Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites

The Post has great features but I really don’t like the way it looks. Same with USA Today.

The New York Times, Houston Chronicle and Austin American Stateman are the best looking, in my opinion.

Chicago and Los Angeles papers really should be much better given the size of those markets.

One thing that bugs me about the WaPo is the lack of new content during the day. I feel that although this site has good features, it’s a bit static.

[...] 2007 at 4:35 pm | In rural development, journalism, media, design, technology | The Bivings Report ranks the top 10 newspaper websites — and its a list with which I don’t have much [...]

[...] Read it in The Bivings Report. [...]

This is a good roundup of exemplary news site web design. However, IMHO, web design is counting for less and less on any site (especially news sites). What’s become more important is distribution via feeds and mobile, how easy it is for search engines to index content and people to find it, and the prominence and usability of engagement functions (such as comments).

Online media has progressed to a point where, especially for news, it’s really not about your site any more — it’s about effective distribution and engagement, and learning to adjust your business model and publishing strategy to roll with that trend.

I just wrote about a related theme today on Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits:
http://poynter.org/column.asp?.....aid=128519

Thanks,

- Amy Gahran

[...] Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites. Staff at the Bivings Report think these 10 — led by the New York Times — are the best out there. Top 10 lists are always debatable, but these choices seem to be solid, with lots of ideas worth stealing emulating. Note: The headline really should be: Top 10 U.S. Newspaper Websites. [...]

Amy – you should check out our newspaper report. We look at the tools newspapers are using to engage readers. This post is definitely more design-focused and anecdotal.

http://www.bivingsreport.com/2.....portunity/

Thanks, Todd. I’ve linkblogged that research on Contentious.com and I’ll look it over.

Did you cover distribution via feeds/mobile as well? That is, getting news orgs out of the mistaken mindset that it’s all about bringing people to their site?

- Amy Gahran

Amy – the study looked at both mobile and use of feeds.

Regarding feeds, lots of newspapers publish stuff via RSS, but always only partial information. The focus is on using the technology as a way of driving people back to to their site.

[...] Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites » The Bivings Report “As a follow-up to our research on newspaper websites that we published recently, we decided to break out a list of the best examples of “good” newspaper websites.” (tags: tidbits+fodder newspapers design) [...]

I would put the Wall Street Journal in the top ten. In print paper order, easy to navigate, great graphics.

[...] folks over at the Bivings Report have ranked the Austin American-Statesman’s website among their Top 10 Best Newspaper [...]

This local site just came out, http://www.mydesert.com. See what you think.

[...] The Houston Chronicle receives recognition for its website in this report by the Bivings Group. Notably, they’re in 4th place following the NY Times, Washington Post [...]

If you’re looking for a web site that still feels like a newspaper, it’s hard to do any better than the Seattle Times. I also like the Arizona Republic, simply because they throw lots of headlines on the home page.

[...] The Bivings Group rates newspaper websites throughout the land of free and comes up with a top ten list that includes the Knoxville News Sentinel and Nashville Tennessean at 6th and 9th respectively. [...]

JSonline, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is an awesome site. Surprised it isn’t in the top 10.

[...] to The Denver Post for making this list of the ten best newspaper websites. From the BivingsReport, “As a follow-up to our research [...]

[...] The Bivings Report ranked the top ten newspaper web sites in the United States. The Denver Post’s site (which I work hard on most every day) came in at number five. Five! Only the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and Houston Chronicle ranked higher. Check out what they wrote (I added links to the things they mentioned): Denver Post: The homepage of this site isn’t much to write home about, but registering with the site automatically gives you your own blog and your own photo gallery for uploading and sharing photos. When you add in some interesting political features, including a voter’s guide and a poll for picking candidates and combine that with alternative content views, internal and external bookmarking features, as well as links from stories to relevant materials, you’ve got all the ingredients necessary to build a great website. [...]

[...] Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites – The Bivings Report “As a follow-up to our research on newspaper websites that we published recently, we decided to break out a list of the best examples of “good” newspaper websites.” (tags: internet newspapers newspapersites webdesign ia) [...]

Very cool stuff here. The Lawrence (KS) Journal-World has an excellent site, in my opinion. What are your thoughts on worst designs? My two favorite papers, the Chicago Tribune and Kansas City Star, do not do their Web presence any service. The Trib’s redesign is beneath the quality of the paper, and you have to scroll 3/4 of the way down the Star’s site to find today’s news.

[...] Bivings Report just released it’s top 10 list of best newspaper websites topped by The New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today. But, [...]

It’s interesting that all ten of the best newspaper websites are from the U.S. Does this reflect the quality of U.S. newspaper websites over British ones or a confusion over the meaning of ‘best’?

I’m amazed for example that the Guardian isn’t in there.

Gazzer – good point. I’ll edit the post. These are best US websites. The list would look dramatically different if we included non-US papers.

