This is a report from the Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism. Note: This is always available on our webiste under “News Index" which takes you to the journalism.org website.A new PEW reports shows 26% of Americans get news on their cell phones. They are typically white males, median age 34, who have graduated from college and are employed full-time. Overall, cell users under age 50 are almost three times as likely as their older counterparts to get news on their cell phones (43% v. 15%).
The overwhelming majority of Americans (92%) use multiple platforms to get their daily news.
And the internet is now the third most-popular news platform. It falls behind local and national television news and ahead of national print newspapers, local print newspapers and radio. Still, the overall reality is that the internet fits into a broad pattern of news consumption by Americans.
Six in ten (59%) get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day.
Just 7% of American adults get their daily news from a single media platform, and those who do typically rely on either the internet or local television news.
“Americans have become news grazers both on and offline – but within limits,” says Amy Mitchell , Deputy Director for The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, “They generally don’t have one favorite website but also don’t search aimlessly. Most online news consumers regularly draw on just a handful of different sites.”
The internet and mobile technologies are at the center of the story of how people’s relationship to news is changing. In today’s new multi-platform media environment, people’s relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized, and participatory:
Portable: 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
Personalized: 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
Participatory: 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
The rise of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience for consumers; people use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news. They also use traditional email and other tools to swap stories and comment on them.
These findings form the centerpiece of a new report from the Pew Research Center ’s Internet & American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism aimed at understanding today’s news environment and the “new” news consumer. The report is based on a national telephone survey of 2,259 adults ages 18 and older.
“News awareness is becoming an anytime, anywhere, any device activity for those who want to stay informed,” argued Kristen Purcell, Associate Director for Research at the Pew Research Center ’s Internet & American Life Project. “We see new segments of avid news consumers built around those who have set up news alerts and those who are eager to be part of the news-creation and news-commentary environment.”
Other main findings:
Six in ten American adults (61%) get news online on a typical day, and 71% of Americans get news online at least occasionally.
Getting news is an important social act. Some 72% of American news consumers say they follow the news because they enjoy talking with others about what is happening in the world and 69% say keeping up with the news is a social or civic obligation. Moreover, among those who get news online, 75% get news forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites and 52% share links to news with others via those means.
When getting news online, Americans use just a handful of news sites and do not have a favorite. The majority of online news consumers (57%) routinely rely on just two to five websites for their news, and only 35% have a favorite.
Portal websites like Google News, AOL and Topix are the most commonly used online news sources, visited by over half of online news users (56%) on a typical day. Also faring well are the sites of traditional news organizations with an offline presence, such as CNN, BBC and local or national newspapers. Age, political party and ideology all affect an individual’s preference for particular online news sources.
The 26% of Americans who get news on their cell phones are typically white males, median age 34, who have graduated from college and are employed full-time. Overall, cell users under age 50 are almost three times as likely as their older counterparts to get news on their cell phones (43% v. 15%).
mericans have mixed feelings about the current news environment. Over half (55%) say it is easier to keep up with news and information today than it was five years ago, but 70% feel the amount of news and information available from different sources is overwhelming.
Americans also have mixed feelings about the quality of news today. Just under two-thirds (63%) agree with statement that “major news organizations do a good job covering all of the important news stories and subjects that matter to me.” Yet 71% also agree that “most news sources today are biased in their coverage.”
This report is based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between December 28, 2009, and January 19, 2010, among a sample of 2,259 adults, 18 and older, who were contacted on landline and cell phones. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. For results based internet users (n=1,675) and “online news users” (N= 1,582), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
Here's my two cents on this survey. It's accurate and reflects what I've witnessed. When I was still news editor, getting news on the web took precedence over everything. Our system was set up to flag the copy desk when stories were posted on the web. A copy editor would pick it up asap unless an editor came over and directed that person to edit it immediately. So copy editing was secondary to publishing. After I retired, practically the entire copy editing staff (only 4 of about 35 survived) was laid off. So you tell me. Was/is copy editing important? As for how I get my news: multiple sources. Quick and dirty on my BlackBerry, surf the net on my netbook and laptop, and subscribe (for news context) to several news mags and the Sunday NYTimes. Don't take the local paper I once worked for 'cause I'm pissed at how it's handled its people and the precipitous decline in quality and coverage. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteLarry's description of the dropping importance of copy editing (sub-editing) is mirrored in many other newsrooms, alas.
ReplyDeleteAn another note: the media access scene would be different if PEW surveyed overseas. For instance, the mobile phone audience would be much higher. Here in the United Arab Emirates, where I work, the saturation rate for mobile phone devices is 200%, the world's highest. Other Arabic countries are similarly high. My students get almost all their news via their Blackberry. And yet, have you seen how mainstream media's news feeds look when viewed by BB??? Most are jibberish and difficult to read. (Just try to get the ABJ news on your Blackberry.) The mainstream news media haven't tapped into this market. I can tell you, however, that many information providers in the Arabic world have learned very well how to tap into the mobile phone device audience.