WORDS JUST CAN’T DESCRIBE

Here is just one example of how new media can really help a print story.

Sunday’s Globe sports section featured multiple stories about the atmosphere of college football games told by reporters and photographers dispatched across the country.

The online component of this feature is a collection of pictures and audio blended into simple and effective slideshows.

After reading the stories and watching the slideshows, there is no question that the stories could not at all convey the mood and feeling of a college football game the way the slideshows did. You can’t hear the pep band, cheerleaders, and grunts of players in print. You can’t see all of the pictures the photographer may want you see to understand exactly where he or she was when they were taken.

Visitors of boston.com and many other newspaper web sites have seen these slideshows before, but the Globe’s feature just reinforces the notion that some stories are told best in forms other than print.

When will slideshows start to replace feature stories entirely?

Stay tuned.