Online vs. Print: A Front Page Pic Tells the Whole Story

Obviously, the big news today is all about London. And, sure enough, when I picked up this morning's New York Times there was the headline about London:

Except that the big, above-the-fold front page story about London landing the 2012 Olympics had been completely surpassed by the much bigger -- and horrifying instead of jubilant -- story about London today.

If one needed more proof of the ascendancy of online news, this morning put the Internet vs. print battle into stark relief -- and foretold the Net’s inevitable victory.

Over 30 percent of Americans between the ages of 30-49 already say the Internet is their main source of news, and nearly a quarter of people in their 20s and 50s get news online every day.

News happens every second of the day -- it doesn't stop after the next day's newspaper is put to bed -- and blogs and Internet news sites are clearly better equipped to keep up with this never-ending news cycle.

So as this tragic story continues to unfold, I know exactly where I'll be getting my up-to-the-second news from -- and it won't be from the old-before-it’s-new paper sitting on my doorstep tomorrow morning. Is there any doubt that more and more millions will be doing the same? And not just news, but real time commentary, like our posts from Jamie Rubin, Simon Jenkins, Jann Wenner, Andrei Cherny, Tom Hayden, and Marty Kaplan.