The University of Michigan's school of business helps oversee the creation of a U.S. customer satisfaction index with industries and services, and then indexes it to permit quarterly comparisons. It is a limited survey, but an interesting indication of consumer tastes and preferences.


Its latest indicates news sites online are generally appreciated but not necessarily increasingly so. Newspapers themselves have fairly strong ratings, but search engines are clearly enjoyed.


The data suggests a 74-per-cent satisfaction level with online newspapers it covered, down about 1.3 points. The survey covered the sites for USA Today, ABC News, CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times.


Newspapers themselves had a 63-per-cent satisfaction rating, down 1.6 points in the last year.


As for the supremely satisfying service, look no further than Google, which enjoys an 86 per cent rating (compared to 83 per cent for the industry of search engines and portals).