The UK's Guardian newspaper announced last week that it would publish news stories online rather than save them for the printed paper.
The move came as a surprise. Hadn't they been doing this for years? Why would you hold back a story that breaks mid afternoon for the next day's paper?
The paper's respected reader's editor, Ian Mayes, devoted his column to the move this week. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1800755,00.html. Mayes quotes dinosaur readers threatening to stomp off to other papers.
The Guardian should - and will - hold its nerve. Radio overtook newspapers for breaking news three generations ago. Britain heard it was at war on a sunny 1939 Sunday morning from the BBC, not the next day's papers. The Guardian's move recognises reality.
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