Print Journalist Unfazed By The Rise of E-News

The switch from print news to online reporting is nothing to fear, according to one journalist from the Athens Banner-Herald.

Adam Thompson, 26, a regional reporter from Banner-Herald, feels that online reporting opens many opportunities to journalists. “It increases the toolbox that you have and increases what you can give the public,” said Thompson to University of Georgia journalism students on Monday.

Online news reporting enables the reporter to link to related pages and include audio and video clips to enhance the story. According to Thompson, papers such as the Banner-Herald have invested heavily in equipment for online reporting, purchasing digital cameras and audio recorders to capture media to include in their website’s articles .

“It’s really romantic to say [that] I like to get ink on my fingers,” said Thompson, who still enjoys the physical newspaper. But despite the romanticism, even long-time reporters of the Banner-Herald are embracing and enjoying the online switch, he said.

“It’s an extension of what they already do,” he said.