How has

How has news changed over the past 20 years?

News, in terms of their tangible sources such as newspapers are a dying media in modern day, however about more or less 20 years ago they were a significant part in peoples' consumption, just before the New Digital Age stepped in and changed the dynamics of news. This new digital age has pioneered the meaning of 'free news' and peoples' consumption as a whole, now in the modern age people have a more convenient access to news, whether it's accessing it from their smartphone, computer, tablet, etc. Now, news is even free, so people are more knowledgeable of how the world works and the things around them. Other features of online news and e-media that ease people is also the translation, foreign readers can now be able to consume news at the same level of any civilised English speaker, and are not restricted in any way of their rights to know something. 

As of even more, now in the modern age the consumers could also create content for their consumers, meaning they are allowed to act as a 'citizen journalist', where they capture videos or images relevant to a news as any normal citizen, not working or influenced by a specific institution/company they're working for. This adds different aspects and views to any story, a prime example was the raging of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, Alton Sterling was seen to be shot by an officer simply by resisting, but as we gain more knowledge about the situation, we later learn that Sterling was armed. Conclusively, the point here is that people now aren't being forcefully fed news by the media, they are now able to chose and have a plausible opinion based on what they're seen so far on their own as human beings. This is especially a benefit because as we know the media can be devilishly deceptive and turn a story around, just to make a headline and sell their news.