I would really like to see some statistics about online press because it is not clear for me at the moment if people are moving online or just simply stopping to read. If it is the latter, we have a huge problem.
I've got this question after reading Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.
Looking at the people around me my guess would be moving online at the expense of periodicals and TV.
That's a very limited sample though. I used to be an avid newspaper and periodicals reader, 3 subscriptions to monthlies (nature, Scientific American and the Lancet) and a newspaper were paid for, then reading every other publication I could get my hands on.
Now it's all internet.
My other friends and family are much the same. In a shopping center a while ago I was offered something like 6 months free on a newspaper subscription. I said no thanks and the person was like 'what do you want, what does it make to get you to accept' and I said I don't think it can be done.
Even if its free I still have to get rid of the things every couple of weeks, and they harm the environment. I do buy books on paper though, there's something about curling up in a corner with a book that a computer can't give me (yet).
I was talking more about general audience. I understand that people who read SciAm won't magically switch to the Twitter and YouTube videos as their main media for public discourse.
P.S. Not related to the main topic, but you might find it interesting. For the past few months I was reading books exclusively on Kindle but recently I had to buy a paper book (Coders At Work) and the experience is awful so far. I can't highlight and save quotes I like, I can't make notes, I can't quickly look up a word definition. But the worst part is that with Kindle I forgot how difficult and almost impossible it is to read while standing in the train or laying in bed. So, although Coders At Work is a very interesting book I can't wait to finish it and return to my ebook reader.
AFAIK they are pretty much useless outside the United States. Check out other readers (from Sony, etc.). They are pretty much the same but not tied up to the Amazon.com.
I've got this question after reading Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.