The Breaking News Dilema by Scott Kirsner Kirsner is a Web consultant and writer based in Boston.
Web users are hungry for the latest news.
How newspaper sites will satisfy that appetite raises some tough economic and editorial questions. When Michael Jordan talks about his future with the Bulls, the Web servers at the Chicago Tribune can hardly keep up with the increased traffic. And when former Governor William Weld of Massachusetts gives up the fight to become ambassador to Mexico, readers of the Boston Globe Online hit the site immediately. The Internet community is clearly responding to the most dynamic information on the site, and coming back again and again to get updates. As more readers get connected to the Web at work and at home, newspapers are beginning to feel the constraints of publishing just once a day.