Study: Internet becoming primary news source

[TexasStooge]

By TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News

The Internet is becoming a primary source of news for many Americans, particularly for younger users.

A Pew Internet & American Life Project report released this afternoon said that 50 million Americans obtain news online on an average day. Among the heaviest Internet users, 71 percent go online for news, compared to 59 percent who watch local TV news and less than 40 percent who turn to local newspapers.

The predilection for online news rather than traditional media is particularly strong among those age 35 and younger, the report’s principal author, John B. Horrigan, said.

“Historically, Americans under the age of 36 are generally less likely to follow current events than older Americans, but the presence of an ‘always on’ broadband connection pulls some of them to the news,” said Mr. Horrigan, associate director for research at the Pew project.

“For many of these young broadband users, the Internet is their ‘main course’ for news and they don’t always eat their vegetables or order dessert in the form of using other media,” Mr. Horrigan said.

By comparison, older consumers with high-speed broadband connections are using online news to supplement their other forms of news. Broadband users as a rule watch less local TV news than consumers with slower dial-up connections.

The Pew report credited the growth of the faster broadband connections for fueling the rapid increase in news consumption online, particularly for people who use the Internet extensively. While dial-up connections can usually provide the same content, the long wait for downloads discourages many from extensive news browsing.

“The broadband difference is now permeating the news environment,” Mr. Horrigan said. “High-powered Internet users are heavily into other media sources as well, but the preeminent place of online news suggests that it shapes their offline information choices in an important way.”

[alicia-w]

i hate it when you pay for a newspaper subscription that has three day old news in it. thank goodness for technology!