By Soon Wei Lun

LAST month, as I registered myself online as a volunteer for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, James, my American roommate at Columbia University, signed up for the 'Obama-Biden Transition Project' on the US President-elect Barack Obama's website.

Long before Polling Day, he was already updating himself on Mr Obama's every word and move through his campaign website and e-mail messages. He liked that he could donate to his campaign online, 'if not, I would never have bothered to do it in person'.

'Change' is coming to youths in America and around the world, and it is in byte-sized pieces.

CNN anchors remind viewers to express their views on MySpace and Twitter. Youths in China are expressing support for Premier Wen Jiabao on Facebook. Here, Singapore's first election rally archive - SGRally - was set up in 2006 to cover the General Election with video clips and podcasts.

But while we can exercise authority over what we want to read and express online, how can one sieve through the deluge of information and separate quality from rubbish?

The answer is newspapers. Their meticulous editorial process, after all, ensures its content has significant levels of credibility. Despite the flood of online content, newspapers still command people's respect: The day after Mr Obama won the presidential election, New Yorkers still queued to buy the New York Times.

And online editions of papers rely on their print editions' reputation to attract a technologically plugged-in generation.

But while information is constantly erased and refreshed online, print media commemorates world events with something more long lasting. It is newspapers' most endearing allure - their ability to distil time into something you can hold in your hands, over your morning coffee.

The writer, 25, is studying for a master's degree in international affairs at Columbia University, New York City.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 8 Dec, 2008.