January 5, 2011

"The Internet is now the main national and international news source for people ages 18 to 29..."

"In 2010, 65% of people younger than 30 cited the Internet as their go-to source for news, nearly doubling from 34% in 2007. The number who consider television as their main news source dropped from 68% to 52% during that time."

Good lord, I can't believe the switch over to the internet is going so slowly. Who on earth is watching TV news? I'm checking out the internet all day long, and I never watch TV news. And I'm nearly 60 (I say on the 7th day of my countdown to age 60).

38 comments:

Gahrie said...

ditto

cubanbob said...

I'm pushing 55 and the net has been my principal source for news since the 90's.

Scott M said...

You are nearly 60...and you run a daily blog. What slice of that age group do you think you represent?

That's not meant as a slam, quite the opposite. I'm just saying astonishment isn't all that called for.

I don't think their results would have been that different if they would have included Gen X'rs either. Everyone I know in my age group is an avid internet user and most of them have smartphones.

Margaret Ball said...

I see that 60 and raise you 3 years...I'm 63 and the Internet has been my principal news source ever since I discovered that the New York Times buries or distorts news they don't like. (OK, some of us retain our illusions for an indecently long time. What can I say? I wasn't paying attention.)

Michael K said...

I'm 73 and haven't subscribed to a paper except the WSJ for ten years. I used to read five papers a day but that was 20 years ago. By 1994, most of my information came from the old text internet via Archie and Veronica.

Of course, I was a programmer in 1959. By 1987, I had a PC on my desktop in the office. I would sit patients down and show them how to search the national library of medicine, now PubMed. I would find articles for them and print them off for them to take home. You might imagine how impressed they were.

On the other hand, I get the impression the kids get their news from Comedy Central. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

I'm one of the guys who made this happen.

I went to work for a dot com start-up in 1994.

Gratifying to see it happen.

This is just the beginning. Much, much more to come.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Who on earth is watching TV news?

They didn't say they were watching TV news, they said they considered television their main source of news.

Those two things are very different!

ricpic said...

I can't imagine TV retaining any of those with the sense, and it doesn't take much sense at that, to figure out that the "news" they're being fed is undiluted statist propaganda.

But then who am I to brag, back in the days when I had a TV I watched Johnny Carson and thought he was funny.

Revenant said...

I can't tolerate any news source that doesn't have hyperlinks and ready access to search engines.

Television news is particularly horrible because they are driven by time considerations rather than informational ones -- the whole "we have nothing to report, but by God we're going to spend an hour reporting it" thing.

AllenS said...

I refuse to watch the news on the TV. Give me the internets, baby.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

61 tomorrow.../bow..thank you very much.

I've been getting my news and information on the net, since the 90's as well. Our morning routine is me on the desk computer in the office facing the living room through opened french doors and hubby on the couch with his laptop, sharing articles and links. Trading turns to get the coffee. Even emailing to each other over the distance of about 25 feet. How decadent!!

The only news type shows we watch are the Fox Business channel and occasionally the local station for a weather update. We don't get any newspapers anymore either, since the news is all old by the time the paper is delivered.

The Musket said...

You are only as old as you feel, right -- I'm feeling pretty young right now. The only time I watch any news on tv is to check the local weather if there is a storm forecast.

I bet if you separate out cable news shows from the nightly news shows you'd find that almost no one watches the nightly news.

Michael -- some of those kids that get their news from John Stewart are in their 40s. Sad, I know.

coketown said...

Nobody's watching TV news. They're listening to news radio...from their televisions. My parents always have the news on when they're cooking dinner or doing things around the house but I can't remember them actually sitting and watching it. All my friends I can think of (a sample of four people) do the same thing. If I had TV in my apartment, I would do so, too. But for me it's all internet, plus weekly correspondences to Pat Robertson to find out what's going on in the world.

Indigo Red said...

I do.

I watch NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, and ABC It's a Small World News as well as FOX News. I also listen to NPR in the morning. Internet news and blogs are my main sources of news throughout the day. Network tv news is just another source for what's going on. Often the networks have the only video coverage of an event.

Facebook recently has been a good source for news as I have a cousin in Rockhampton, Australia who evacuated because of the flooding if the Fitzroy River. That happened a full month before any news reported the floods. Back in Sept, my nephew in Mozambique told about the food riots in Maputo two days before any news organ thought it a story worthy of mention.

