Online newspaper

An online newspaper (or news website or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical.

Going online created more opportunities for newspapers, such as competing with broadcast journalism in presenting breaking news in a more timely manner. The credibility and strong brand recognition of well established newspapers, and the close relationships they have with advertisers, are also seen by many in the newspaper industry as strengthening their chances of survival. The movement away from the printing process can also help decrease costs.

Online newspapers, like printed newspapers, have legal restrictions regarding libel, privacy, and copyright, also apply to online publications in most countries as in the UK. Also, the UK Data Protection Act applies to online newspapers and news pages. Up to 2014, the PCC ruled in the UK, but there was no clear distinction between authentic online newspapers and forums or blogs. In 2007, a ruling was passed to formally regulate UK-based online newspapers, news audio, and news video websites covering the responsibilities expected of them and to clear up what is, and what is not an online news publication.

News reporters are being taught to shoot video and to write in the succinct manner necessary for Internet news pages. Some newspapers have attempted to integrate the Internet into every aspect of their operations, e.g., the writing of stories for both print and online, and classified advertisements appearing in both media, while other newspaper websites may be quite different from the corresponding printed newspaper.

An early example of an "online-only" newspaper or magazine was (PLATO) News Report, an online newspaper created by Bruce Parrello in 1974 on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois. The first newspaper to go online was The Columbus Dispatch on July 1, 1980. Beginning in 1987, the Brazilian newspaper Jornaldodia ran on the state-owned Embratel network, moving to the Internet in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, hundreds of U.S. newspapers were publishing online versions, but did not yet offer much interactivity. One example is Britain's Weekend City Press Review, which provided a weekly news summary online beginning in 1995. Today, online news has become a huge part of society which leads people to argue whether or not it is good for society. Austra Taylor, author of the popular book, The Peoples Platform, argues that online news does not provide the detail needed to fully understand what actually happened. It is more just a fast summary to inform people what happened, but does not give a solution or fixation to the problem.^{[citation needed]}

Very few newspapers in 2006 claimed to have made money from their websites, which were mostly free to all viewers. Declining profit margins and declining circulation in daily newspapers forced executives to contemplate new methods of obtaining revenue from websites, without charging for the subscription. This has been difficult. Newspapers with specialized audiences such as The Wall Street Journal and The Chronicle of Higher Education successfully charge subscription fees. Most newspapers have an online edition, including the Los Angeles Times,The Washington Post, USA Today, Mid-Day, and The New York Times. Many European countries also have their own English-language online news, such as The Daily Slovak News (Slovakia), Helsinki Times (Finland) and The Moscow Times (Russia).

The Guardian experimented with new media in 2005, offering a free twelve-part weekly podcast series by Ricky Gervais. Another UK daily to go online is The Daily Telegraph.

In Australia, most major newspapers offer an online version, with or without a paywalled subscription option. In Algeria, the number of daily visitors of news websites and online editions of newspapers surpasses the number of daily readers of print newspapers since the end of 2016.