Print newspapers convergence with the internet: "lietuvos rytas", "the new york" cases

The society is changing its habits to use the computers and the internet both in Lithuania and in the worldwide. The print newspapers and magazines do not want to lose their readers which are more and more tended to search the information on the internet. It is one of the reasons why the print media – the print newspapers and magazines converges with the internet. The print media has to search and to find the new ways to reach the audience. The second reason of the print newspapers and magazines convergence with the internet is the hyper competition in the mass media market. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the periodic press – the print newspapers and the magazines in this case – converge with the internet. The practical background is to check how the process of the convergence is working on the one of the biggest and influential Lithuanian print newspaper “Lietuvos rytas” and on the one of the biggest and most influential print newspaper of the United States of America – „The New York Times“. The statistical data, public surveys in Lithuania and in the United States of America, content analysis, comparison of the documents, the books and the articles from the newspapers, scientific journals and other internet resources has proven, the most distinctive today‘s interaction between the traditional print media instruments and the internet – the majority of Lithuanian and world periodical press, such as the print newspapers and magazines, have their own internet versions. According to the results of comparative analysis, „Lietuvos rytas“ and „The New York Times“ online editions better meet readership‘s requirement to quickly and expeditiously find essential daily information than their printed versions, because the most important daily news is presented on the spot. In accordance with the content, visual aids and interaction criteria and using the comparative analysis, the conclusion may be drawn, that „The New York Times“ convergence with the internet is larger than „Lietuvos rytas“ one. „The New York Times“ online edition uses contest more flexibly, places more and various visual aids and has introduced almost all interactive instruments mentioned in mass media theory. There are also seen the trends that in the periodic press – the print newspapers and the magazines will have to improve their convergence with the internet in the future