Online News Overtakes Print Journalism

Posted by Tana Ganeva, AlterNet at 4:44 PM on January 5, 2009.

Bad news for print publishing, good news for us: a Pew Research Center report has found that more people now get their news from the Internet than from newspapers:

Currently, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers (35%).

Television still holds the top spot; I guess people have trouble letting go of the authorative daddy-figures that reign over the nightly news (although to be fair, political and news shows are also competing by featuring fresh, smart voices like Rachel Maddow).

The report also found that that TV’s numbers have dropped significantly among younger media consumers:

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. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied mostly on television for news than mentioned the internet (68% vs. 34%).

 

Tagged as: research, internet, television, pew, print journalism