[In Depth (published in 1999)]
The first electronic versions of newspapers were available in the early 1990s through commercial services like America Online or CompuServe. Then, in 1995, newspapers and magazines began to create websites to offer the full version of their latest issue - available freely or through subscription (free or paid) - which was then archived online. There were also heated debates on copyright issues for articles posted on the web. More and more "only" electronic magazines were created.
In 1996, the New York Times site could be accessed free of charge. It included the contents of the daily newspaper, breaking news updates every ten minutes, and original reporting available only online. The Washington Post site provided the daily news online, with a full database of articles including images, sound and video.
In Europe, the Times and the Sunday Times set up a common website called Times Online, with the possibility to create a personalized edition. The respected Economist was also available online, as were the French daily newspapers Le Monde and Libération, the Spanish daily newspaper El País or the German weekly magazines Focus or Der Spiegel.
The computer press went online as well. First the monthly Wired, created in 1992 in California to focus on cyberculture and be the magazine of the future at the avant-garde of the 21st century. Then ZDNet, a main publisher of computer magazines.
Behind the news, the web was providing a whole encyclopedia to help us understand them. The web was providing instant access to a wealth of information (geographical maps, biographical notes, official texts, political and economic data, audiovisual and video data); speed in information dissemination; access to main photographic archives; links to articles, archives and data on the same topic; and a search engine to browse articles by date, author, title, subject, etc.
From the start, there were also all these zines using the internet as a cheap way to get published. John Labovitz launched The E-Zine-List in Summer 1993 to list electronic zines (e-zines) around the world, the ones that were accessible via the web, FTP, gopher, email, and other services. The list was updated monthly.
What exactly is a zine? John Labovitz explained on his website: "For those of you not acquainted with the zine world, 'zine' is short for either 'fanzine' or 'magazine', depending on your point of view. Zines are generally produced by one person or a small group of people, done often for fun or personal reasons, and tend to be irreverent, bizarre, and/or esoteric. Zines are not 'mainstream' publications - they generally do not contain advertisements (except, sometimes, advertisements for other zines), are not targeted towards a mass audience, and are generally not produced to make a profit. An 'e-zine' is a zine that is distributed partially or solely on electronic networks like the internet."
3,045 zines were listed on November 29, 1998. John wrote on his website: "Now the e-zine world is different. The number of e-zines has increased a hundredfold, crawling out of the FTP and Gopher woodworks to declaring themselves worthy of their own domain name, even asking for financial support through advertising. Even the term 'e-zine' has been co-opted by the commercial world, and has come to mean nearly any type of publication distributed electronically. Yet there is still the original, independent fringe, who continue to publish from their heart, or push the boundaries of what we call a 'zine'." John stopped updating his list a few years later.