From what source do you enjoy the news?

Read an 8/21/08 article from the AP By JEREMY HERRON which quoted a survey claiming that TV remains the top source of news even as online news grows. The Pew Research Center's biannual study also confirms that fewer Americans are reading newspapers.

So how does this all shake out? The younger you are, the more you tend to get your news on the Web. The older you are, the more likely you use traditional media such as TV and newspapers.

The Pew survey also shows that while there's a significant shift toward the use of online news, there's a large group of more engaged, sophisticated, affluent and highly educated people that use both traditional and online sources to get the news. Researchers refer to this group as "integrators," who spend the most time with the news on average.

This is the group that advertisers typically target which definitely helps explain why newspapers have seen ad revenues plummet as the spending shifts online.

Of those polled: 46% have a "heavy reliance" on TV for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest (average age 52) and least affluent, with 43% unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online for news.

Of those polled: 13% rely on the Internet for news. This is the youngest group (average age 35). 80% of this group is college educated and twice as likely to read an online newspaper than a print newspaper.

Of those polled: 25% say they go to an Internet site for news at least three times per week, up from 18% just 2 years ago.

Of those polled: 11% with just a high school education go online for news while 44% of college graduates surveyed say they read news online every day.

Of those who get some news from TV, most are opting for cable news such as CNN or Fox News Channel.

Readership of newspapers (those surveyed who said they read a newspaper the day before) has dropped to 34% from 40% just 2 years ago.

This new youth group and the shift among integrators to online news sources has led to this decline. The same trend is reflected in print newspaper circulation figures.

The scariest part of this survey? About 1/3rd of those 25 and under said they get NO NEWS on a typical day, UP FROM 25% in 1998. That's a trend going the WRONG WAY!


NOTE: The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. It polled 3,615 adults 18 years or older by telephone between April 30 and June 1, 2008 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.