ABSTRACT
The question of access to primary literature emanating from politicians, personalities etc. and others involved in the news is not a mere academic one, for it possibly changes the information environment, affecting the activities of librarians, journalists and other professionals — and not only those in the media. Reviewing what has been discovered about the use of the Internet by the media. Determining the size of the Internet in terms of the number of hosts connected to it is fraught with difficulties. Despite, possibly because of, calculating the number of Internet users is even more problematic than counting hosts. There is broad agreement amongst international commentators on the impact of gender on Internet use. It concerns the use of online resources such as ‘dictionaries, encyclopaedias, gazetteers, almanacs and glossaries’, some of which may now be found on the Internet and be accessed by journalists or media librarians.
