Print media
The print media studied all have an online version freely accessible to the public, though given sections of the site, for example the online archives, are available at a charge only (free for subscribers). one newspaper, De Telegraaf, allows non-subscribers to read the paper online via the function ‘day access via sms’. As many modern mobile phones make it possible to surf on the Internet, this is another way of reading a newspaper provided it is presented in a user-friendly format. Newspapers and their editors nowadays have great expectations of the iPad and are looking into ways of dividing the news up, presenting the paper by sections, by sets of topics, by articles as is done in iTunes, or by monthly subscription. Yet another option is the use of RSS feeds, a function that compiles information or news from different websites and sends it to the consumer. All of the print media analyzed here offer this facility. It should be clear, however, that the chief business of print media continues to be the production of a paper version, although the Internet is increasingly used to offer complementary functions and services. The big question is how long the production of a paper version of a newspaper or a news magazine will remain profitable.
Television and radio
All of the public broadcaster’s news bulletins of any given day, both on radio and television, are available online on nos.nl. NoS has an application for mobile carriers, one via SMS and one that can be downloaded. RTL4 has a page of its own on the RTL website where the latest news can be read. Those who surf to the BNR Nieuwsradio website can listen to the newscasts live. one more way to follow the news is a traditional one, viz. on teletext. The NoS website offers this application online, as does Twitter. Finally, the RTL and SBS channels also use teletext.
