REPLACE OR NOT?

WINNIE CHAN

ALEX KOU

A recent survey showed that more than half of University of Macau (UM) students read electronic newspapers every day. But nearly 80% of them believed that electronic newspapers could not replace newspapers.

UMAC BRIDGES did a survey of 100 UM students from five faculties to get their opinions about both electronic newspapers and print newspapers.

According to the results of the survey, 75% of the respondents read online newspapers every day, while 88% of them also read newspapers. This showed that newspapers still have a certain number of readers but the potential development of electronic newspapers should not be under-estimated.

"Online newspapers will progress to a mixture of newspapers, radio and television in the future with advanced technology," said Dr. Clement So, associate professor of the School of Journalism & Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Electronic Newspapers Are More Popular

Electronic newspapers have developed rapidly in recent years. At present, there are three electronic newspapers in Macau, including two Chinese dailies and one Portuguese daily. However, according to the survey, 3/4 (76%) of the students read mostly Hong Kong electronic newspapers while only 1/4 (24%) choose to read local ones.

"It's still the beginning in Macau," said Lok Po, online vice editor of Macau Daily News. "There is a long way to go for developing the cyber press in Macau," he added. Macau Daily News was the first published newspaper to launch an electronic newspaper in Macau two years ago. In comparison, there are eleven electronic newspapers in Hong Kong which have been developed for about four years.

Besides the short historical background of electronic newspapers in Macau, students thought that both their quality and quantity are inferior to those in Hong Kong.

"The layout of local electronic newspapers is not attractive enough. We, as readers, have many other choices from Hong Kong or other countries, right?" said Tony Cheung, a fourth year Education student.

A fourth year Chinese Communications student, Chan Fong, also appreciated Hong Kong electronic newspapers. "They provide speedy news stories and the content is more diversified," she said.

Can Electronic Newspapers Replace Newspapers?

In the survey, 78% of the students believed that the electronic newspapers could not replace newspapers.

Within these respondents, 41% thought that both electronic newspapers and newspapers have their own readership. They believe that electronic newspapers provide the latest news in a short time. "I'd prefer electronic newspapers since it is a shortcut to get the latest news," said Cheung.

Apart from this, students believed that newspapers provide in-depth information and people can read wherever and whenever they want. "I can read the newspapers even when I go to the washroom," said Chan.

Thirty-seven percent of the respondents thought that readers need to have certain level of computer knowledge to read electronic newspapers. "I seldom use a computer. So I think reading online newspapers is inconvenient for me and for those who don't know how to use computers," said Kelvin Lam, a fourth year Education student.

On the other hand, 22% of the students thought that electronic newspapers could replace newspapers. Meanwhile, more than half of them believed the replacement was necessary in media development.

"In the information era, the media need to develop in a diversified way. If not, they will be eliminated by others," said Dennis Ho, a fourth year Business Administration student.

However, Lok disagreed, "The main problem is the limitation of facilities. If you want to read cyber press, you must have a computer at least," he added. He also stated that computers are not so popular in Macau, especially in the lower class.

Tang Chou Kei, chief editor of Journal Va Kio, claimed that cyber press will neither bring great impact on the media industry nor replace newspapers. "Up to now, there are only about 30,000 Internet users in Macau. However, not all of them read cyber press and the figure is not significant," he added.