Are you an Internet lover when it comes to gathering news or do you still find a need for newspapers and magazines to fulfil the task? And, if the ’net site wants to charge you bucks to access its news content, would you fork out? These two questions arose in FTW minds when our editor noted the prevalence of some ’net sites giving you a teaser intro for a story, then asking you to subscribe to the site if you wanted more. So FTW went out in search of some opinions amongst our readers in the freight and allied industries who are known to be keen news gatherers. Kim Botti, director of the specialist freight industry employment agency, Lee Botti & Associates, was adamant that she wouldn’t fork out for access to an Internet news site. “There’s just too much choice on the ’net,” she said, “and I wouldn’t pay a subscription. I’d just surf some other news sites on the web, because there’s plenty more out there. “The Internet certainly gives you quick access to info when you’re looking for it,” she said. “But I still use both the ’net and newspapers and magazines. And weekend newspapers are always in great demand in my household.” Bob Garbett, MD of Professional Risk & Asset Management and chairman of the Business Aviation Association of Southern Africa (Baasa), is also a twotimer. “A combination of the ’net and papers,” he said, “but mostly the ’net for business news. For sport and the like, though, it’s still newspapers.” And would he pay? “My first reaction is I wouldn’t pay,” he said. “But, if news content is unique to that site, I might pay. But I’d resent it.” Brian Kalshoven, MD of Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency, says he certainly wouldn’t pay for news on the ’net. I’d just get another site. There’s plenty out there. “But I have to say that trade journals like FTW are important. The type of freight business news that they carry doesn’t usually make the normal newspapers. FTW is of unique importance in that respect.” Sue Wood, operations director of Cargocare Freight Services, revealed her Scottish soul when quizzed about paying for news on the ’net. “I can always find an alternative,” she said. “If someone wants to charge me for research I want, I’d just spend time looking for something else that suits.” Mario Acosta-Alarcon, MD of CompuClearing, told FTW that he was an absolute info gatherer. “Have been since I was a child,” he added. “I read anything and everything, and don’t just restrict myself to the ’net.” And he is another who wouldn’t fork out for news from the web. “There are hundreds of other sites out there,” he added. And he warned readers about subscribing to net sites. “You have to be careful on the ’net, because they can mine all your e-mail details when you link in to those sites, and use them for their own purposes.” Our regular legal eagle, Quintus van der Merwe, head of freight and trade at Shepstone & Wylie, is certainly a web fan. “The Internet and Google is top of the pops,” he said. “That said, certainly from a shipping point of view, we rely on the likes of FTW for our news in SA. For overseas news it’s mostly Tradewinds and Fairplay. “We subscribe to e-editions of some, but for FTW it’s definitely the hard copy version.” Van der Merwe also said that people were nowadays being absolutely inundated with so much info. “You have e-mails and surfing the web, and add to that telephone calls, and you are hard-pressed to find the time to do all that and attend to the business you must complete.”
