Legions of new services, many made possible by broadband, are transforming the way that news is covered on the web, from citizen eyewitness networks to havens of professional rich media. For a monthly subscription of £1.60, hungry newshounds can programme CNN’s unique interactive online channel as they see fit. Short of dispatching correspondents across the globe, the viewer is in control, choosing whether to dip into a live feed from prime minister’s questions or the latest reports from Wall Street and Afghanistan. Around a main video screen, further screens show a choice of four streaming news channels, while stories categorised by subject are listed in a menu panel, with tabbed updates on breaking items. It sounds bewildering, but, at your computer, Pipeline becomes brilliantly clear, crisp and briskly navigable, if (inevitably) US-centric — you’ll struggle to find highlights from England’s recent Test cricket series.
Sample the new Times Online TV (www.timesonline.co.uk/tv) for video news clips sourced mostly from Reuters.
Citizen geek
www.digg.com
Four stars
This smartly des-igned technology news site represents the best and worse of the new citizen web: articles from mainstream news sources sit alongside stories from niche sites and blogs; and Digg’s members, rather than an omni- potent editor, decide how prominently a story is displayed by recommending, or “digging” it. The more diggs it receives, the more highly it is rated. So, a blogger’s road test of an iPod case can sit next to an article from the science journal Nature about a nano-fridge and a link to an interactive demo of Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista. Digg relies on the “accuracy” of collective wisdom to find potentially unknown gems, but you must be on guard, as any old nonsense submitted here can be reinforced as fact if enough people vouch for it. Good stuff abounds, though, including news/rumours of upcoming computer products and handy how-to tips. A neat category-search panel makes searching easy.
One-stop shop
uk.news.yahoo.com
Four stars
One of the quickest and easiest ways to catch up with what’s going on, Yahoo!’s well-designed service corrals news from a range of outlets as varied as Hello! and Sky News. In an instant, you can scan the home-page headlines under categories such as World, UK News and Entertainment, which are also neatly tabbed across the top. Hot topics such as bird flu are listed on the right, alongside regular video bulletins made specially by ITN (from breaking news about Iran’s nuclear standoff with America to the latest clips from the Big Brother house). This wealth of video content separates Yahoo’s news aggregator from more text-based services, and the site boasts a Webby award nominee, the online war reporter Kevin Sites. The “Oddly Enough” section, which rounds up weird stories — Olympic games for pigs — is addictive fun. Good, though not as comprehensive or simple to customise as news.google.co.uk (reviewed at tinyurl.com/lqlrf).
Amateur reporters
english.ohmynews.com
Three stars
The Seoul-based OhmyNews is an attempt to wrangle the free-for-all of so-called “citizen journalism” into a legitimate news organisation. Anyone can submit articles, which are vetted by 50 in-house writers and editors. OhmyNews claims to impose a theoretical code of ethics on its 40,000 contributors, and even pays them, if meagrely. The OhmyNews home page is brash and graceless, but navigable, offering world news, including World Cup updates, and features, such as a podcast on the growth of Japan’s media. The site’s chief, Oh Yeon Ho, may believe in his motto, “Every citizen is a reporter”, but much of the content is amateurish. However, the coverage of North Korea’s military ambitions and links to Chinese columnists who discuss topics such as the country’s economy are a handy starting point for further research and provide telling insights into the Far East.
Alternative view
www.indymedia.org.uk
Three stars
Indymedia was launched in 1999 to provide alternative coverage of the World Trade Organisation protests in Seattle. Its designers have yet to learn the difference between anarchic and plain disorganised, though the site brims with rich media — listen to the radio station or watch documentaries covering subjects both serious (the plight of Afghan refugees) and light (political tourism in Barcelona). The home page gives no sense of what the big story of the moment might be, and little relevant context for its own reports, filed by volunteer journalists of no fixed accountability. But Indymedia persists with stories that the mainstream media have dropped, in particular its day-by-day coverage of the Palestinian territories. In this realm, as in others, Indymedia is nakedly partisan, though it would doubtless argue that most media outlets are.
Sports portal
www.sportsnews.com
Three stars
An almost successful attempt to yoke all the world’s sports news into one site. Sportsnews looks like everything the sports fan needs, attractively aggregating links to a wide range of stories, from the state of Wayne Rooney’s metatarsal to the next Ryder Cup. Reputable sources such as Sporting Life and USA Today are capably amassed here, but, unfortunately, these are muddied by the presence of some inexplicable links to business and science sites, which is not what anyone would come to a sports site for. Sportsnews is quick to load, and its links even extend to American pastimes such as basketball and the NFL (which many other sports sites don’t). However, the site is let down by the odd omission — no instant access to rugby, for example. As a result, the exemplary news.bbc.co.uk/sport still reigns supreme.
Revealing the hidden
www.disinfo.com
Two stars
This clearly designed “gateway to the underground” purports to reveal hidden information about politics and current affairs. Just don’t try to find anything quickly. The headlines trailed on the home page are a rum mix, with no obvious order — a video of American soldiers being killed by Iraqi snipers sits alongside an essay about human enhancement. Despite the underground claims, many stories come from such mavericks as Channel 4 and The Christian Science Monitor, and adverts dominate every page. A well- marshalled source of alternative internet news, such as a rich-media equivalent of the excellent www.thememoryhole.org, would be a fine thing.
