I liked this article, especially because you gave precise numbers which makes it very interesting.
I agree with you that the written newspapers have a declining influence overall. However I think it is difficult to compare newspapers (called old media in the article) and blogs/websites (new media) because they have different aims and are two completely different kind of media :
1) The main goals of written newspapers is informing while blogs have more specific topics.
Written newspapers inform on every topic, wether international news, cultural news, sport, weather, local news etc. .They are thus read by almost every kind of people, and the main goal of those who read them is to be
informed, but generally not about a specific topic. So of course, referrals links from a very general media toward a specialised blog like stevepavlina.com aren't so efficient in generating traffic.
2)advertisement from a type of media to another doesn't work so well.
People reading a website are probably more enclined to read another website. That's why digg.com generates lots of traffic for another site like StevePavlina.com, because readers of websites naturally tend to like websites.
On the opposite, imagine digg.com advertising for a written newspaper, that might not be as efficient in generating new readers than it is for others websites.
But if a newspaper advertise for another newspaper, that might prove to be efficient. (although I have absolutely no proof for that, it is just a guess.)
My final point is about the oldest media, which I think is still the most efficient in terms of value for readers, content creation and influence (number of people reached) : BOOKS.
To me nothing is better than printed books, even if it is the oldest media of all (papyrus doesn't count). This is where I find the best and most serious content whatever the topic. I feel it is even more powerful than blogging, although it has its downsides (it is expensive). Who knows, maybe Steve Pavlina is going to be much more famous in the world once millions of copies of the book
Personnal Developement For Smart People are sold.
