The Asian Online Newspaper A Media Richness Evaluation

With the rapid growth of online newspapers in Asia, it is important to understand what forms this new type of news dissemination take and how well they utilize the potential this new channel of communication affords. This study uses media richness theory as a framework to assess the way 16 different online newspapers deliver the news and how well the Asian online press is making the opportunities inherent in computer-mediated communication work in the news deliver/process. Results indicate that there is a wide diversity of online newspapers across Asia using many different computer-mediated applications in supplying the daily news. In general, however, online newspapers in Asia tend to be electronic versions of a print newspaper ratherthan a new, distinctly unique way of presenting the news.