A  new report from Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds that the internet has surpassed newspapers as the leading source of national and international news in the U.S.

This is probably not hugely surprising to anyone on this site, though I suspect many people would be surprised that in 2007  (see chart, below)  newspapers held such a big lead over the Web. 

The trend is one reason why newspapers for the past few years have been intentionally — and wisely — repositioning themselves as  sources of local and regional news. They recognize that readers have many more sources for national and international news, and their local newspaper is no longer in that mix.

However, one of the frustrating things about this kind of research is that it doesn’t shed much light on what people do want from their local newspapers, TV stations and websites. From a business point of view, a newspaper or TV station ought to be able to offset declining usage in traditional media by effectively positioning themselves to capture increased usage in new media. Unfortunately, most of the national research on news usage tends to focus, as Pew’s does, on national/global news topics and trends.

The real challenge for local media is to undestand how local people are using the web for local information, and then, in Gretzky-like fashion, skate to where that puck will be.