• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 5, 2008

News and media sites are benefiting from a surge of interest in the primaries and a fresh wave of celebrity news, according to data collected by Hitwise, which tracks a variety of Web trends, including Web site visits and popular search terms. The week ending February 23 saw visits to Web sites in Hitwise's news and media category increase 22% compared to the same week in 2007.

The upswing especially benefited Web sites for print publications, including online portals for magazines and newspapers. The New York Times Web site was the winner in the print category, taking 5% of total visits--a 50% increase in visits over last year. It was followed by People.com, with 3%, and The Washington Post, with 2%.

New York magazine got a huge boost from its photo spread casting Lindsay Lohan as Marilyn Monroe, which spurred a 336% increase in its market share.

Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise, noted that "although the battle for the presidential nominations is certainly top of mind for many, celebrity news provides a refuge for less-heated debates."