Small sites trump big media on Web

As news surges on the Web, news giants are being outmaneuvered by smaller sites that have passionate audiences and sharply focused information. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/business/media/news-consumption-tilts-toward-niche-sites.html

NTY - Like newspapers, portals like AOL and Yahoo are confronting the cold fact that there is less general interest in general interest news. Readers have peeled off into verticals of information — TMZ for gossip, Politico for politics and Deadspin for sports, and so on.

Part of the problem is the result of a fundamental shift in Web behavior. Media stalwarts erected a frame around the Web and organized, and sometimes produced, content. Now the frame around content is the Web browser itself, and consumers do their own programming and are more inclined to see news consumption as a kind of voting, selecting smaller brands that reflect their sensibilities.