[Summary]
The print press going online in the 1990s led the way to print books
going online a few years later, thus the need for this chapter. The
first electronic versions of print newspapers were available in the
early 1990s through commercial services like America Online and
CompuServe. In 1995, major newspapers like The New York Times, The
Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal began offering websites with
a partial or full version of their latest issue, as well as online
archives. In the United Kingdom, the daily Times and the Sunday Times
set up a common website called Times Online, with a way to create a
personalized edition. The weekly publication The Economist went online
too, as well as the daily Le Monde and Libération in France, the daily
El País in Spain, and the weekly Focus and Der Spiegel in Germany.
***
The print press going online in the 1990s led the way to print books
going online a few years later, thus the need for this chapter.
The first electronic versions of print newspapers were available in the
early 1990s through commercial services like America Online and
CompuServe.
In 1995, newspapers began offering websites with a partial or full
version of their latest issue, available freely or through subscription
(free or paid), as well as online archives.
For example, The New York Times site could be accessed free of charge,
with articles of the print daily, breaking news updated every ten
minutes, and original reporting only available online. The site of The
Washington Post gave the daily news online, with a full database of
articles, with images, sound and videos. The site of The Wall Street
Journal was available with a paid subscription, with 100,000
subscribers in 1998.
In the United Kingdom, the daily Times and the Sunday Times set up a
common website called Times Online, with a way to create a personalized
edition. The weekly publication The Economist went online too, as well
as the daily Le Monde and Libération in France, the daily El País in
Spain, and the weekly Focus and Der Spiegel in Germany.
"More than 3,600 newspapers now publish on the internet", Eric K. Meyer
stated in an essay published in late 1997 on the website of
AJR/NewsLink. "A full 43% of all online newspapers now are based
outside the United States. A year ago, only 29% of online newspapers
were located abroad. Rapid growth, primarily in Canada, the United
Kingdom, Norway, Brazil and Germany, has pushed the total number of
non-U.S. online newspapers to 1,563. The number of U.S. newspapers
online also has grown markedly, from 745 a year ago to 1,290 six months
ago to 2,059 today. Outside the United States, the United Kingdom, with
294 online newspapers, and Canada, with 230, lead the way. In Canada,
every province or territory now has at least one online newspaper.
Ontario leads the way with 91, Alberta has 44, and British Columbia has
43. Elsewhere in North America, Mexico has 51 online newspapers, 23
newspapers are online in Central America and 36 are online in the
Caribbean. Europe is the next most wired continent for newspapers, with
728 online newspaper sites. After the United Kingdom, Norway has the
next most -- 53 -- and Germany has 43. Asia (led by India) has 223
online newspapers, South America (led by Bolivia) has 161 and Africa
(led by South Africa) has 53. Australia and other islands have 64
online newspapers."
The online versions of newspapers brought a wealth of information. The
web provided readers not only with news available online, but also with
a whole encyclopedia to help understand them. The reader could click on
hyperlinks to get maps, biographies, official texts, political and
economic data, photographs, as well as the first attempts in audio and
video coverage. The reader could also easily access other articles on
the same topic, with search engines sorting out articles by date,
author, title or subject.