網絡趕超報紙 或將成爲美國第一傳媒

The rapid growth of smartphones and electronic tablets is making the internet favourite for people seeking news, a report released today said。

News consumption online increased 17 per cent last year from the year before, the project said in its eighth annual State of the News media survey。

Meanwhile, US local, network and cable television news, newspapers, radio and magazines all lost audience last year, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a research organisation that evaluates and studies the performance of the press。

The percentage of people who say they get news online at least three times a week surpassed newspapers for the first time. It was second only to local TV news as the most popular news platform and seems poised to pass that medium, too, project director Tom Rosenstiel said。

Local TV news has been the most popular format since the 1960s, when its growth was largely responsible for the death of afternoon newspapers, he said。

'It was a milestone year,' he said。

People are just becoming accustomed to having the internet available in their pockets on phones or small tablets, he said。

In December, 41 per cent of Americans said they got most of their news about national and international issues on the internet, more than double the 17 per cent who said that a year earlier, the report said。

In January, 7 per cent of Americans owned electronic tablets, nearly double what it was three months earlier. Mr Rosenstiel said it was the fastest-growing new digital technology, ahead of mobile phones when they were introduced。

From a business standpoint, however, the growth in internet news consumption has not been harnessed by news companies. The project did not have numbers available but said online ad revenue was expected to surpass print newspaper ad revenue for the first time in 2010.

'The news business used to be the intermediary,' Mr Rosenstiel said. 'You needed newspapers and TV stations to reach your customers. In this age, it's the device makers and software developers.'

A long-term viewership decline continues for network news, although the evening news programmes continue to have significantly more viewers than cable news networks。

Cable news viewership was down 14 per cent last year and, for the first time since the project has been tracking it, dropped for each of the three networks - CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC。今日發佈的一份報道稱，智能手機和平板電腦的飛速發展使網絡逐漸成爲最受歡迎的獲取新聞的途徑。

第八次年度新聞媒體動態調查結果稱，去年網上新聞消費量比前年增加了17%。

與此同時，根據“新聞業傑出表現”項目的調查，去年觀看和收聽美國地方新聞、無線電視和有線電視新聞、報紙、廣播和雜誌的人數都減少了。“新聞業傑出表現”項目是一個評估和研究媒體表現的研究機構。

那些自稱上網看新聞至少一週三次的人羣比例首次超過了通過看報紙獲知新聞的人。項目主管湯姆•羅森斯蒂爾說，最受歡迎的新聞平臺是本地電視新聞，網絡僅次於這一平臺而且大有趕超之勢。

他說，自從20世紀60年代以來，本地電視新聞一直是最受歡迎的新聞形式，它的興起在很大程度上導致了午後報紙的消亡。

他說：“這是具有里程碑意義的一年。”

羅森斯蒂爾說，人們正漸漸習慣通過口袋裏的手機或小型平板電腦上網。

報道稱，去年12月，41%的美國人稱自己通過網絡獲知大多數國內和國際新聞，這一比例比前年(17%)翻了一番還多。

今年1月份，7%的美國人擁有了平板電腦，比三個月前增加了近兩倍。羅森斯蒂爾先生說，平板電腦是發展最迅速的新數碼科技，比手機推出時發展得還要快。

不過，從商業的角度來看，網絡新聞消費的增長並非依靠新聞機構的運作。該項目稱，儘管沒有獲得具體數據，但預計網絡廣告收入在2010年首次超過了紙媒廣告收入。

羅森斯蒂爾先生說，“過去新聞機構是中介。你需要報紙和電視臺才能將信息傳達給客戶。但是，在這個年代，中介成了設備製造商和軟件開發商。”

無線電視新聞的長期收看人數繼續下滑，不過晚間新聞節目的觀衆還是比有線電視新聞的觀衆要多得多。

去年有線電視新聞的觀看人數比前年減少了14%。此外，自該項目開始追蹤調查以來，美國有線電視新聞網、福克斯新聞頻道和微軟全國廣播公司三大電視網的收看人數首次出現下滑。