And Now, The News

          I get a daily newspaper (two on Sundays!), several magazines, a cable package that provides me with access to four 24-hour news channels (two Canadian, two American), and I'm a CBC listener. Wouldn't that provide enough access to current events information? Apparently not.

          It's late at night. I've just caught the tail end of an item on the CBC radio news; there's not much detail, not in the bit that I heard, and I want to know more. So I pad into the office, power up the computer, get online and start checking the news. The Internet has provided me with one more media outlet.

          So who is out there providing news junkies with on-demand news? Well, let's start with the obvious suspects - the big organizations that already package and sell news: television and radio networks and newspapers.

          The CBC website has online news, as well as links to Newsworld, CBC radio news and CBC television. They also have links to the individual programs; if you want to read Rex Murphy's last commentary, you can get to that by following the appropriate link at The National. Of all of these, I like Newsworld's layout better than the others; I can choose headlines under the general headings Canada, Kosovo, World, Business and Sci-Tech, as well as the lead stories.

          The CTV News and Sports page was under construction at the time of this writing, but it is something to keep an eye on.

          Many newspapers have some representation on the Internet. The Halifax Daily News is online, as is the Los Angeles Daily News, the Halifax Herald and the Post Newspaper from Zambia.

          A number of magazines that you'll find at the news stand also exist online, but make no mistake, many of them want you to subscribe. For example, Maclean's Magazine gives you the first paragraph of an article in the current issue, but unless you are a subscriber and you have completed the online registration, that's all you'll get. On the other hand, it appears that Stern allows you to read complete articles. How's your German?

          If you are looking for online news from a Canadian source, or from anywhere in the world, an excellent place to start is News, Events and Hot Topics right here at the Chebucto Community Net. Links there will take you to media sites in Africa, Pacific Asia and Central Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. It is one of the best things about the Internet, the ability to follow a news story somewhere else in the world that the local news purveyors just aren't covering in detail. Hey, did you know that the Dutch coalition government fell this past week?

          This is by no means the end of it, you know. There are plenty of other information sources out there; these are just some of the mainstream ones. And alternative media is a whole other column . . . .

          So what do I use most? I'm probably still getting most of my news from the radio, then newspapers and other print publications. I am not a regular viewer of any of the television news shows. If I'm looking for something in particular, I'll check the 'net. There is someone in my household whose primary news source is the 'net. "What are you doing?" I ask, late at night. "Just reading the news" he replies.

You may direct comments or suggestions about this article to:

Margaret C. Douma,  ac101@chebucto.ns.ca

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