Hyperlinking news stories
Posted by Mediascaper on February 16, 2009
Robert Niles, writing for Online Journalism Review, lists three reasons for hyperlinking: attribution (which allows readers to find source material), context (helping the reader understand the story), and “easter eggs,” which offer humor.
He also provides a four-question test for determining whether to add a hyperlink:
1. Does the URL to which I am referring the reader reward him or her with additional content that a reader of this story likely did not know, or know how to get easily?
2. Does the text I am selecting to link this text give the reader an obvious clue as to what the hyperlinked page will contain?
3. Am I using the shortest possible amount of text to provide that clue?
4. Would the content of the linked text, or the context surrounding it, reasonably mislead the reader into believing that the linked page contains something other than what it does?If the answers to these questions are yes, yes, yes and no, you’re good to go with the link.
The only advice I would add is this: Whenever you add a hyperlink, determine whether it would benefit readers to also give them excerpted material from that source. I appreciate writers who provide excerpts that either summarize the linked item or provide key points. A judiciously chosen excerpt can also save your readers a diverting trip away from your article if they feel they understand the gist of the linked story.
