What is an Online Newspaper?

An online newspaper, also called a web newspaper, is actually a daily newspaper that is published and read over the World Wide Web or Internet. It can be an individual daily that is available online only or it could be an online version of a printed periodical.
The internet has allowed the printed daily newspapers to compete with television, radio and other means of broadcast journalism in presenting their news timely. Previously, you had to wait till the morning to read about an event which had happened the evening before. Online newspapers are updated several times a day, so you come to know about an event the moment it happens. The greatest advantage of online newspaper is that they do not lead to incurring huge printing cost nor do they require manual delivery. They can be accessed by their clients from the comforts of their house just with the clicks of a mouse.
Basically an online newspaper is quite similar to the hard-copy newspapers. They have to comply by the same legal boundaries, such as laws pertaining to libel, privacy and copyright. A daily newspaper contains literature of various types to suit the interests of different readers.
It contains detailed coverage of political news, sports events and information on entertainment, health and lifestyle. Most papers have separate sections dedicated to business and economics. Besides there are special pages that have editor's columns, features that give subjective views of the top journalists about various events. Daily newspapers also have pages for advertisements of various types of products. They also have classified pages for jobs and many more. Sunday edition of a daily newspaper may have coupons and comics.
The online newspapers also have similar sections. They also contain editorial opinions, opeds, persuasion, obituaries, entertainment and criticism. They also have pieces of games like crosswords, sudoku and many more. They also have reports of astrology and horoscopes. They contain weather news and forecasts. They also have gossip, food recipes and other columns. You can read about critical reviews of movies, plays, shops and restaurants. They contain cartoon strips and classified ads.
There are many online newspapers that are available online only. One of the oldest examples in this category is the Weekend City Press Review. This started being published in 1991. This is a weekly online newspaper that was dished out on the basis of subscription. Its content mainly comprised of summaries of the articles published in the weekends in various newspapers of UK. The Southport Reporter is also an example of online newspaper in the UK.
These days most printed newspapers have online versions. Now you can access the New York Times or the Washington Post from any quarter of the world. The gradual diminishing profit margins of the traditional newspapers have led to setting up of the online model of most local, regional or national newspapers, by stopping the printed version.. These publications have their online reporters and don't take and analyze content of other newspapers. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an example in this regard.