Digital news in the US - predictions for 2012

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has released its latest report into the State of the News Media in the US.The report finds that the use of mobile devices is increasing the consumption of news. It also identifies key trends set to make an impact on news journalism and distribution in 2012.Technology giants

• Reuters is producing original news for YouTube; Yahoo has signed a partnership with ABC News; Facebook has created partnerships with The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and others.
• As big technology firms drive towards ‘offering everything' the report suggests there may be more moves to partner with or acquire legacy news brands

• 27% of the population accesses news on mobile devices
• Mobile is adding to, not replacing, other news consumption - mobile devices are adding 9% traffic to newspaper websites
• Users are increasingly likely to turn to news organisations directly, rather than via recommendation or search - bonds with traditional brands are strengthening

• 54% of the online US population are active Facebook users and Twitter users grew 32% in 2011
• However, only about 10% of digital news consumers follow news recommendations from these tools ‘very often'.

• News audiences increasing for both traditional broadcast TV networks and cable.

• Ad revenue has declined by over 50% since 2006
• 1% of newspapers have ceased publishing every year for the last five years
• Moves to digital subscriptions may be a matter of survival for many

• Newspapers will increasingly rely on digital advertising but need to maintain trust of their audiences