonpost.com. The site meets the quality of the paper and gets extra points in my book for its Elvis tribute and for having comics. For the other side of the DC coin, you can try The Washington Times or The Washington City Paper.

    Denizens outside the Beltway may find other local papers more to their liking:
  • The Anchorage Daily News (AK)
  • The Birmingham Post-Herald (AL)
  • The Phoenix New Times (AZ)
  • The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
  • The San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
  • The San Francisco Examiner (CA)
  • The Los Angeles Times (CA)
  • The Los Angeles Weekly (CA)
  • The Rocky Mountain News (CO)
  • The Hartford Courant (CT)
  • The Tampa Tribune (FL)
  • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
  • The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
  • The Cedar Radids Gazette (IA)
  • The Iowa Telegraph Herald (IA)
  • The Idaho Falls Post Register (ID)
  • The Chicago Tribune (IL)
  • The Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
  • The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN)
  • The Kentucky Courier-Journal (KY)
  • The Baton Rouge Advocate (LA)
  • The Boston Globe (MA)
  • The Baltimore Sun (MD)
  • The Baltimore City Paper (MD)
  • The Portland Press Herald (ME)
  • The Maine Sunday Telegram (ME)
  • The Detroit News (MI)
  • The Detroit Journal (MI)
  • The Detroit Free Press (MI)
  • The Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune (MN)
  • The St. Louis Post Dispatch (MO)
  • The Mississippi Daily Journal (MS)
  • The Mississippi Sun Herald (MS)
  • The Billings Gazette (MT)
  • The Charlotte Observer (NC)
  • The Bismark Tribune (ND)
  • The Lincoln Journal Star (NE)
  • The Keene Sentinel (NH)
  • The Asbury Park Press (NJ)
  • The Albuquerque Journal (NM)
  • The Las Vegas Sun (NV)
  • The New York Times (NY)
  • The Village Voice (NY)
  • The Shadow (NY)
  • The New York Daily News (NY)
  • The Columbus Dispatch (OH)
  • The Weatherford Daily News (OK)
  • The Cascadia Times (OR)
  • The Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
  • The Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
  • The South Carolina State (SC)
  • The Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
  • The Austin Chronicle (TX)
  • The Houston Chronicle (TX)
  • The Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
  • The Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
  • The Vermont Standard (VT)
  • The Seattle Times (WA)
  • The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal (WI)
  • The Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
  • The Jackson Hole Guide (WY)
    • ...to name a few.


    And then there's The Wall Street Journal. Just news. No comics, no horoscopes, no Ann Landers—Just news. If you want credibility in the adult world, you read the Wall Street Journal.

    A few other web newspapers of note:

    • The Calgary Planet Sun
    • The Christian Science Monitor
    • OutNOW!
    • The Earth Times
    • The International Verbalist
    • The Doonesbury Electronic Town Hall

    Electronic newsstands feature many of the above sites plus many popular magasine sites. You know what you read. Go to these sites and take a look for yourself:

    • The Electronic Newsstand
    • Pathfinder
    • The Electric Library


    Television has leapt feet first into the web. Many offer multimedia application by way of downloadable pictures, Quicktime movies and RealAudio sound.

    • ABC World News Now
    • ABC Local Affiliates
    • CBS News
    • CBS Local Affiliates
    • MSNBC
    • NBC Local Affiliates
    • NBC4 in Washington, DC
    • CNN
    • C-SPAN
    • CNBC

    As has radio...

    • Capitol Radio Networks
    • National Public Radio
    • Metro Networks
    • RadioONE
    • Radio Free Europe
    • Talk America Radio Network
    • World Radio Network
    • ABC RadioNet

    Whew. This dosen't even cover the abundance of local and community papers, university student newspapers, business and trade newspapers, etc. … Obviously the web is a good way to learn about the world.

    So the next time you're browsing the web, take a moment to read the news. You'll become more informed, save the cost of buying a paper and…

    …you'll be an adult.

    Back to

    The Adventures of WebSlinger is written by Kenny Neal.
    © 1996 by Richard K. Neal. All rights reserved.