I’m really surprised to not see the newly redesigned International Herald Tribune on this list: http://www.iht.com

It’s really clean and easy to read, the navigation “cloud” is interesting. I love how easy Search is to get to, and the video box on the right is cool. Plus, who doesn’t love big photos and big headlines on the article pages?

Check out the daily magazine site, OnMilwaukee.com: http://onmilwaukee.com/

Nice list with a few sites I hadn’t heard of among the usual heavy-hitters (NYT, WaPo).

If you’re going to look at international ones, the Guardian (guardian.co.uk) is probably one of the nicest-looking news websites I’ve ever seen. Goes to show what a strong grid and big fonts will do for appearances.

I second Alex’s nom of the Lawrence Journal-World (www2.ljworld.com). They have a very clean design and whoever did their weather icons in the header deserves a medal.

[...] Newspaper Web Sites List Interesting tidbit coming out of The Bivings Group: A subjective list of the “Top 10″ newspaper web [...]

The Fresno Bee is our life-line here in the San Joaquin Valley…we were delighted to learn that it is one of the nation’s top 10. Kudos to The Fresno Bee for its overall, interesting, and informative content.

Instead of “Top 10 Best newspaper websites,” would a more accurate title not be “Top 10 newspaper websites for newspapers above 100,000 in circlation”?

It seems an oddly print-centric and self-limiting aspect of the study to limit beforehand the web sites looked at to those whose print counterparts exceed 100,000 circulation.

David – ideally our study would look at a wider selection of papers but unfortunately we don’t have unlimited resources. We had to draw a line somewhere, and, since our goal was see how newspapers are adapting to the web, we decided to do so based on print circulation.

[...] Blivings Report on the “top 10 newspaper sites” has been getting a lot of attention, but I think it’s rather weak, and not just [...]

[...] The Bivings Group, a Washington, DC-based Internet communications firm released a list of the top 10 newspaper websites on their blog, The Bivings Report. They judged sites on their web features as well as design, [...]

[...] still other news, a local newspaper has made the top list for best online newspaper sites! The first place is the New York Times (no [...]

[...] este caso vemos los “mejores sitios” de medios de comunicación en papel, osea diarios de noticias, de habla [...]

[...] news that July ad sales for The New York Timesdropped 3.5 percent, The Bivings Report selected The Gray Lady as the best newspaper Web site using “design, aesthetics and general [...]

[...] Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites » The Bivings Report (tags: design news) [...]

[...] De volledige lijst. [...]

[...] interesting reports this week are linked in a way: a Bivings Report, which offers that group’s assessment of the 10 “best” newspaper si… along with a Nielsen report on the news sites that generate the most traffic. Assuming any validity [...]

[...] Os 10 melhores sites de jornais; [...]

[...] Layouts sprechen eine klare Sprache. Warum gerade diese Zeitungen in die Top 10 gewählt wurden? Auskünfte zur Bewertung und zur Rangfolge der Websites finden sich auf [...]

[...] Bivings Report had a cool blog entry on the top 10 newspaper designs in all of the land.  I’ve gotta say, the list looks pretty [...]

I am of course partial, but I sure like http://www.fredericknewspost.com/ A small Maryland paper.

[...] monitoring and digital solutions for newspaper companies, has posted a list which it calls the Top 10 Best Newspaper Websites on it’s blog. While the top 10 list is exclusively American and pretty anecdotal with no [...]

Would love to see an evaluation on top 10 best broadcast news sites.

I agrre with one fo the comments in this post http://www2.ljworld.com/ is a great little site. It has it all and does it so well! They had the clean white design of the big ones before the big ones.

I really like the spannish site http://www.elpais.es, great grids, great font work and great video and photo integration to the news.

I think that the nyt is overcrowded with info.

It’s funny that you praised the Denver Post’s website about the same time I ripped it:
http://andybosselman.blogspot......local.html

Media companies have a daunting task to keep up with so many formats. It’s nice to see the energy print publishers are putting in to their websites. Design is subjective so it’s hard to say which sites are absolutely perfect. Personally, I’m glad each site has it’s own personality. It lets us pick the sites that fit us best.

Scott–we previously did a shorter but similar review of TV websites. You can find it on The Bivings Report here:

http://www.bivingsreport.com/2.....f-the-web/

[...] Genevieve pretty much sums up the International Herald Tribune site in the comments from the original post:   I’m really surprised to not see the newly redesigned International Herald Tribune on [...]

[...] Dica de Thebivingsreport. [...]

We’re pleased because we were able to get Jay Small (knoxnews) to design our site, to be released to the public mid-September.

But neither Bivington nor Howard Owen, nor any other commenter has said anything about revenue, or even the best balance between reader-and-eye-friendly design and revenue. Aside from the New York Times article about Schibstedt in Norway, does anyone know of the list of the top ten newspaper web sites in terms of contributions to the bottom line?

[...] Şurada gazetelerin internet sayfalarını inceleyip en iyi gazete sitelerini sıralamışlar. Bunları sadece web özelliklerine göre değil, dizayn, estetik ve genel kullanılabilirlik özelliklerine göre incelemişler. Bu siteler sadece Amerika’daki gazetelerin en bilinen 100 tanesinin arasından seçilmiş. Liste şöyle: [...]

