More people have reported getting news from the web than newspapers
Unprecedented growth has been experienced online.
According to the State of the News Media, a report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, 46% of Americans reported getting news online at least three times each week while only 40% reported getting news from newspapers and their accompanying websites.
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, stated that the adoption of smartphones and tablets are responsible for some of this growth.
Furthermore, online advertising revenue is expected to pass print newspaper ad revenue. In 2010, newspaper ad revenue fell to $22.8 billion. During the last four years, newspapers have seen this revenue fall 46%.
Online advertising for 2010 has been reported at $25.8 billion, an increase of 13.9%. The study cited eMarketer on this statistic.
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To elaborate more on the power of mobile, 47% of all Americans receive some type of local news on a mobile device. This can range from weather reports, traffic reports and information on local restaurants or businesses.
As of January 2011, 7% of Americans own a tablet device. Although this isn’t an extremely high percentage, that number nearly doubled from only four months prior.
A change in content
Today, traditional newsrooms are different. They are smaller, have narrower focuses and the journalists residing within them are stretched further than before.
However, they have transformed into an adaptive, multimedia environment. Great content is being recognized by Google and presented to the online community in real time. Audience development can take place more easily through search engines and social networks.
Some critics however, have already begun to worry about this change. Will lower pay for journalists and editors and more demand for frequent content lead to devaluation in content? This notion was mentioned in the Overview of The State of the News Media. What is your thought on it? I’d love to hear your opinion.
I personally think with proper attention, training and a standard of journalism in mind, the new era of online journalism will continue to provide valuable content to interested audiences.
