The British public will never turn to the internet as their first choice for news, according to a survey carried out among more than 1,000 adults.

While general news online gets the thumbs down, the poll is more optimistic for the future of business news. Just under 20% of those surveyed said the internet is a better way to receive news that the conventional trade press.

Just under 70% of those questioned said TV news was their primary source of general news while 11% turned to national newspapers.

The survey also found that just 1% of the sample currently views the internet as their most important source of news.

The survey was commissioned by the business news provider just-sites.com and, not surprisingly, the site believes the poll is evidence that the real opportunities online lie in business news.

'The British public is in no rush to switch to news on the internet, leaving the plans for some high-profile news sites looking distinctly threadbare,' said Allan Davies, CEO of just-sites.com.

He says the results call into question the 'high levels of investment being made in many consumer-orientated web news services'.

The survey also found that only 3% of people would consider paying for a subscription to an online title.

Last month the University of California released the results of a survey that showed that 67% of US internet users consider it an important or extremely important source of information, ranking it ahead of Radio, TV and magazines. See Internet beats TV as information source.

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