Media Blog

Even when it is past midnight in the East Coast, the online version of the New York Times still has updates almost every hour on breaking news. While readers who purchase the print version see the same front page pictures and same ledes the entire day, the online readers are embracing radiant real life pictures or a live video, multiple times a day to keep them connected to the world. The pictures online easily lead the reader to the short and catchy lede under it and the rest of the news is just one click away. Even though the print version of the New York Times does not have videos or high quality pictures, but the ledes and the one sentence under the ledes grabs the reader’s attention to continue reading. On the online version, there are links on the front page to direct to all different categories (politics, business, health, technology, etc…) and links to related articles around every news story for the reader’s convenience. While I compared some major stories like “Obama Presses Senate To Pass Its Health Bill” and “In Twilight at 91, Mandela Endures as South Africa’s Ideal” I realized that the online and print version is the exact same, word for word, only the lede is slightly different and the online version has more pictures. Also, both online and print versions only have a preview of the news story on the front –page coverage, which requires the reader to either click in or flip pages. Unlike the online version where readers may comment, the print version of the news does not have commentaries, but it does have a section for editorials and letters.

Much alike the online version of the New York Times, the online LA Times also has a main picture and strong lede on the front-page however, there are some obvious differences between the sites. Compared to the NYT, the layout of the Los Angeles Times online version seems to be slightly more spaced out, clear, organized, and attractive. Maybe because the New York Times have too much information to squeeze in at once, and a little too many advertisements, not everything is as comfortably spaced out as the Los Angeles Times. Not only does the L.A. Times have a convenient and comfortable opening page with the time, date, login, and categories nicely presented, but also there are more videos and pictures posted, most viewed and top news have their own area, and there are even fun categories like ‘Odd News’, ‘Blogs’, ‘Holiday Hot List’, and ‘L.A. Times Magazine’. On the New York Times, one needs to search for places to comment, but on the L.A. Times, there’s even an area called ‘Your Scene Your Comments’ where readers are able to join discussions and leave comments. The ledes in both online version news are short and precise but I did realize that the NYT tend to have more serious and strong ledes, whereas the LA Times gives reader a fun and relaxing spirit.