The Los Angeles Times: An Analysis of Interactivity in US Online News Sites.

Oxford English Dictionary defines the term interactivity as “allowing a two-way flow of information between it and a user, responding to the user’s input.” Interactivity in traditional print journalism was quite constrained, with the letters to the editor page or a simple audience poll being their primary outlets. As news media evolved, interactivity became a greater issue. In radio for instance, programmes such as Adrian Kennedy’s Phoneshow on FM104, depend greatly on public input. With the explosion of the Internet into daily life, traditional news companies recognised the need to create digital duplicates of their publications in order to keep their online audience satisfied. This move sparked an increase in interactivity. The introduction of features, such as forums, comment boxes and hyperlinks both internal and external, have allowed readers to interact and engage with information on unimaginable levels.

For this reason, I have chosen to examine the news site of the Los Angeles Times with regard to interactivity in the hopes of determining how important public input is to this US newspaper.On first glance, the Los Angeles Times appears to be a very well constructed and sophisticated news site.

When you click on the internal link labelled ‘opinion‘, you are transported to a homepage, if you will, for the LA Times’ opinion section. At the top of the page, six categories are contained in a navigation bar. These include categories such as ‘editorials‘, ‘blowback‘ and ‘dust-up‘.

The editorial page is pretty self explanatory. When you click on the internal link, a long list of editorials appears. If a reader is interested in a particular article, they simply click on the title to read it in full. The reader has the opportunity to express their views on the story in a comments box located at the end of the article. Previous comments also appear on the page. This allows the reader to find likeminded people to converse with or spurs them to disagree with previous opinions.

‘Blowbacks‘ is a clever innovation provided by the LA Times, whereby readers can comment with their own articles or full length editorial responses to the newspaper’s articles, editorials and opinion editorials. When the reader clicks on the link ‘blowback‘, the LA Times first provides the reader with in depth information on the concept of blowbacks in order to fully explain this innovation. Moving further down the page, the reader encounters a list of blowbacks, ranging in topic from food allergies to the Gaza crisis and everywhere in between. It is also possible for readers to comment on these blowbacks as if they were regular news articles.

Another bizarre interactive feature that the LA Times provides is a feature entitled ‘Your Scene‘. Here, stores of pictures and videos are uploaded by locals, highlighting some of LA’s notable features, including restaurants, travel and wedding photos. Similar to aforementioned interactive features, it is possible to comment on these photographs.

The LA Times relies heavily on external hyperlinks to provide their audience with additional information where needed.

All in all, I found this online news outlet to be geared highly towards interactivity, thus determining that the LA Times greatly values their public’s opinion.