The Migration from Newspapers to the internet

As millions of people world wide migrate from newspapers and television to internet for news, Rwandans are also slowly joining the trek. However, their reasons for turning to the internet are different, while elsewhere people turn to online news as the most reliable sources than television bulletins and newspapers. Here, folks go to the internet to catch the latest news not because they don’t trust the news on TV, radio or the Newspapers, actually, many take those chanels as the most reliable and accurate source of news in the country. “We go to the internet because news there is astonishingly fast and interconnected. One can learn more from the internet in less time than from either Radio or Television. Another thing that drives us to the internet is that today’s average consumer wants everything faster and cheaper,” said Ahmed Kalisa, a veterinary doctor. Consumers who read newspapers on the Internet are on the increase, more people read the news daily than ever before and digital news consumption continues growing. This sends the newspapers around the world struggling to survive while competing with websites that offer comparable news more quickly and without a subscription fee. Before the internet reached its current state people had fewer options for consuming news; buying newspaper was the easiest option. Now with the exception of local news people have an even easier option: turning to free websites and 24-hour news Channels. “Not many of us still subscribed to newspapers let alone go out of our way to read one. Even when I happen to get one, I only glance through the articles and realize that I’ve seen the headlines online,” said Jonas Kisembo, Director at Global Art Ltd. “The internet allows people to seek information from thousands of blogs, aggregators and social networks, and to migrate to those that share their point of view. The information received may originate from the same old media, but it is wrapped in designer packaging that matches personal tastes and beliefs,” said the 54-year-old Entrepreneur, Ejide Mutagoma. Even though some people still remain sceptical about the reliability of the information they find online, the temptation to switch to the web is getting stronger. Infact, many are ignoring the saying to never believe what you read on the internet. martin.bishop18@yahoo.com