I get my news wherever I can find it.

The Crack Emcee said...

My roomie (aged 66) watches TV news and is continually asking me, "How do you always know what's going to happen before it does?"

Of course, part of it is I study NewAge, but, of course, I study it mostly online.

William said...

I'm surprised that that high a percentage of the 18-29 demographic watches John Stewart on the internet.

Toad Trend said...

@Jason (the commenter)

"Who on earth is watching TV news?

They didn't say they were watching TV news, they said they considered television their main source of news.

Those two things are very different!"

Really?

Jason, what say you modify your moniker to 'the nitpicker'.

former law student said...

It's easy to read one thing and listen to another.

Toad Trend said...

@FLS

Yes. If you say 'my main source of news comes from the TV' then I think its reasonable to say that you 'watch TV news'. No, not exclusively.

Its the 'gist'.

Unknown said...

Old habits die hard.

Older people still watch TV news. What some of the younger ones who really don't care watch, we can only guess - it was what made them vote for The Zero.

PS Ann's countdown reminds me of Chester Nimitz' description of the stream of communiques telling him all about how a Royal Navy carrier group would participate in the Okinawa campaign, "I didn't need Paul Revere and his three lanterns to tell me the British were coming". :)

PPS Many felicitations, DBQ. And many more to come.

kjbe said...

I do both...at the same time. Whoa!

(Internet is primary + papers + tv + a dash of radio)

rhhardin said...

The important thing is not that the internet is convenient, but that nobody believes the MSM.

Even the WSJ sucks since they went for the MSM's exclusive female audience.

traditionalguy said...

The Fairness Doctrine cometh.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Anyone else notice that the percentages don't add up?

Phil 314 said...

And I'm nearly 60

Professor, You're sounding more and more like this

JAL said...

Granted, I don't have cable, but I'm way past 30 and I gave up on broadcast news 10 years ago.

I am an internet news junkie. Ask my husband.

He gets his news from me ;-)

traditionalguy said...

For what it's worth, NPR news is good to listen to in the AM shaving and dressing time and the 5:00PM drive time. After that its internet uber alles.

Titus said...

My parents and all their friends still read the State Journal. My dad lives for it.

They immediately go to the obits everyday.

They are in their 70's.

Toad Trend said...

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned traditional newspapers, though its clear they are on a death watch. The city in which I live, Buffalo, NY, has been a one newspaper town since 1982. The lone paper, the Buffalo News (the Buffalo 'Snooze') regularly rubber-stamps democrat candidates despite decades of urban and economic decay under democrat control.

Penny said...

Apparently no option for those who could care less about the news... don't watch in on TV, listen to it on the radio, read about it in the newspaper or read it on the internet.

Even if they did have that option, how many people would own up to not caring one whit about news?

Penny said...

"On the other hand, I get the impression the kids get their news from Comedy Central. Seriously."

Agreed, Michael, and used to think this was a tragedy. Now? So jaded I've become grateful for that.

Christy said...

Many happy returns, DBQ.

What percentage of those getting their news from TV do you figure are are only looking for Celebrity news?

Half my family get their news from the News Alerts on their cell phones. Faster than I come across it on the Internet, often as not.

We had an angry armed gunman trying to get away on foot in our community recently. First out with the capture was a kid on Facebook who lived next door to where they caught him.

jungatheart said...

At least one link would be useful, rh.

Hagar said...

Politicians watch the network "news" and react to the coverage.

I watch for the film clips, if any, and to hear which way the spin is going.

knox said...

There are a lot of oldsters out there who still religiously watch network news, 60 minutes, and the ghastly morning news shows.

I even have a relative who, god bless her, used to watch Rick Sanchez religiously.

Michael said...

I have liberated myself from the NYT entirely. Including the Sunday edition which I swore I would never forgo. I buy the weekend editions of the Financial Times and the WSJ both of which have excellent reviews, travel sections and a less insular view of fashion and style.

All other news from the internet.

AllenS said...

It is now tomorrow. Happy Birthday, DBQ. I hope today finds you happy and healthy.

Banshee said...

My parents will give up television before they get the Internet. They rarely find any use for the computer my brother and I gave them, except that my mother likes playing Solitaire.

Fortunately, news radio is still strong.