News Appetite Grows; Local TV Tops Diet

Audiences still skeptical of news media, according to Pew report on media consumption

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/12/2010 4:00:00 PM

There remains a growing appetite for news to match the increase in places to get it, with local TV news continuing to command the lion's share of attention. In fact, the decline and fall of traditional outlets may be overrated, given that there are indications that online and other alternatives are, for the most part, being added to the menu rather than replacing more traditional news diets. These non-traditional sources are also more than making up for what are billed as "modest" declines in audiences for traditional platforms.

Those are among the key takeaways from the just-released Pew Research Center for the People & the Press biennial report on media consumption.

People say they spend 57 minutes a day with TV, radio and newspaper news, but an additional 13 minutes with online news.

"[I]nstead of replacing traditional news platforms, Americans are increasingly integrating new technologies into their news consumption habits," the study concludes.

More than a third (36%) of Americans say they got news from both digital and traditional sources yesterday, just shy of the number who relied solely on traditional sources (39%). Only 9% of Americans got news through the internet and mobile technology without also using traditional sources.

Perhaps, but all that news consumption hasn't translated into winning scores on a mini news quiz included in the survey. Only 22% knew who Eric Holder is and 9% even identified him as the ousted CEO of BP (he is Attorney General). Less than half (41%) knew that Steve Jobs was head of Apple. A majority (60%) did identify Iceland as the home of the volcano that interrupted international travel.

Local TV News continues to be the leading outlet for news, topping everything from local print to national cable and network news, and leading every demo. According to the report, 50% regularly watch local TV news, topping the next biggest new source, daily newspapers at 40%. Network evening news comes in at number four with 28% saying they regularly watch. For the first time in the more than 10 years it has been tracked, more people said the regularly watched Fox news (23%) than CNN (18%). They were numbers five and seven, respectively, on the "regularly watch" scorecard. The study points to a 6 point decline in CNN audience share (from 24% in 2008), with Fox remaining stable. Fox is teh fifth-most-watched accessed news source after CNN's drop has been in a variety of demos, including under 30's and over 50's. The study highlights the finding that more 65-plus viewers now watch Fox News (30%) than CNN (21%), compared to 30% for CNN and 20% for Fox in 2008.

MSNBC's share of audience has fallen from 15% in 2008 to 11% in 2010, while CNBC's has fallen from 12% to 8%. The partisan gap between CNN and Fox viewers as grown, with 40% of Republicans saying they regularly watch the channel, compared to 15% of Democrats. In 2008, those figures were much closer at 36% and 21% respectively.

Nearly half of the respondents said they get news online three or more days a week, up from 37% two years ago, and about a third get it every day. And the value of getting your news link into that search engine is crucial. A third of respondents said they use Google, Yahoo! or Bing to search for news, up from 19% just two  yaersago. Yahoo! was the most often mentioned site for news online (28%), followed by CNN (16%) and Google 15%), though to be fair Google and Yahoo! visitors are accessing CNN and other news sites from that launching pad, including Fox (8%), MSNBC (7%) and the network news sites: ABC, NBC (2% apiece), NPR and CBS (1% apiece).

Other news technologies are much further down the scale. Only 12% say they regularly get news via e-mail and 10% said they do so via an RSS feed or customizable Web page. Only 8% get news on cell phones, though broadcasters are hoping to boost that number with their new mobile DTV service. Only 7% get news through social networks, 5% via podcasts, 2% through twitter and only 1% using an iPad or tablet computer.

There remains a lot of skepticism in the audience about all that news media they are consuming. Asked if they believe all or most of what a news organization says, only 29% had that level of trust in local TV news. But that was actually the second best result, topped only by 33% for 60 Minutes.

CNN was tied with local news at 29%, followed by NPR at 28% and Fox News at 27%. C-SPAN was down the list at 23%, but it topped ABC and CBS News at 21% and NBC News at 20%.

Among the other key findings, according to Pew:

More men (50%) than women (39%) get news on digital platforms, and men are more likely to get news by cell phone, email, RSS feeds or podcasts than women.

Men and women are equally likely to get news via Twitter or social networking sites.

More people are becoming news grazers, saying they mostly get news "from time to time" rather than at "regular times." The percentage of grazers was 57% in 2010, up from 48% in 2006.

One-in-four people who have DVRs say they record news.

More than eight-in-ten (82%) say they see at least some bias in news coverage, with more saying it is liberal (43%) than conservative (23%).

Survey results are based on Princeton Survey Research Associates International phone interviews June 8-28 among a national sample of 3,006 U.S. adults ages 18-plus.

In a commentary on the findings, Tom Rosenstiel, Director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, offers some explanation for the study's finding that "people are not simply replacing old
technologies with new but using new ones for different things or in different ways, augmenting their more traditional behavior."

For one thing, he says, the content is changing and being customized to fit a particularly interest or even location, with an understanding that consumers are participants in the process rather than simply receptors. He also says faster connections have brought more of technology's potential to life, and that consumers may be better recognizing the relative strengths and weaknesses of different media.