Report: Internet usage transforming news industry

[March 14, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A new report says the rapid growth of smart phones and electronic tablets is making the Internet the destination of choice for consumers looking for news.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism said Monday that local, network and cable television news, newspapers, radio and magazines all lost audience in 2010. But in its eighth annual State of the News Media survey, the project says news consumption online increased 17 percent last year over the year before.

The percentage of people who say they get news online at least three times a week surpassed newspapers for the first time. Project director Tom Rosenstiel says only local TV news was a more popular news platform.

The report says the percentage of people who say they got most of their national and international news on the Internet in December was more than double what it was the year before.

[Associated Press]

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