Monday, March 1, 2010

Pew: Internet surpasses newspapers, radio for news

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.

By Cecilia Kang | March 1, 2010; 12:00 AM ET