by Derek Johnson

Created on: November 04, 2008   Last Updated: November 07, 2011

When a person sits down to read a newspaper, they do so in a leisurely and timely manner. Usually, they do not rush to read because there is so much information to grab and absorb. With online news, the reader could be in a rush or just want their information as quickly and easily as possible. The two formats affect the reader's pace in how long it takes them to get the grasp of a story. The details of the story are predetermined by what the reader's attention span will be. A newspaper such as The New York Times and online news sources on www.MSN.com come packaged differently because of their language and the reader's attention span.

The type of sentences used, the formality and the diction of the news medium are some of the factors that constitute their language. The type of sentences used in online news sources are usually quick, uncomplicated sentences because the objective is to tell the: who, what, when, where and how information in as little space as possible. For example in the first paragraph in a news story: "Former president Ford, suffering from a horrible cold,' was in the hospital Tuesday for what his chief of staff called routine medical tests." (NBC News and news services. "Former President Gerald Ford hospitalized" MSNBC News-Updated: 1:22 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2005 www.msn.com ). Also keeping in mind the reader's attention span and time, the headline is designed to give the reader most of the general information about Ford's hospitalization and tell them exactly what happened: "Former President Gerald Ford hospitalized-92-year-old admitted to California hospital for routine tests, staff says."(NBC News and news services. "Former President Gerald Ford hospitalized" MSNBC News-updated: 1:22 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2005 www.msn.com ).

These two examples show how straight to the point the stories are, for the sake of reader's attention and time limit. The diction of online news is also different then the word choice of newspapers. Like sentence structure and length, words in online news are simple and uncomplicated. The Internet is so quick and fast, that people usually need everything, including the news, just as fast. With the advent of high-speed technology, people spend time quickly going through numerous web sites on the Internet. If they want to look at news headlines to see what is going on that is newsworthy, they can take a glance at www.MSN.com or www.yahoo.com. If the reader wants just a little bit more information without too much detail, they can

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