-
Why Doesn’t Obama Ban Iranian Press TV? by Kenneth R. Timmerman
The Case of CH2M HILL: $2 Billion in Crony Stimulation by Rusty Weiss
The Truth about George Soros by AIM Staff
Lifting the Veil on WikiLeaks by AIM Staff
The Truth about Al-Jazeera English by Cliff Kincaid
Reaganomics and Obamanomics in the Media and in Reality by Malcolm A. Kline, Don Irvine and Spencer Irvine
How State Budget Battles Could Mean More Criminals Back on the Streets by Michael Tremoglie
Radical Muslims, Environmentalists and the Green Jihad by Mark Musser
Russian-Backed Propaganda Networks Claim Obama is a CIA Agent by Cliff Kincaid
Media Conceal True Nature of Flash Mob Racial Violence by John T. Bennett
NBC’s Mitchell Should Resign Over Telling Gaddafi’s Lies (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by Cliff Kincaid
CASA de Maryland: The Illegals’ ACORN by James Simpson
Special Report
The Newswire
Take AIM Podcast
A new study released by the Pew Internet and Life Project shows that the internet has surpassed radio and newspapers as a news source for for Americans,
From the Washington Post
Americans are turning to the Internet for their news more than newspapers and the radio, according to a study released Monday by the Pew Internet & Life Project.
They are getting their news from multiple sources such as Internet news and social networking sites and local and national television. And they are getting news in many different ways, including mobile phones, according to the survey.
The Pew’s extensive report “Understanding the Participatory News Consumer” dives deep into the media habits of people, who have significantly altered the way they get and share information because of the Internet.
The findings come ahead of a roundtable discussion March 9-10 hosted by the Federal Trade Commission on the future of journalism. It’s the agency’s second event exploring the future of journalism as traditional news outlets struggle to survive with business models disrupted by the free flow of information on the Internet.
Sixty percent of respondents to Pew’s survey said they get news through the Web. The most popular news sources are national and local television news followed by the Web, newspapers and radio. But that’s continuing to change, according to the report.
“The days of loyalty to a particular news organization on a particular piece of technology in a particular form are gone,” according to Pew. Sixty-five percent of respondents said they don’t have a single favorite site for news. About half of respondents get news from four to six platforms in a single day.
“The process Americans use to get news is based on foraging and opportunism. They seem to access news when the spirit moves them or they have a chance to check up on headlines,” Pew wrote.
As such, the report described the consumption of news as “portable, personalized and participatory.”
- 33 percent get news from mobile phones.
- 28 percent have a customized home page with news feeds.
- 37 percent have posted, linked, shared or commented on news stories on Facebook and other social networking sites.
The finding highlights the remarkable rise of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in the consumption and spread of information. Facebook surpassed Google in traffic last January, according to Compete, a firm that analyzes traffic patterns. With 500 million users (the populations of the U.S., Japan and Mexico combined), it’s also pushing out more traffic to portals and news links than any other source on the Web.
Americans have grown accustomed to immediacy and the internet along with Facebook and Twitter specifically concise news or updates for a society that is constantly on the go.
It’s just another sign that the future of the printed page is bleak and that radio is losing out to iPods and other devices that provide portability without commercial interruption.
Share This
About the author
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.
We’ve always assumed that news and media outlets exercised some degree responsibility and objectivity in disseminating their products. There is a significant concern on the part of many that accuracy and objectivity may have gone out of the window.
I’m not quite sure that it will make a difference. Those interested in accuracy and objectivity will probably still demand such in the future. Those not, will not, and will simply seek their info from those disseminating what they want to hear or read.
After the shakeout, responsible citizens seeking accurate info will still acquire it from some carefully selected source.