Transition and upheaval: Readers switch from newspapers to Web news sites.

This thesis provides an examination of the impact of the switch by news readers from print newspapers to news Web sites and other digital news media. The method is qualitative research in the form of a series of in-person interviews with top level editors at nine large national and regional U.S. newspapers. The consensus of the editors interviewed is that the rise of online news is a primary cause of the shrinkage of print news readership. Further, they agreed that print newspaper readership will continue to decline. Finally, most of the editors concluded that---although it presents opportunities---the impact of the transition has often been devastating and has added to the crisis in the American newspaper industry