"... recent Pew studies have found that more Americans now rely on the Internet as a primary news source than rely on print newspapers. But even as the Web is a larger slice of the American news diet, systematic data on local news has been scarce. Even very basic questions have remained unanswered. How many online local news outlets are there in a typical media market? Are successful local news sites new, or just online versions of traditional media?" (Quoted from paper)