Print vs. Online Journalism

The article “Bailout Plan Rejected, Markets Plunge, Forcing New Scramble to Solve Crisis” from The Wall Street Journal and Lawmakers scramble for new bailout plan from MSNBC.com cover the same information but are very different because of the mediums they are posted through.

The Wall Street Journal is an elite newspaper and it shines through in this article with the use of sophisticated vocabulary and how much more information is crammed into the article as opposed to my MSNBC.com article. The article from WSJ is not only longer but it covers more topics as indicated from the title than the article online. The WSJ article goes into detail about how stocks reacted to the rejection of the bailout plan, what happened with the bailout plan for the first half of the article before transitioning into talking about what the government could potentially do now.

Meanwhile, the MSNBC.com article mostly focuses on what our government is currently doing to create new ideas to fix the financial crisis with a brief synopsis of what happened yesterday. The WSJ goes more into depth for the big picture while MSNBC.com focuses on a small piece of the big picture with links to other articles for the rest of the story, a benefit of online journalism.

The WSJ actually has a box at the end of the article indicating a more interactive element than it would be otherwise. Reader interaction is much more frequent online by allowing readers to post their comments or thoughts similar to letters in print. Having a connection to online allows them to continue to compete against the solely online projects.

Print journalism is tangible which depending on which generation one is from is better than the other. However, print cannot be updated as the day goes on, which is what online journalism can do but sometimes links do not work and are harder to find. Both present similar information it is just a matter of how it is posted, what demographic they are going for, length of articles and so on.

Articles:
The Wall Street Journal: Bailout Plan Rejected, Markets Plunge, Forcing New Scramble to Solve Crisis
MSNBC.com: Lawmakers scramble for alternate bailout plan