Written by Claudio Laferla,

MITA Knowledge Management Centre Executive

News: Printed or digital? What is your preferred reading approach? Which smart phone? Which tablet?

These are questions which are pertinent if you would like to start reading news. A quick Google search elicits more than 400 different news applications, all ready for download! Some are against payment; others are free with eventual payment if you would like to go for professional news updates.

What is the advantage of reading news online? The main benefit is that online news is run by editors who surpass computers in terms of reasoning, amongst other qualities in judging what news are published.

In publishing news, editors combine a number of personal qualities which make online news not only attractive to the eye, but interesting to read. However, what is interesting is that according to a recent Pew Internet Center research, an approximate 61% of millennials accrue and read their news from Facebook!

Downloading a good news application is crucial for the right and enjoyable experience of reading online. This may be evaluated by the font-type, size, colours and the overall formatting of the news itself. Having each news-item in its proper box or within its line sections helps to easily locate, read and identify them the second-time-round. Proper spacing is always a way that helps you identify which section or category you are in.

A good news application will also incorporate the 'latest news section' which will allow you to be informed about the latest episodes occurring around the globe. However, it is interesting that the digital information - the like accessed on one's own device - may not deliver a good amount of 'emotional empathy' when read, in contrast to reading the same news on a paper-based output, such as a book, newspaper or a magazine. Thus, it all boils down to what the user is after, namely an emotional charge or the information itself. Whatever the decision, both on the information or the emotional charge, make sure that you benefit from what you are reading, because otherwise, we may voice out what Mark Twain once said: If you do not read good books [information], you have no advantage on someone who cannot read!