Online news more popular than newspapers

People prefering pads to print?

It was going to be inevitable and is a sign of things to come, but according to the Pew Research Centre, online news is now more popular than reading newspapers in the United States.

According to the survey, it is "the third most popular form of news, behind local and national TV stations".

"News awareness is becoming an anytime, anywhere, any device activity for those who want to stay informed," the reported stated.

For owners of newspapers, such as Rupert Murdoch, it will only reinforce the belief that they should charge for online content, especially on popular aggregators such as Google News and AOL.

Murdoch and other media institutions have accused aggregators of 'leeching' their news and have attributed their financial woes to the popularity of online news.

According to the report, Google News, AOL as well as the BBC and CNN websites were the most popular resources for online news.

Real-time news

With more and more people demanding up-to-the-minute news thanks to smartphones and wireless connections, a newspaper that is up to 12 hours old in terms of news is looking more and more antiquated. As such, it is no surprise to learn that in the report 66 percent of those surveyed said they got their news online on a typical day, compared with 78 percent from local news channels and 71 percent from a national TV network such as NBC, CNN or Fox News.

And how about those that listen to news on the radio to and from work - 54 percent.

Interestingly, 90 percent of people use multiple resources for their news, with 57 percent 'gathering' news from two to five websites.

Amy Mitchell, deputy director for the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism said to the BBC, "Americans have become news grazers both on and offline - but within limits."

"They generally don't have one favourite website but also don't search aimlessly. Most online news consumers regularly draw on just a handful of different sites."

It wasn't good news (pun intended) for forms of print media however...

Regular readers of newspapers are reported to have dropped by almost half recently, with many publications facing uncertain futures as advertising slows in the post-recession business world. That coupled with many sourcing their news online means that several papers have been forced to close.

So for now it appears that online news has won a significant battle, but don't expect Murdoch and other media corporations to take this lying down. The war is far from over.

Relevant articles:

Facebook threatening Google News? | Is Google appeasing Murdoch? | Murdoch to block Google?

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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