US online news readership grows, but TV news stays strong

Consumption of online news is growing in the US, but television is still the most popular news source, a new study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has said.

Respondents who go online for news three or more days a week rose from 31 per cent in 2006 to 37 per cent in 2008, according to the survey of 3,612 American adults.

Since 2006 daily online news use has grown from 18 per cent to 25 per cent, the study said.

However, the research found that 'Net-Newsers' – individuals who 'principally turn to the web for news, and largely eschew traditional sources' - accounted for just 13 per cent of those surveyed compared with 46 per cent, who rely heavily on television news and rarely view news online.

Those 'regularly watching' cable TV news rose from 34 per cent in 2006 to 39 per cent in 2008, though 'regular watchers' of local TV news fell from 54 per cent to 52 per cent.

Figures posted by the study for newspaper readership showed a 6 per cent drop in the number of respondents who had read a newspaper on the previous day - from 40 per cent in 2006 to 34 per cent in 2008.

Despite the growth in online news consumption, the research said that the number of online readers of newspapers was not growing at the same rate as the decline of print audiences.

Instead the combined figure for print, online-only and print and web readers of newspapers had fallen from 43 per cent in 2006 to 40 per cent in 2008.

In addition the Pew Center's findings suggested that 'believability' ratings for major online news outlets, including news aggregators, are lower than the main print and broadcast sources.

The biennial survey was conducted between April 30 and June 1 this year.

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