The latest study of how people get their news simply confirms what your gut suspects.
Newspapers are hurting, and younger Americans have abandoned TV news in large numbers. The Pew Research Center’s biennial report on news consumption breaks it to us gently.
On the other hand, cable has reason to celebrate. And online news use has expanded.
The percentage of Americans who told researchers they had read a newspaper “yesterday” fell from 40 percent to 34 percent in the past two years.
For the first time, “grazers are now the majority,” the Pew study notes. A 51 percent majority say they check the news online throughout the day rather than sitting down to a dinner- hour newscast.
Some 23 percent of Americans are what the study calls “integrators,” using both traditional sources and the Internet, many logging on to news sites from work. Affluent, well-educated, middle-aged folks are more likely to integrate traditional news sources and the Internet.
Roughly 13 percent of the public are “Net-newsers,” relying solely on the Internet for news. Affluent, well-educated young folks are more likely to be “net-newsers.”
Many more watch clips on the Internet than watch nightly network newscasts. On a typical day, fewer than half watch TV news; twice as many read an online newspaper than a printed paper.
The largest chunk, 46 percent of Americans, are “traditionalists,” using the Internet sparingly and getting most of their news from television.
“In spite of the increasing variety of ways to get the news, the proportion of young people getting no news on a typical day has increased substantially over the past decade,” the Pew study said.
Fully 34 percent of those younger than 25 say they get no news on a typical day, up from 25 percent in 1998.
That won’t stop news organizations from trying to reach that elusive market.
Youthful news
. Efforts to entice those young non-news types during the Democratic National Convention include the first-time offering by CBS News of live, Web-only programming anchored by Katie Couric on and .
Other moves to lure the younger audience: hiring Luke Russert, son of the late Tim Russert, to work for NBC News; recording former “American Idol” Chris Daughtry singing for CNN’s “League of First Time Voters” initiative, hiring “citizen journalists” to cover youthful perspectives for MTV; sending Trace Crutchfield to the DNC to report “Unconventionally Yours” for Current TV, the network aimed at 18- to 34-year-olds; and putting Heather Nauert on the youth vote beat at Fox News.
More convention notes
. XM satellite radio has a station devoted to the 2008 presidential election, “POTUS ’08” (White House shorthand for “President of the United States”), around the clock. The noncommercial, nonpartisan radio station has aired on XM since last year, a joint venture with CSPAN, and will go off the air when a new president takes office in January. In Denver, Joe Mathieu, Rebecca Roberts and Scott Walterman will anchor from the Pepsi Center.
Expect gavel-to-gavel, plus commentary; overnight coverage consists of highlights from the previous day. You can sample “POTUS ’08” for free online for 14 days at . Another potential XM hot spot is Gayle King’s morning show, “Oprah & Friends,” which is expected to draw big-name guests at the Pepsi Center.
Sirius satellite radio (approved for a merger with, but still distinct from, XM Radio) will have multiple political talk channels broadcasting from Denver in addition to gavel-to-gavel feeds. Live from the DNC: Sirius OutQ, Sirius Left, Indie Talk and Sirius Patriot.
Hispanic niche coverage will be available on V-me, the Spanish-language satellite and digital cable network in partnership with PBS.
V-me (from the Spanish veme, or “see me”) will present nightly primetime coverage of the convention as part of its year-long “Participia 2008” initiative with anchor Jorge Gestoso.
In a first-ever public broadcasting partnership, Colorado Public Radio will air a five-day series of KCFR’s “Colorado Matters,” hosted by Ryan Warner, live from Rocky Mountain PBS during the convention.
“Colorado Matters” will air live on KCFR News at 10 a.m.; RMPBS will replay the event each evening on Channel 6, at 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
