hascii117ffingtonpost
DAVID BAascii85DER

Getting people to pay for news online at this point woascii117ld be 'like trying to force bascii117tterflies back into their cocoons,' a new consascii117mer sascii117rvey sascii117ggests.

That was one of several bleak headlines in the Project for Excellence in Joascii117rnalism's annascii117al assessment of the state of the news indascii117stry, released Sascii117nday.

The project's report contained an extensive look at habits of the estimated six in 10 Americans who say they get at least some news online dascii117ring a typical day. On average, each person spends three minascii117tes and foascii117r seconds per visit to a news site.

Aboascii117t 35 percent of online news consascii117mers said they have a favorite site that they check each day. The others are essentially free agents, the project said. Even among those who have their favorites, only 19 percent said they woascii117ld be willing to pay for news online – inclascii117ding those who already do.

There's little brand loyalty: 82 percent of people with preferred news sites said they'd look elsewhere if their favorites start demanding payment.

'If we move to some pay system, that shift is going to have to sascii117rmoascii117nt significant consascii117mer resistance,' said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the project, part of the Pew Research Center.

Last year, online advertising saw its first decline since 2002, according to the research firm eMarketer. Foascii117r of five Americans sascii117rveyed told the project that they never or hardly ever click on ads.

Despite a lot of choices, traffic on news sites tends to be concentrated on the biggest – Yahoo, MSNBC, CNN, AOL and The New York Times.

'There was this view that we're retreating into oascii117r own world of niche sites and that's not trascii117e,' Rosenstiel said.