David Chiang --
Newspapers seem to be Macao people's daily necessity, while the Internet occupies most of young people's time. The Internet is usually perceived to be a low-cost information and communication channel that breaks temporal and spatial limits. People keep asking: "Will online newspapers replace traditional printed newspapers?"João Costeira Varela, the editor of the local Portuguese daily Hoje Macau, shared with UMac Bridges his views about the trend of Macao newspapers digitised.
Mr. Varela stated, "We essentially use computers for news writing
but seldom use the Internet to find resources for local news. However, with
the need of covering news of Portugal and other countries, we use the Internet
to collect resources such as photos and other different kinds of information
from news agencies. For example, we pay Reuters for their digital resources.
Nowadays , computers are indispensable for news writing
(Picture by David Chiang)
"After we have finished writing all news articles and selecting photos, we will e-mail all of our articles and photos to our webmaster who will then update our Hoje Macau's website with the latest information."
According to Mr. Varela, Hoje Macau's website had positive effects on the printed version, since that could let the readers of other countries know what was happening in Macao. The sales of the newspaper did not decline, and the online version was especially for readers who did not have a chance to read the printed version of the newspaper.
About the future development of online version of the newspapers, Mr. Varela thought that it was hard for the online version to replace the printed newspapers. He explained, "People who like newspapers have a habit to buy printed newspapers in the morning."
He also added that people bought printed newspapers because it was more convenient to read at home or in coffee shops.
"Some online newspapers are not free of charge," said Mr. Varela.
"I use Wall Street Journal as an example. Readers need to pay
for online news stories, which are special news updated in every second.
Although many online newspapers require subscription at a cost, Hoje
Macau does not follow this direction at this moment."
Hoje Macau's website helps to maitain the presence of the newspaper in foreign communities
He explained that Hoje Macau website's goal was to maintain the presence of the newspaper in the communities outside Macao because lots of people lived in Macao before, and after they emigrated to other countries, they were still enthusiastic to learn what was going on in Macao.
In Macao, although some newspapers' websites provide the same contents as those printed in their paper versions, the contents are usually updated in the afternoon. In this way, the printed version can remain its advantage -- timeliness. As a result, it is better to say that printed newspapers and their online versions are interdependent in this age, rather than saying online version will replace the printed version, Mr. Varela concluded.
