PressEthic

We've talked alot in this class, and in the program in general, about the respective functions of print and online media, the decline of print, etc. ScientificAmerican.com recently published an article explaining how they utilized both online and print formats cooperatively in their coverage of a single topic.

The gist is this: Scientific American published a basic synopsis of the topic (discovery of a fossilized human ancestor) immediately online, including a link where readers could answers questions about what other information they wanted to see in the published piece. Then, factoring in reader responses, they published a much more thorough piece several weeks later.

This struck me as rather innovative. The needs for immediacy AND accuracy have to be reconciled somehow, and this seems like a fitting solution. Scientific American, as a magazine with a feature format, has the burden of thoroughness. They must contextualize and analyze the discovery, not simply report it. In the future, this sort of tandem functioning of online and print media may be ubiquitious. This seems to me not only a change, but an improvement.