With the advent of the Internet, data became digital and the time it took for information to go from one’s mind to another’s became instantaneous. This new expedited information soon trumped the stories and headlines that appeared in papers and magazines, in terms of the time-lapse between an occurrence and the first reports.

Most people consider “new” media to be outlets such as blogs, online journals, and editorial sites. These struck at what is now labeled as “old” media, which includes newspapers, magazines, and even television news. Though the latter didn’t come into existence until the late 1900’s, it already seems to be defunct in the face of this newer source of information that revolves almost entirely around the Internet.

The Internet is a flood of information, most of which seems, to many, unnecessary and useless. Everywhere you travel on the Internet, you can find opinions, editorials, and people just wanting to tell you about things that do, or sometimes don’t, matter to them. The best example of this is the website Twitter.com, which allows people to relay their every move to others via the web. Eating something you don’t like? By simply taking out your phone, you can let Twitter know your distaste for the food, and it in turn can let your friends know that you’re snacking on some pie you aren’t enjoying.

While sites like Twitter exist in order to give people outlets to the world through which they may convey their every move, other sites contend head on with the “old” media through editorial content, digital cover stories, and ad-supported content. One example of this type of site is Joystiq.com, which is an editorialized blog dedicated to video game news. The writers for the site are all freelancers who compose stories and bits of news through the blog, allowing users to comment on stories, and creating a sense of community interaction and social networking. Joystiq.com is a part of a network of blogs which covers the expansion of the video game industry, from video game systems to popular online communities like Second Life and World of Warcraft.

The most obvious ways for “old” media to combat these new instantaneous news outlets follows the old mantra of “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” This path has been pursued by the 1Up Network, which is another video game site, though this one is run by the editors of magazines published by Ziff Davis Media. Each of the magazines has its own page within the site, though the online site itself is considered a larger entity all its own. It houses editor blogs, an expansive community, and podcasts distributed by the site featuring the editors of the print magazines interviewing guests relating to topics and issues covered in the magazines. This type of action does not seem to be boosting sales of the print magazines though, as Ziff Davis is currently looking to sell its video game division. Waning sales of the magazines translates to more emphasis being put into the online features and content, seeming to concede to the emergence of the “new” media.

I realize the irony of what I’m writing, as the aim of this piece seems to be that the rise of “new” media is inevitable and that printed news is dying. However, as a reader of this, you are proving the point of magazine editor Sean Elliot, who so elegantly said that print media isn’t going anywhere so long as it’s easier to take a newspaper with you into the bathroom than your laptop.