Online journalism is defined as the reporting of facts when produced and distributed via the Internet.

As of 2009, audiences for online journalism continue to grow. In 2008, for the first time, more Americans reported getting their national and international news from the internet, rather than newspapers, and audiences to news sites continued to grow due to the launch of new news sites, continued investment in news online by conventional news organizations, and the continued growth in internet audiences overall, with new people discovering the internet's advantages for convenience, speed and depth.

However, the professional online news industry is increasingly gloomy about its financial future. Prior to 2008, the industry had hoped that publishing news online would prove lucrative enough to fund the costs of conventional newsgathering. In 2008, however, online advertising began to slow down, and little progress was made towards development of new business models. The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism describes its 2008 report on the State of the News Media, its sixth, as its bleakest ever.

Rupert Murdoch's article Journalism and Freedom appeared in The Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Journal on 8 December 2009.Journalism and Freedom was adapted from a speech given by Murdoch (Chairman and CEO of News Corporation) at the Federal Trade Commission's Workshop on Journalism and the Internet, held on 1 December 2009. In this article Murdoch discusses his views on Government involvement in the press in the form of subsidies, the outdated '20th century business models' of newspapers which rely on advertising revenues and the detrimental effects these have on creators of established news content and the newspaper industry as a whole. He also argues that government funding compromises independent journalism and is a greater threat to competitive and unbiased press than digital technologies are. Also discussed is the impact of internet search engines and open content news material available online and new methods and models of content delivery portal electronic devices and media ( e-readers, smart phones, laptops) and how this will affect delivery of news content in the future. The debate surrounding Journalism and Freedom has focused on the threat of new technologies, and the role that they play in the decline of traditional newspapers. Murdoch does not blame new technologies for the decline of newspapers, rather the lack of regulation which allows journalists content to be used without payment. He sees the opportunities technologies can bring, creating a much wider audience for newspapers. "The future of journalism is more promising than ever—limited only by editors and producers unwilling to fight for their readers and viewers, or government using its heavy hand either to over-regulate or subsidize us". Opinions have also been voiced concerning government interventions and the suitability of these as a way of rescuing the industry. Other revenue and business models have been proposed as an alternative to existing ones, as traditional models are failing.