Are you a news addict like me? For me, it’s essential to know what’s been happening in New Zealand and in every corner of the world, every single day. And yet I don’t read a newspaper (aside from the occasional Sunday news with tea and toast).

So what’s the story? Well, I read the news online. It’s updated almost instantly, is archived from previous days, shows links to related news stories, and best of all, it’s free! See my earlier post for proof that I love a free lunch.

While it’s good news that Kiwis are a media savvy bunch (with 80% reading a newspaper at least once a week), the bad news is that the 750,000 daily newspapers we read are gobbling up over 640 trees every day. While newspapers are fully recyclable, many end up in our landfills. So, not only is online news up to date and full of features, it’s good for the earth.

For a daily news fix online, my choice is Stuff, where you can read a collection of top national, world, sport, business and entertainment stories. Stuff also allows you to view the day’s stories from your own local paper and is quick to update the site with breaking news stories. For more independent news and indepth political analysis, try Scoop, a self-professed “fiercely independent” online news resource.

Around the world, papers are struggling to retain readers as more and more people head online to read the news. While that’s not-so-good news for media organisations and print advertisers, newspapers going online has been great news for readers and for the environment.