The rise of US online news reporting
Jinfo Blog

28th April 2009

By Penny Crossland

Item

With the US print newspaper sector in a continuing downward spiral – the exception being The Wall Street Journal, which yesterday released figures showing that it is the only US newspaper with growing circulation (http://digbig.com/4yqmq) - it seems that US journalism is increasingly moving to the web. Earlier this month we reported on the Huffington Post setting up an internet newspaper (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e18033), yesterday brought news of another website, PoliticsDaily.com (http://www.politicsdaily.com). As reported by techcrunch.com (http://digbig.com/4yqms), the site has the financial backing of AOL and an impressive list of journalists with impeccable credentials. Melinda Henneberger, a former New York Times Washington correspondent is the editor of the new venture and promises in-depth, unbiased political commentary from experienced journalists. Focusing on US news only, Politics Daily is aiming to differentiate itself from its online competitors by focusing on original long-form articles and blog postings, rather than on breaking news or news aggregation. PoliticsDaily.com will have to compete with the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com), the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com), the Nation (http://www.thenation.com) and The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com) for up-market news coverage, not to mention the news sites provided by the major broadcasters. In the US, there seems to be an increasing differentiation in the news sector between original, in-depth commentary and content aggregation. One novel approach to news aggregation is provided by Newsy.com (http://www.newsy.com), an online video news site launched at the beginning of this month. As reported by Information Today (http://digbig.com/4yqmn), Newsy.com puts together short video clips summarizing news from around the world. Still in beta, Newsy delivers video segments online and to mobile devices and takes it sources from online, print and television. For those who don’t have the time or inclination to read wordy commentary, Newsy may provide a welcome addition to online news provision, but is there room for more web news start-ups?

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