Poll says internet has passed newspapers as news source

The latest poll from Pew Research Center says that more people cite the internet as their prime source of news than newspapers.

As the graph shows, the net had a big jump this year, possibly explained by the poll being taken shortly after the election, during which political junkies (myself included) checked websites regularly for the latest news, rumors, and polls. It's possible, then, that the numbers are inflated, but the long-term pattern is nonetheless clear -- papers are down fifteen points from their high and TV down twelve points, while the net is up 27 points.

This is not necessarily all bad news for the papers -- many of the most popular news websites are run by the newspapers themselves, but for it to be good news the publishers are going to have to figure out a way to turn those online readers into advertising dollars, something they've had trouble doing thus far.