While online newspapers are being launched at a phenomenal rate worldwide, a significant number of sites are folding, a new study reports. Ill. The closings are small compared to the 1,702 online newspapers that started up in the same time frame, a rate nearly quadruple the 471 that started between March and August of 1996. With an estimated 3,622 newspapers worldwide publishing online editions, losing 100 seems insignificant, on the surface. There are signs, however, that the boom may be coming to an end, said study author Eric K. Meyer, a University of Illinois journalism professor and consultant for NewsLink. One of the most alarming pieces of data in our report is our finding that a growing number of newspapers have abandoned their Web sites as unprofitable.
Most papers shutting down their sites are with small newspapers.
We've just always felt trapped. Try again later. It was last updated Nov. 6, 1996. Or consider the Times News Group, a weekly chain of eight newspapers in San Jose, Calif., which stopped publishing online in June 1996. A Times News Group spokeswoman said the chain will resume online publication in two months.