So, hypertext is transforming the spatial and temporal context of the production and exploitation of news. Using the resources of the Internet, it is now quite conceivable for a foreign news page to provide not only the news of the day, but also the historical archives relevant to it and all articles already published on the subject. We would all have the option, each in our own good time, of going into subjects more deeply, by calling up the necessary links, daily news services and data banks. Strategic choices for big business Single-source news is now a thing of the past. The Internet makes it possible for us to mix and match at will between newspapers, radio, television, press agencies and archives.
Linear reading is also a thing of the past.
These conditions are leading to the creation of rules of writing which govern the gathering and working-up of news. The rules apply as much in the audio-visual world as they did in the world of newspapers. There is now available in the Western world a veritable galaxy of means of accessing and distributing information. Data banks, newspapers, television, the Internet, radio, CD- ROMS, cable TV, satellites, and not forgetting the printed word and the telephone. Information transfer has become a phenomenon of extreme complexity.