Most newspaper columns, by nature, are designed to offer opinion, not break stories. There have been exceptions, of course, and famous columnists such as Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson come to mind. But at most newspapers, and at the Erie Times-News, the columnist generally strives to provide insight, clarity, context and perhaps mix in a bit of opinion with all of that.

The upshot is, if we're doing our job well, the reader gains a greater understanding of an issue. That's how I felt this morning, as I read columns in today's newspaper, while eating my breakfast.

Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker wrote about an unfortunate group of college graduates and law school grads who haven't been able to land jobs because of information that's appeared about them on various Web sites.

In several cases, it sounds as if what's happening to the graduates is very unfair, according to Parker. For example, Parker writes that a Phi Beta Kappa graduate and Yale Law School student, who had published 16 articles in various law journals, had interviewed at 16 different places, yet could not get a summer job.

"It turned out that she and others had been discussed in not-so-flattering terms on an online message board, AutoAdmit," Parker wrote. "The board boasts up to 1 million visitors a month, and postings can be anonymous -- and vicious."

Coincidentally, in today's Good Morning column in the Times-News, a talented young intern named Matt Hubert described how he keeps in touch electronically with friends, practically from the moment he opens his eyes each morning.

"Every morning I wake up, and before I even eat breakfast or brush my teeth, I flip open my laptop computer, sign online and put up an 'away' message alerting the world, or at least my buddy list, that I am 'eating breakfast'," Matt writes.

It's an entertaining column, pointing out that, "I tend to send text-message updates as irrelevant as 'leaving work for now, ttyl,' even when 'later' may be as near as the walk from my desk to my car."

This shows how quickly the world is changing, and how differently many young people view it, as compared to the view of 50-somethings like me. When I was a boy, my parents would pack up the family and head off for a long weekend at a remote mountain cabin. My father, especially, loved the place because it had no telephone. His goal was to stay out of touch.

The challenge in all this for newspapers like the Times-News is that we must continue to work to keep our readers -- of all ages -- connected. The printed product is vitally important, of course, but we must also strive to exhaust every on-line resource in order to share our franchise -- expert news gathering -- with all of our readers.

The world of the Web will continue to change, as will the Erie Times-News. Our goal will remain constant, however, as we'll hustle to delivery the best of all worlds.

-- Kevin Cuneo

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