From: cnsnews.com
The Internet has risen to its all-time high as a primary source of
news for Americans with 43 percent now saying they get most of
their news on national and international issues from the web, according
to a survey published Thursday by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press.
Meanwhile, television sits at an all-time low as a primary source of
news for Americans with only 66 percent now saying they get most of
their national and international news from TV--a nadir television also
hit in December 2010.
Since 1991, Pew has periodically asked Americans: “How do you get most of your news about national and international issues?”
In this survey, respondents are allowed to give up to two answers.
(So, a person can cite both television and the Internet, or television
and radio, or newspapers and television, etc., as the places where they
get most of their news--and the combined percentages for the various
sources can add up to more than 100 percent).
In the two decades Pew has been tracking this trend in American news
sources, television peaked as the primary source of news for Americans
at the time s of the September 2001 terrorist attacks, when 90 percent
said they got most of their news from TV. Television nearly returned to
that level in March 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, and September
2005, during Hurricane Katrina. At both those times, 89 percent said
they got most of their national and international news from TV.
However, during normal news times--when there was not a major act of
war or natural disaster--TV hit its apex in January 1996, when 88
percent said it was the place they got most of their national and
international news.
The Internet first appeared in Pew’s survey of news
sources in January 1999, when 6 percent said the web was where they got
most of their news about national and international issues.
Overall, in Pew’s latest survey, 66 percent said television was their
primary source for national and international news, 43 percent said the
Internet, 31 percent said newspapers, 19 percent said radio, 3 percent
said magazines, and 4 percent said it was another source.
