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News and on-line News News is defined as "New information about specific and timely events" and "New information of any kind". These definitions emphasize two main factors in the understanding of News: Information and speed.

The progress of newspapers can also be described as the advancement of means for speed and information. Perhaps the first form of News was word of mouth, including many different means of transferring information: messengers, story tellers, rumors and basically anything said between two people that fits into the definition of News written above. Needless to say, this form of News is neither fast nor accurate. The next form of News is written News. Written News also has many variations, some dating back to ancient Rome and China but from the end of the 15th century with the coming of Newspapers, journalism became the most common form of written News. If word of mouth usually consisted of random efforts or at best a one man operation, Newspapers had the advantage of being an organization with the purpose of spreading News. This gave them the use of means and tools not previously available and this in turn allowed them speed and ability to gather information greater than before. Next in turn to publish News were the radios and the televisions. While there ability to gather information is similar to the means of the press, Television and radio enjoy the advantage of publicizing News on a more frequent basis and the ability to publish very important News and any time they wish. Television has of course another large advantage over the press and radios and that is in its ability to show live images of the News.

Today, perhaps the largest source of News is On-line News. On-line News enjoys several advantages which have put it in this position, the first one of these being the time factor. If we take a closer look at the time factor we can divide it into two. The first is the time between the happening of the 'News' and the reporting of that News to the deliverer- the Newspaper, the TV channel and so forth. The second is the time period between when the News is reported to when it is possible to broadcast it to the public. On-line News sets a new record for all both these times. The ability of On-Line News to gather information is greater than any Newspaper or TV channel. On line News can use every person with internet access as a reporter. Anybody can write an email to a News agency or place a 'Talk-back' or publish a picture, a movie, a post or a facebook message regarding News the just happened. On-line News also has an advantage when to comes to the speed of publishing the News. While Radio and TV stations are limited to broadcast schedules and can only interrupt these in matters of extreme importants, On-line News can publish any piece of News within seconds and it can be viewed by the public immediately. It is the combination of these two elements that give On-line News the speed advantage over other forms of media.

Speed is not the only advantage On-line News has over the other forms of media. The involvement of so many people in creation of the News online and the ability to respond instantly and easily using tools such a 'Talk-backs' means that every piece of News is subject to large amount of criticism. If in the times before internet the only way to advertise an opinion on a piece of News was to write a letter to the paper that would be published days later, today anybody can state his opinion immediately in a way that anyone reading the News can see . This forces the News agencies to triple check any information before publishing itor face the wrath of the readers on any mistake.

These advantages are often also the faults of On-line News. When News is reported by a person who is not trained to report, the News can often be lacking and not as exact as it could have been if it were reported by a reporter. This of course is not always the case but combined with the agencies' hurry to publish the News it can cause inaccurate and even mistaken News to be published. This problem is even bigger when we talk about independent News published on the internet. The internet has many places where a person who wishes to bring any piece of information to the public can do so, often with no responsibility for the authenticity or reliability of this information. This problem is not only is the field of News. The internet today is packed with so much information it is hard to differentiate what is relevant and accurate out of all the information. One of the important questions that arise from this flood of News and information is "Is all this information good?" A good example of this dilemma is Censoring. When News was spread mainly through News agencies it was easy for the Police/Army/Government offices to censor certain information in order to hide military operations, help catch crime suspects or serve any other national interests they saw fit within the legal boundaries. Today, when it is so easy to publish information on the internet, it's very hard to censor the information. This in many cases can cause large problems especially in the fields such as National Security. Censoring has always played on a fine line between the Public's right to know and the National interests, a dilemma that is only strengthened by On-line News. There are many other examples for information on the internet which is of a problematic and even dangerous nature. Sites that discuss ways to commit suicide, instructions for building bombs or publishing private information about people without their consent are just a few examples.

The speed advantage can also turn against On-line News. Being the first to publish a certain piece of News always had a great importance. News is only new once. This can often conflict with the need to verify the accuracy of the News. In the time of only Newspapers the time period that could be used for verification was usually fairly long as News papers work on a slower time schedule than Television or Internet. Television and radio also suffer from this dilemma but On-line News has brought it to a new high. The time that goes by between the happening of the News and the publication on the internet is so short it allows virtually no time to verify the information. One could of course stall the publication but he would then risk publishing the News after his competitors have already published it. There is nothing worse for a new agent than to publish old News.

One of the interesting aspects of On-line News is that in at least one way it feels like a return to Newspapers. Newspapers, even in the time of radio and television always had the advantage of the ability to give the reader a large amount of News and information on and around the subject of the News and even host several different opinions if they are so inclined. Television and radio on the other hand, usually have a very limited amount of time to broadcast the News and therefore they are forced to choose very carefully what News to publish and what to say about it. On-line News seems to enjoy the benefits of all worlds, it's fast, at least as fast as television or radio if not faster, it's very informative, it can publish in any form of media it wishes written, movies or sound and it has a space to give all the information it has. In that aspect it has even more space than Newspapers, its space is virtually infinite and it can host as many opinions as it wants including the opinions of anybody viewing the News de-facto, after it was published. It will be interesting to see if in the times of On-line News there is still room for Newspapers.