Free Republic

The future of online news outlets depends on their staying independent no matter how rough the boat ride. Struggling online news outlets would have to be more than just hopelessly naive to believe that a relatively new ‘New Media Alliance’ leading the battle for survival up against Internet giants Google and Facebook is fighting for them. How could any online outlet believe in an Alliance in which the New York Times is an active member? Hello New Media Alliance? Independent news outlets calling!

Cable TV viewership is declining, local news audiences are growing, and the number of Americans watching the network's evening news broadcasts is vast and stable, according to the latest report from the Pew Research Journalism Project. Meanwhile, 36 percent of U.S. adults watch news video online. This is about the same audience percentage that gets its news from Facebook or cable news channels, Pew reported. Most of this demographic is comprised of younger people. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC were all down in prime time viewership though Fox still led the pack. Some 22.6 million viewers watch the nightly network...

Knowledgeable News Audiences News audiences vary widely in age, education, and how much they know about what's going on in the nation and the world. Most regular consumers of news are better informed, better educated, and older than the average American. But the audiences for some news sources stand out in this respect. Judged by their answers to three news knowledge questions2, the most informed audiences belong to the political magazines, Rush Limbaugh's radio show, the O'Reilly Factor, news magazines, and online news sources. Close behind are the regular audiences for NPR and the Daily Show. Audiences with the highest...

Increasing numbers of people looking for political news are going online - with more than a third now saying they check the Internet for such information. That group is more likely to be younger, better educated and male than the population in general, an Associated Press-AOL News poll found. While 35 percent say they go to the Internet for political updates about campaigns and candidates, that number grows to 43 percent of likely voters - and they tend to be more liberal than conservative. With midterm elections less than two weeks away, the online audience is getting deluged with e-mail...

NEWSPAPERS WILL BECOME PRIMARILY ONLINE products at varying paces over the next decade, according to Ken Doctor, a lead analyst with Outsell Inc., a research and advisory firm that provides market analytics to the information industry. Doctor made this prediction during his discussion of the findings of a survey of major newspaper publishers by Outsell Inc., as well as an earlier survey of 2,800 news consumers, and a report containing Outsell's recommendations for the future. "It's moving in that direction at different rates for different publishers," Doctor said, confirming that "the basic trend is unmistakable. We've seen in our own...

Chicago -- Newspapers' online audiences are growing rapidly, according to a new industry study, highlighting a key growth area that newspapers are seeking to exploit as print circulation continues to be challenged. A study being released Monday by the Newspaper Association of America, a trade group, found that one in three Internet users — 55 million — visit a newspaper Web site every month. Also, unique visitors to newspaper Web sites jumped 21 percent from January 2005 to December 2005, while the number of page views soared by 43 percent over the same period. The study coincides with the NAA's...

Americans are more likely to get their news from local TV and newspapers than national sources, according to a Gallup Poll released today. But of all sources, only news on the Internet is gaining in popularity. The poll found that 51% say they get news from local TV every day, with 44% saying they get it from local newspapers. Lagging are cable news channels, at 39%, and network newscasts, at 36%. An additional 14% say they get news from newspapers several times a week, bringing that total to 58%. But every source has fallen somewhat since 2002, with only news...

Our Newspapers Fail Us Editorial - Israel News Agency There is no public relations or public affairs without a carrier. The most established carrier is called a newspaper. And in Israel the only newspapers which enjoy abundant readership and wealth are the Hebrew dailies – Yediot, Maariv and Haaertz. As for the English newspapers here in Israel – one is a mere translation of the Hebrew edition and the other is fifty percent wire service copy. Yes – there are some brilliant writers on these papers but their voices become deluded when you have a lack of proper leadership integrated...

<p>NEW YORK -- News junkies who watched the Gulf War unfold on CNN a little over a decade ago will have a new medium to satisfy their cravings in the event of an American invasion of Iraq.</p> <p>For the first time since the Internet became a fixture of American life, the stage has been set for a huge international story that could expose the strengths and weaknesses of the Web as a purveyor of breaking news.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Who will pay for online news? The question has long boggled the news media, which has largely failed to make money on their Web sites using advertising, even though millions use the free news they provide. But publishers and broadcasters are redoubling their efforts to sell news for money, and the offerings have generated -- if not yet profits -- at least some buzz. ABC News on Tuesday disclosed plans to pull virtually all its video clips off its free Web site (http://www.abcnews.com). Instead, a package of video clips -- including the entirety of "World News...