U.S. News Web Sites Better, But Small Papers Still Lag

Newspaper Research Journal, Spring 2004 by Greer, Jennifer, Mensing, Donica

Web sites are increasingly more sophisticated in news presentation, revenue-generating features, multimedia and interactive elements. Small papers lag significantly behind medium and large ones.

While newspapers have experimented with electronic publishing technologies since the early 1970s-including proprietary services, Videotext and bulletin boards-the World Wide Web, the platform of choice since the mid1990s, has been the most successful form of online newspaper publishing.1 The Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune launched an ISP and Web-based newspaper (called the Electronic Signpost) in April 1994.2 By 1996,175 North American dailies were online, and 775 publications were online worldwide. One year later, nearly 1,600 newspapers were being published online, including 820 in the United States.3 Early newspapers were criticized as "little more than static boards displaying weather, tourist and civic information, or telephone numbers of editors at the newspaper."4

Since the mid-1990s, however, the number of newspapers providing Web sites and the online news audience have grown significantly. Sites have also increased in sophistication of content and features, with many adding timely, in-depth and original reporting. For example, Outing described online coverage of the Iraq war as "Web-centric, well-planned, compelling multimedia content (with) breaking-news headlines and video delivered at nearly the speed of television."5

Researchers have studied a variety of these emerging features including content,6 use of technology/ interactivity,8 potential revenue models9 and news efficiency.10 Much of this research relied on data collected at a single point in time or focused on a single issue over a few years.11 This study moves beyond cross-sectional analyses to a longitudinal study of how online newspapers have evolved since their inception. Building on an introductory content analysis of 83 online newspapers published by U.S. dailies,12 this study presents a content analysis of the same newspapers every winter from 1997 to 2003. Specifically, this study examines trends in news presentation and content, multimedia use, interactivity and potential revenue sources. Additionally, the study examines how circulation size of print newspapers relates to content and features present in their online products.

Literature Review

Early online newspapers were harshly criticized for simply reproducing the print product online.13 One industry observer warned publishers: "Simply sticking your content-or shovelware-on a Web site just doesn't cut it any more. With the tsunami of newspapers flooding the Internet, the need to differentiate yourself is crucial."14 And a Poynter Institute associate told publishers not to be overwhelmed by technology and simply dump their print versions onto Web sites, but to think creatively through the development, creation and delivery of information.15

The findings of a number of cross-sectional studies of Web newspapers are summarized below. They are divided into the four areas of interest in this study: news content, multimedia usage, interactivity and potential revenue sources.

News Content and Presentation

While online newspapers are well-suited to provide frequently updated news, some early newspapers used their sites simply to provide contact information or to promote subscriptions. More than a quarter of the papers analyzed in a 1997 study had not updated their sites in more than 24 hours.16 Since then, however, studies have consistently shown news as dominant in online newspapers. A study of 74 online dailies, non-dailies and specialty papers in early 1997 and 166 online sites six months later found that 92 percent of all the sites featured local news by the end of 1997. The presence of national news on the sites increased from 45 percent to 53 percent over the six-month period.17

Presentation of news content also has been studied, as news sites have experimented with designs and formats. A 1997 survey sent to all 247 online daily U.S. newspapers found that smaller newspapers (41 percent) tended to provide a directory-like listing of news stories on their front pages, while 59 percent of the national/metropolitan papers followed a traditional newspaper design, presenting news headlines, text, and graphics on the front page.18 More than two-thirds of the papers provided electronic archives, and half updated their Web editions more than once a day.19 A survey of 135 online editors in late 1997 found that 57 percent of the editors updated their sites every 24 hours, while 41 percent updated more frequently and 2 percent less frequently.20

Fewer studies have examined the format of news stories online. An analysis of 230 genetic cloning stories on three online news sites (CNN, ABC and MSNBC) and three national newspapers (The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today) from 1996 to 1998 found that online news stories were 20 percent to 70 percent shorter than print stories.21 More than half of the online articles used outside services such as wire reports or guest columnists, but about 90 percent of the print stories were written in-house.22