TV remains top source of news even as online grows

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NYT/AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online, but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to a survey released Sunday. Not surprisingly, younger people tend to get more of their news on the Internet, while older folks use traditional media such as television and newspapers, the Pew Research Center's biannual survey on news consumption habits said.

Pew said the results show an increasing shift toward online news consumption, but that there is now a sizable group of a more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use both traditional and online sources to get their news. The Pew researchers referred to these people as ''integrators,'' and says they account for 23 percent of those surveyed, spending the most time with the news on a typical day....It is this group that advertisers typically like to target, which helps explain why newspaper publishers have seen sharp declines in ad revenues as spending shifts online.

Pew found that the largest group of news consumers -- 46 percent of those polled -- have a ''heavy reliance'' on television for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest, with a median age of 52, and least affluent, with 43 percent unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online for news.

Overall, among those who get some of their news from TV, fewer are watching the 6:30 broadcast network newscasts, and instead opting for cable news sources such as CNN or Fox News Channel. CNN's audience is now majority Democratic, while 39 percent of Fox News viewers are Republicans, 33 percent Democrats, with the remainder independent or didn't specify....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-News-Consumption-Survey.html?_r=1&oref=login

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I wouldn't have guessed this...

"CNN's audience is now majority Democratic"

They better watch their asses with biased reporting, or they'll drive even more people online.

[PSPS]

2. As far as I know, there is no "news" on teevee anymore. Only infotainment.

[ronnie624]

7. My thought, exactly.

"...but that there is now a sizable group of a more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use both traditional and online sources to get their news."

Anyone who believes they are getting news and information from cable media could not possibly be described as "engaged" and "sophisticated".

[Webster Green]

3. That ain't news..

It's fascist propaganda. Has been for years. :smoke:

[flying_wahini]

10. agree 100% everything with AP is suspect, in my book.

n/t

[AndyTiedye]

4. If That is Really True, Then We Are Fucked

[chelsea0011]

5. This is a sorry ass shame. There is no way the TV news entertainment

business could ever cover a story the way a newspaper or magazine does. It is why the talk show nazis want listeners to believe that the paper press, especially the liberal NYT, are full of bias BS. They need to keep their listeners ignorant.

[happygoluckytoyou]

6. McCain gets his news from the drumbeats in his head

[timtom]

8. I truly believe the internet frightens and confuses people.

And it's not specific to age, gender, or intelligence. It's like talent or musical inclination -- it's there, or it's not.

[provis99]

9. only 39 percent of FoxNews viewers are Republicans?

So basically, this is saying that 61% of FoxNews viewers basically watch it for laughs.