Most people will find it easiest to access news from a web browser. This will let you you read news and create news articles using your own PC or workstation. News under Unix. It is also possible to access news using software on a central Unix timesharing system. In this mode, you connect to a Unix system such as rci, eden, andromeda, pegasus, clam, or crab, and run a program such as pine or nn.
Most people find the desktop software more convenient.
The desktop software will work in the first two situations. However it will not be able to keep track of what articles you have already read. In many cases that doesn't matter. The browser can show you articles in chronological order. If you start with the most recent articles, you can just stop reading when you come to articles you've seen already.