This Chapter of the dissertation presents a review of relevant literature addressing issues related to online newspaper availability, use, and consumer response. A discussion of theory regarding mass communication in the context of online newspapers is offered. A brief history of the development of online or Internet newspapers is followed by an assessment of consumer response to such offerings and the types of newspapers that are represented online. Finally, the Chapter assesses existing empirical studies that have been conducted to identify key variables associated with Internet newspaper use and consumer response to such offerings.
The digital revolution represented by the presence of newspapers on the Internet is not regarded by Johnson (2001) as particularly revolutionary. What is different about online news, in the view of Johnson, is that it simply represents a new customized format for the delivery of the contents of a traditional or weekly newspaper. As the use of the Internet expanded, scholars in journalism and mass communication began to worry that news consumption by the general public would be limited to a few topics ordered from custom news sources and consequently, that citizens' knowledge of public issues would decline (Johnson, 2001).
Johnson (2001) believes that these fears were premature and that the Internet allows people to access more rather than less news than they were getting with exclusively traditional media sources. However, Chyi and Lasorsa (1999) point out that the rapid diffusion process engendered by the Internet is directly impacting upon the ways in which Internet users access selected newspapers online and identify those that they are likely to read.
Rogers (1995) offers the theory of diffusion of innovations to account for the adoption of communication technologies and inventions. According to the theory, the five most important characteristics of any innovation will determine the ra...