I've talked about the advantages of newspaper web sites over the "major vendors" in terms of breaking news. Barbara Quint, in "Newspapers on the Run" (Information Today, Dec. 2006), points out other reasons to use web sites instead of the costly premium services.
For one thing, most newspapers produce web-only content, while the premium online services typically only carry the archive articles that appear in the hard copy paper. Even their coverage of the hard copy often comes with certain exceptions such as letters to the editor and syndicated columns, among other things. In addition, web sites typically include links to sources and comments from readers, which, often aren't reflected in the costly archives of the aggregators.
What does all this mean? According to Barbara, "The bottom line is that if a searcher (end user or information professional) goes after everything that a newspaper has published on a topic, the expensive fee-based services could not honestly promise to find it." All that money spent for limited coverage? How long can that last?
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