Chapter 5. News and Blogs
If you’re obsessed with the news, the Web is the place for you. No longer tied to newspaper publishing schedules or TV broadcast times, news on the Web melds the best attributes of print and broadcast journalism. You get (usually) thoughtful written analysis, combined with the immediacy of TV and radio; articles often appear on your screen within minutes of filing.
Furthermore, news-oriented Web sites deliver more than just text and pictures. Many sites include audio and video clips to enhance the main story. And you’re not stuck reading them at your desktop computer: Almost all news sites now let you receive updates via handheld computer, cellphone, or email.
This chapter takes a look at the most popular mainstream sites for international and local news, sports, weather, and entertainment. But since news can pop up anywhere on the Web, these pages also give you the lowdown on the blogosphere—a kind of real-time, free-form, virtual op-ed page.
News Sites
In recent years, Web portals like Google and Yahoo have entered the news biz. Their sites let you peruse headlines from hundreds of news organizations at once. Broadcasters like the BBC and CNN have also created Web sites, making text versions of their stories—along with photos, audio, and video—avail-able online. This section takes you on a tour of the major news Web sites so you’ll know where to go for that blast of fresh news.
Google News
Google News (http://news.google.com) is a computer-generated page of ...
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