24/7 Wall St. has looked at the top 25 US newspapers and ranked their online business and finance sections, on an A-F scale.

Business and finance sections were selected because advertisers are often willing to pay a premium for space in a section read by readers "(that) have money that the readers of the sports sections may not." Given the readership and advertising potential, this should presumably be one of the best online sections of a news site.  

Overall, the results indicate there is room for improvement, with the news sites receiving a median grade of B-. 24/7 Wall St. reported many of the sites were difficult to navigate, lacked on content and were poorly designed. Of one they commented the site, "appears to have been designed giving no thought to the fact that the reader is looking at content on the internet and not in a newspaper. "

Yet among the 25, several stood out as having used their resources well to create straightforward site navigation, quality design and content - particularly content which catered to their readership, and foster interactivity through blogs, video and online forums.

Among the best, The Houston Chronicle was noted for excellent navigation, relevant blogs and columns and mix of major stories from wire services, coupled with "local touches like the Houston Stock Index and several Top 100 features." The St. Petersburg Times was also a stand out, with superb graphics and lay-out and interactive features on local companies.

Robb Montgomery commented earlier this year that in moving our focus online, "We are in a transition and transitions are bumpy and disorienting." Montgomery advises that digital journalism needs to be seen (and created as) its own product, unique from both traditional print journalism and traditional ways of consuming film and television.

Sources: 24/7 Wall St.