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Internet doesn't replace traditional news outlets, survey finds

Pew survey finds online sources complementing more than replacing traditional outlets

The Internet and mobile technologies have been a big focus for agencies looking to get the word out on their programs, services, alerts and other news, but a recent survey suggests they shouldn’t give up on traditional channels just yet.

A survey taken in June by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press of 3,006 adults found that the average time people spent consuming news in a day rose from 67 minutes in 2006-2008 to 70 minutes this year, and they’re getting more of it online, although perhaps not as much more as you might think. The survey asked people how much time they had spent with news the previous day and which outlets they used.

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Click for larger image. Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

About the Author

Kevin McCaney is the executive editor of GCN. Follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCaney.

Reader Comments

Thu, Sep 30, 2010 Gimme a break...

"News" as we know it today is an invention of the television age... and it's passing. Most of what passes as news is gossip, and the rest isn't really important because it doesn't affect us day-to-day. The only reason I get a newspaper at all is for the coupons on Sunday, and I rarely watch local news on TV. To be an informed voter, I need only scan headlines (wire services, newspaper stands, yahoo news) once a week... anything I miss wasn't worth worrying about anyway. As for putting down blogs; it is better to get your information from someone who cares to write about it, than from someone who has to show how it will sell their paper!

Thu, Sep 23, 2010

No free online-only news portal makes enough money to hire reporters on their own. All these kids who turn their nose up at dead-tree newspapers will be in for a rude shock when the few remaining real newspapers go under- their on-line portals won't have anything but blog content to deliver. TV news operations aren't doing much better, and a lot of them have fewer reporters now as well, and spend a lot of time reading stories from the wire services.

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