NYTimes.com tops Bivings Group's list of 10 best newspaper sites

Posted by Alisa Zykova on February 17, 2009 at 3:07 PM

According to research from The Bivings Group, which included 100 daily U.S. newspapers, the ideal newspaper website is NYTimes.com since it incorporates new Internet tools while managing to retain a classical look. The study focused on web features, key concepts and navigational aspects.

Bivings found that the top ten sites are:

1.   The New York Times
2.   The Washington Post
3.   The Wall Street Journal
4.   The Florida Times-Union
5.   The Philadelphia Inquirer
6.   USA Today
7.   The St-Paul Pioneer Press
8.   The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
9.   The Arizona Republic
10.   The Columbus Dispatch

Newspapers whose sites got points for personalization features include The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Participation was a key feature in The Florida Times-Union and USA Today, whereas interactivity between readers and journalists was seen at the Washington Post and USA Today.

The St-Paul Pioneer Press has a good multimedia choice on the home page while The Arizona Republic corresponds to a notable local service. A noteworthy connection between print and web editions was seen at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Bivings reported.

NYTimes.com was also the most visited US newspaper site of 2008, according to the Nieman Journalism Lab. With over 19,000 unique visitors on average per month, the Times was way ahead of its closest competitors, USA Today and the Washington Post, with between 10,000 and 11,000.

Source: Le Figaro through IFRA Executive News Service, Nieman Journalism Lab