Now, a Pew study released in early December shows online news has overtaken print media in the US. This is a big deal as it shows that in a year when there has been plenty of news to report about, Americans went online instead of waiting for their daily newspaper. 2007 seemed to be the big year for this change and I suspect the Presidential race was more than a little responsible for helping people understand the real-time benefits of online news sources. Once people understood this fundamental advantage - and I believe they now do - it marks it as all but impossible for print media to recover.

According to the Pew report, young people take this a step further. For those under 30, "the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online; an identical percentage cites television. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied mostly on television for news than mentioned the internet (68% vs. 34%)." What a difference a year makes.

What they're saying from the print side
by Clint DeBoer, http://www.audioholics.com/ 12/29/2008

So, what do we have to look forward to? Well, as much as I'd like to rejoice over the inevitable (though interminably slow) death of print, the truth is that it's a bit sad to see. Print is dying out, not for lack of editorial prowess or being interesting to read, but for simply not having the forward-thinking chops to recognize their industry was in danger of obsolescence. They opted to ride the sinking ship to the bottom of the ocean rather than look ahead for a potential life raft of opportunity (print mags were notoriously slow to put their content online, and some still refuse to do so in full). We're witnessing the end of an era, and that era was - for the most part - very successful and useful in its day. Will online be able to take up the slack? We hope so, but it will entail lots of resources and editorial content that is compelling and integrous. In short, we've got our work cut out for us and we better buck up.

Click here for the full report ... Pew report