Sorry, I have to disagree about putting NYT at the top. It’s spaghetti navigation at its worst. They do great things, but their front page is a beast.

well well well i agree in most of a discussion.But desing is important too.
http://www.websites.design.com.au/

I find it a good local news site with the option to view a electronic version of the paper if you are a print subscriber. It would be nice to only get the electronic version only but hopefully that will come soon.

[...] November 1st, 2007 · No Comments O Newseum, museu interativo de notícias, disponibiliza diariamente capas originais digitalizadas dos principais jornais ao redor do mundo (inclusive vários brasileiros). Uma ferramenta muito importante para quem está fazendo monografia e/ou teses sobre a análise de capas e de discurso. Ferramenta muito útil. Mas atenção: as capas só estão disponíveis no dia em que são veiculadas. O site mantém um arquivo especial só para as edições de dias marcados por eventos com importância histórica (do ponto de vista dos americanos).Link: http://www.newseum.org/ E para quem gosta de planejamento gráfico vale à pena dar uma olhada no site do consultor de designer Mário Garcia, responsável pelo planejamento gráfico de cerca de 400 jornais em mais de 35 países.Ele é o proprietário do Mario Garcia Media Group, empresa voltada ao design de jornais, revistas e publicações eletrônicas com sede em Tampa, na Flórida.No site encontram-se notícias sobre o mundo do design na mídia norte-americana. A página oferece ainda uma agenda de eventos voltados à área e também publica dicas e idéias aos profissionais e indica livros. Link: http://www.mariogarcia.com/ The Bivings Group (TBG) é uma empresa de web-comunicação com sede em Washington, DC que desenvolve web-programas para corporações, associações comerciais, firmas de advocacia, políticos e outros. A empresa mantém um blog que pode ser útil para quem gosta de estar antenado com as últimas novidades em web design e na área de comunicação global. O The Bivings Report (TBR) traz notícias, pesquisas, análises do impacto da comunicação no mundo dos negócios. Eles publicaram recentemente uma lista dos dez melhores sites de jornais dos EUA. Os critérios variaram entre melhor apresentação, melhores propagandas, design, efeitos estéticos.Link: http://www.bivingsreport.com/2.....websites  [...]

[...] So, here the list I looked at first: The Bivings Report Top 10 [...]

[...] Här kommer en lite inspirationslänkar som olika medlemmar i designgruppen tog med sig. http://www.bivingsreport.com/2.....-websites/ http://design2-0.com/articles/.....brilliant/ [...]

You must see the newly designed Indystar.com, just released this week. as a user, a very innovative look at how to package news & info in a time-crunched world.

[...] yapmış, sonrasında ise bu araştırmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi çıkarmış. Liste hazırlanırken tasarım, estetik, kullanılabilirlik gibi kriterler baz [...]

[...] yapmış, sonrasında ise bu araştırmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi çıkarmış. Liste hazırlanırken tasarım, estetik, kullanılabilirlik gibi kriterler baz [...]

[...] yapmış, sonrasında ise bu araştırmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi çıkarmış. Liste hazırlanırken tasarım, estetik, kullanılabilirlik gibi kriterler baz [...]

[...] bir ara?t?rma yapm??, sonras?nda ise bu ara?t?rmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi ç?karm??. Liste haz?rlan?rken tasar?m, estetik, kullan?labilirlik gibi kriterler baz [...]

[...] yapmış, sonrasında ise bu araştırmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi çıkarmış. Liste hazırlanırken tasarım, estetik, kullanılabilirlik gibi kriterler baz [...]

[...] yapmış, sonrasında ise bu araştırmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi çıkarmış. Liste hazırlanırken tasarım, estetik, kullanılabilirlik gibi kriterler baz [...]

Turkiye’nin de kaliteli haber siteleri mevcuttur.

[...] yapmış, sonrasında ise bu araştırmada yer alan haber sitelerinden en iyi 10 listesi çıkarmış. Liste hazırlanırken tasarım, estetik, kullanılabilirlik gibi kriterler baz alınmış. [...]

What was the criteria for your choices? It seems like you only chose the major publications. There are many “newspapers” online that are also excellent websites…

i prefer NY times the most

I like NY times:)

the sun is better

Great list.

good***shoes**forking***com

Those were good site but i just came across one really good ‘the st.john’s Telegram’ or the ‘telegram for short. check it out it’s pretty good!

[...] Before I joined Twitter, I was your typical girl that knew nothing about what was going on in the news unless I heard it from someone I knew. I really had no interest in going out of my way to go on [...]

I think time of India is also excellent newspaper in the country of India..!

[...] via bivingsreport.com [...]

[...] via bivingsreport.com [...]

[...] via bivingsreport.com [...]

[...] via bivingsreport.com [...]

[...] via bivingsreport.com [...]