To each their own.

To some people, I’m sure reading the newspaper seems “old fashioned.” I will always remember it as something my grandpa did every morning and my dad when I was a child. Why read the newspaper when you can find an article about anything you want on the Internet? Why buy the paper when you can get any article you want for free? I happen to like to read the newspaper. I like the way it smells (weird, I know), I like how they are available all over campus, and I like to see all the stories that made it into the daily news. There are many different ways to look at which one is better, and I’m sure everyone has their own opinion. I’ve never compared the news in the paper to the news online, so here we go.

The story that caught my eye in the A section of The New York Times this morning was “65 Tornadoes Sweep Through Six States, Killing Four People” by Christina Hauser. I’ve always had a fascination with tornadoes even though they are one of my biggest fears. The article is short compared to most in the section, and mainly focuses on how the tornadoes killed four, injured many, and hit six states. “Hail an inch and three quarter inches in diameter, about the size of a golf ball, fell in the Nebraska Panhandle” (Hauser 2007). There was a lot of blowing snow in Colorado and Wyoming, and in Colorado children and a woman were found hanging in a tree. It’s a short article that says enough without saying too much.

I looked for a related article online, and found on USAtoday.com, “More severe weather to follow deadly tornadoes in Plains” by Patrick O'Driscoll. This article first discusses what is to come for those who just experienced these deadly tornadoes, and then discusses how this year there will be more tornadoes than last year. “The weather center, in Norman, Okla., this week recorded at least 68 tornado sightings and 162 reports of large hail, some as big as baseballs” (O’Driscoll 2007). Though the information differs from that in The New York Times, it is relatively similar and in a different state. This article gets into a little bit more detail about the weather than the one in The New York Times, while the one in the newspaper has the names of all that died and the family that was found in the tree.

I feel as though the article in the newspaper was just enough information to let everyone know what happened, how severe it was, and the casualties. The article on the internet, let us know most of the same information as in the newspaper, but also added information about how the weather is still going to be severe, and what they are to expect. “The future of newspapers is cloudy, with overall readership slowly declining in most developed countries due to increasing competition from television and the Internet” (Wikipedia 2007). Although I still enjoy reading the newspaper, I can see how getting the news on the Internet can be more enjoyable to people these days. I think both the Internet and the newspaper are both reliable ways to get the day’s news, and I also think it depends on which way is easiest for the average person to access. Everyone has a favorite.




Hauser, Christine. (2007, March 30). 65 Tornadoes Sweep Through Six States, Killing Four people. The New York Times. P. A18.

O’Driscoll, P. (2007, March 30). More severe weather to follow deadly tornadoes in Plains. Retrieved March 30, 2007. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2007-03-30-deadly-storm_N.htm

Newspaper. (2007, March 29). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:19, March 30, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Newspaper&oldid=118710394