Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Source In 2008
Dec 26th, 2008 | By James Lewin | Category: Podcasting Research, Podcasting Statistics 
The internet has surpassed all other media, except television, as a main source for national and international news.
According to Pew Research, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news, at 70%.
The future looks dim for television and newspapers.Â
For young people, though, the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. 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.Â
The percentage of people younger than 30 citing television as a main news source has declined from 68% in September 2007 to 59% currently. This mirrors a trend seen earlier this year in campaign news consumption. (See “Internet Now Major Source of Campaign News,” News Interest Index, Oct. 31, 2008.)
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 3-7 among 1,489 adults, finds there has been little change in the individual TV news outlets that people rely on for national and international news. Nearly a quarter of the public (23%) says they get most of their news from CNN, while 17% cite Fox News; smaller shares mention other cable and broadcast outlets.
“The future looks dim for television and newspapers. ”
It’s way too early to say that TV is in trouble, especially when they’re so far ahead of the Internet. And TV still had as many in ’07 as ’01. The Internet is on the rise but TV seems to be flatlined. And the ’08 drop could be a statistical abnomally caused by many things. It’s still faster to turn on a TV to get news than to turn on a computer and load up the website. Only newspapers show a real drop, but newpapers have been suffering since TV came about, since they couldn’t keep up with the speed of the news. Now it seems the cost of producing the paper may not be worthwhile anymore.