Swapping readership - UK readers turned to US news during war

According to a report from newmediazero, UK news-junkies turned to US sites to get information on the Iraq conflict.

During the war US news sites performed highly with cnn.com enjoying "a 96% increase in [UK] users to 912,603 a month. Similarly, news.google.com saw a rise of 79% to [UK] 422,418 monthly users", the article said.

UK sites also did well, with BBC News the most accessed with March readership at 4,023,977 - up by 29%.

Many web analysts reported on the trend for US readers to favour UK websites for information gathering during the war, with readers preferring the more open style of the UK media. So it seems there's been somewhat of a swap in transatlantic readership. Reports from Nielsen//NetRatings show the increases from both sides of the pond:

• Britons turn to the web for war coverage online
  
• CNN.com audience doubles as Europeans look overseas for Iraq War coverage
  
• American web surfers boost traffic to foreign news sites