Is the internet about to take over? How using online news is related to offline news consumption patterns

In the ongoing debate on the role of the Internet in public discourse, it is often assumed that online news fundamentally changes mass communication. But is there a relationship between online news use and a differentiation in overall news consumption patterns? The results of a large-scale survey conducted in the Netherlands suggest that online news use does not substantially alter patterns of offline media use: People turn to both online and offline news in order to obtain a broad news overview, background information and news updates. Exposure to online news for these three purposes is actually associated with an increased use of offline sources. As these effects persist after controlling for sociodemographics, personality traits and political attitudes, we argue that online news rather offer new opportunities to keep in touch with the news than that they encourage people to abandon traditional forms of mass communication.