The Wizda reading for this week deals with the perception of The Times' local news reporting and their model for success. There is something to be said about the need for local news. However, despite the numerous awards bestowed on The Times, more mainstream news outlets and journalists still regard the local paper as nothing more than a collection of fluff pieces. The one main advantage that The Times has over the larger papers is how they write their stories. They use narrative devices and allow stories to be lengthy to create a more natural exposition of all the key players and facts.

Now, the Kunkel reading deals with something else to watch for: the mobile digital enewspaper.


The images above show the current progress that the E Ink Corporation has made in developing this technology. For more information, visit the E Ink Corp. Website.

According to Frank Aherns in his "Ink and Paper or 1s and 0s" (Washington Post registration required)

Storytelling will change (sic). Long articles such as this, with complete sentences and linguistic device, likely will dwindle in number and be restricted to the remaining newspapers and e-papers. News on small screens, such as that of your cell phone, will spit out in headlines and blurbs and sentences without articles: "Mars rodent attacks NASA probe."

Much like what is seen in Spielberg's film "Minority Report":

Newspapers and eNewspapers are two different things. First of all, people are used to the newspapers that they receive every morning. Unfortunately, according to the [readings] it seems that newspapers do not really spur discussion when they are written. The articles are given straightforward and there are many of them put forth for the public. The difference with e-newspapers is that people can receive information on the go and at their convenience straight from their hand held devices. The problem now exists that when reading on these hand held devices news articles are more general stating the headlines and not much more of the article it holds. On the other hand, these e-newspaper articles have created a new way to get news. In addition, people can also see the discussions and such blogs associated with these e-newspapers. This spurs more independent thinking for the individual and allows one to see many angles of the story instead of the newspaper, such as the Times, presents it straightforward indicating how it is.