U.S. Eastern Time on a day when the stock market already was roaring. But in a sampling of about 25 small and large newspaper sites around the U.S., the story didn't start appearing until about 45 minutes to an hour after the announcement. It wasn't always elevated to the lead. Local newspaper sites seem to be training their readers to go elsewhere for breaking news. The online news franchise is all news, all the time.
News is one of the top reasons people go online.
The No. 1 topic Internet news consumers seek is weather news, according to the Pew Research Center Biennial News Consumption Survey released last summer. The results, no doubt, would have been different if the survey audience were just online news seekers in a given community. Then, local news would be higher on the list. But I'm not sure it would be as high as local news site editors seem to think. An essential part of online news is the online community talking about the news.