You could read an online newspaper as early as July 1, 1980. All a reader needed was a computer, such as an Apple II or the TRS-80 desktop model, and a modem with access to the online CompuServe dial-up service.
The first newspaper to go online was The Columbus Dispatch. It was part of a unique CompuServe and Associated Press experiment about the potential of online papers. Eventually other AP member newspapers were part of the project, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, the Los Angeles Times, The
Virginian-Pilot, The Middlesex News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The experiment ended in 1982.