Pew Research: INTERNET OVERTAKES NEWSPAPERS AS NEWS SOURCE (US)

Happy New Year, everyone! I would like to start off 2009 on a positive note. So this article from Guardian.co.uk seems appropriate - with the title:

"Web overtakes newspapers as source of news in US survey"

Here are some interesting bits from there:

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For the first time, more Americans are getting their news online than from traditional ink and paper, although the popularity of television still eclipses all other forms of media. In an apparently sharp shift in habits, the Washington-based Pew Research Centre found that the number of consumers using the web as a main news source surged from 24% to 40% in a year, overtaking the 35% who rely on newspapers. Television slipped from 74% to 70%... ... Sree Sreenivasan, a new media professor at Columbia Journalism School in New York, said: "The problem is that advertising dollars from newspapers are being replaced by digital pennies."
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Sounds great!!! Except for the "pennies" part. Digital is at least Nickels now! And if you need a soundbite, "Digital dimes" sounds good to me.


Pew's actual release is here and there is some very interesting info as well:

On the right is a nice little chart that Pew has that reach back into 2001 with data about "Where do you get most of your National and International News?"

• Television,
• Internet, or
• Newspaper

(Note that this is all US market based)

A "full report" in PDF is available here as well as the Topline Questionnaire.



Pew Research Center also notes:
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For young people, however, the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online; an identical percentage cites television.
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Now in the Asian context, I would think the gap the internet has beaten newspapers probably last year (depends on which country of course).

And this is probably led by those under 40. Many of us still buy physical newspapers or read it at the office, but "most of your news"? That's the web. I mean - I pick up the newspaper may be twice a week, whereas I go onto news sites every day, several times a day.

Then there's news from blogs... like this...

Here's wishing you all a great 2009!