Online Newspaper

An online newspaper is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspapers, such as competing with broadcast journalism in presenting breaking news in a more timely manner. The credibility and strong brand recognition of well-established newspapers, and the close relationships they have with advertisers, are also seen by many in the newspaper industry as strengthening their chances of survival. The movement away from the printing process can also help decrease costs.

## History

An early example of an "online-only" newspaper or magazine was (PLATO) News Report, an online newspaper created by Bruce Parrello in 1974 on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois. The first newspaper to go online was The Columbus Dispatch on July 1, 1980. Beginning in 1987, the Brazilian newspaper Jornaldodia ran on the state-owned Embratel network, moving to the Internet in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, hundreds of U.S. newspapers were publishing online versions but did not yet offer much interactivity. One example is Britain's Weekend City Press Review, which provided a weekly news summary online beginning in 1995. Today, online news has become a considerable part of society which leads people to argue whether or not it is good for society.

## Trends

In 2015, 65% of people reported that print was their preferred newspaper reading method, down 4% from 2014. The methods people use to get their news from digital means was at 28%, as opposed to 20% of people attaining the news through print newspapers. These trends indicate an increase in digital consumption of newspapers, as opposed to print. Today, ad revenue for digital forms of newspapers is nearly 25%, while print is constituting the remaining 75%. Contrastingly, ad revenue for digital methods was 5% in 2006.

## Examples

Very few newspapers in 2006 claimed to have made money from their websites, which were mostly free to all viewers. Declining profit margins and declining circulation in daily newspapers forced executives to contemplate new methods of obtaining revenue from websites, without charging for the subscription. This has been difficult. Newspapers with specialized audiences such as The Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education successfully charge subscription fees. Most newspapers have an online edition, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Mid-Day, and The New York Times.

## Popularity

In 2013, the Reuters Institute commissioned a cross-country survey on news consumption and gathered data related to online newspaper use that emphasizes the lack of use of paid online newspaper services. The countries surveyed were France, German, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, Brazil, the United States, and the United Kingdom. All samples within each country were nationally representative. Half of the sample reportedly paid for a print newspaper in the past 7 days and only one-twentieth of the sample paid for online news in the past 7 days. That only 5% of the sample had recently paid for online newspaper access is likely because most people access information that is free.

People with portable devices, like tablets or smartphones, were significantly more likely to subscribe to digital news content. Additionally, younger people—25- to 34-year-olds—are more willing to pay for digital news than older people across all countries. This is in line with the Pew Research Center's finding in a survey of U.S. Americans that the Internet is a leading source of news for people less than 50.

## References

1. ↑ PCC to regulate newspaper
2. ↑ New Media Timeline (1980) - Poynter
3. ↑ Mix Video Online Video - Mixcatcom
4. ↑ Options in Online Journalism: Analysis of 100 Newspapers
5. ↑ Daily Hong Kong news - Hong Kong news Community Forum
6. ↑ HDMI and Technology News of Yesteryear, Today, and Tomorrow - Prodigitalweb
7. ↑ Eleven Indian Digital Media Publications Come Together to 'Build a Digital News Ecology'
8. ↑ A Structural Analysis of the Electronic Newspaper Market: Journal of Media Economics
9. ↑ An Explorative Study on the Market Relation Between Online and Print Newspapers