One of the most glaring changes in news since the advent of broadband internet has been how quickly newspapers have disappeared.  It used to be that every city and most small towns had a daily newspaper.  However, with more and more people getting their news online, newspapers have been faced with a predicament.  No one wants to wait until tomorrow to read about today’s news.  As a result, subscriptions have fallen off and more and more newspapers are on the brink of cutting back or closing altogether.  As an example, The Times Picayune which is published in New Orleans recently announced that it was cutting the paper back to only being printed three days a week.  It wasn’t too long ago that this was the one daily with the highest readership of all local papers.  However, the owners have now decided to concentrate more on their online news sites and cut the paper back.  This has resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs and a way of life.

In addition, satellite internet service has changed the entire news cycle.  Satellite technology has allowed the news and other online services to be delivered anywhere regardless of location.  This means even very remote areas.  This first began to change with cable news networks where news is available at any time of the day or night.  However, the internet took the 24-hour news cycle and made it even more prominent.  For example, you can now get the latest information on your stocks or anything else at any point when you are connected to a computer.  And now with smart phones, the internet based news pages have gone a step further and you can have the latest news in the palm of your hand.

Broadband internet has also changed the way that we look at journalists.  It used to be that the only journalists were those who had gone to a journalism school or program and worked for a major network.  However, we are all now journalists.  Almost everyone has a cell phone which is capable of taking pictures or video.  With this new technology, everyday people take pictures on a daily basis of news events and then send it to their local station or network.  These pictures or video often wind up being broadcast and this can be especially true after a big event happens.

In addition, news broadcasters are now tied to the rest of us more so than ever before. This is because they will answer tweets and Facebook posts on air.  In addition, we can send information to them in this manner and communicate while they are busy doing their job whether on TV or online.