News media using many platforms

Jennifer Greer and Yan Yan in a recent edition of "Grassroots Editor" report that the Internet ranked as the third most popular news platform -- behind local and national television outlets. Local print newspapers ranked as the fifth most popular news sources, with 50% of respondents to a national survey saying they get news this way (Pew Internet, 2010). The trend of news consumption shifting online is not new. Readers have been logging on to news websites, including those produced by traditional news organizations, since the 1990s. But the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey also showed that news consumption has increased.

Further, citing a classic 1993 magazine column by newspaper consultant John Morton, the scholars added that "the fundamental strength of newspapers [is] the ability to 'provide intense local coverage of events and subjects of intense concern to local consumers'.”