Newseum website gets record hits

Editor & Publisher reports that traffic to the Newseum's Web site was more than doubled in the week after Election Day, prompted by the heavy interest in Page One images on Nov. 5 proclaiming the victory by Barack Obama.

"It is definitely the busiest week we've ever had," said Paul Sparrow, vice president for broadcasting and education at the news museum. "The average of the time spent on the site also jumped to 11-and-a-half minutes per visit, up from the usual eight-and-a-half minutes."

Sparrow said the Web site, which posts hundreds of front-page images daily, set a new daily record on Nov. 5 with 229,000 visitors, well above the daily average of 58,000.

In the seven days following Election Day, some 919,300 visitors logged on to the site, more than doubling the 406,000 weekly average. He also said the site posted images of 700 dailies for the first time.