Study: TV Still Top Campaign News Source

Crawford, Johnson & Northcott: National TV-News Outlets Still Go-To Media for Most Americans

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/19/2008 1:05:00 PM

National TV-news outlets -- network, cable and local -- continue to be the go-to media for most Americans for their political news, including young people, according to a new online study by market-research firm Crawford, Johnson & Northcott.

The late-April study, of 800 respondents aged 18-65, found that on a sliding scale of 1-5, with 5 being a source they used " a lot" for coverage of the presidential race and 1 being "not at all," 71% of all respondents gave the national networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) a 4 or 5, with cable and local-TV news tying at 65%.

News-organization Web sites were No. 5, with 48% giving them a 4 or 5. TV pundits came in at 31%, local-TV Web sites 26%, late-night TV at 20%, YouTube at 11% and social-networking sites at 10%.

Looking just at the top rating of a 5, ABC, CBS and NBC were still on top with 48%, but cable and local TV news were tied at 45%.

In the 18-29 demo, the broadcast networks still got the most combined 4-5 scores with 64%, but the advice of family and friends came in second at 63%. Cable-TV news (59%) topped local-TV-station news (52%) four younger people.

“Rumors of the death of traditional television news have been greatly exaggerated. And it’s not just older people -- young adults are relying on television news, too,” said company president John Altenbern.

While the company said it has a number of TV-station clients, it added that none of them paid for the study.