The PEW Research Center for the People & the Press released a survey report awhile back on trends in news interest and knowledge. Here are some highlights from the online news section of the study, detailing online news consumption and how users are interacting with it.
The study found that 55% of the regular news audience follows national news most of the time. Over 75% of viewers of cable TV talk shows like Hardball with Chris Matthews, Hannity & Colmes, Lou Dobbs Tonight, and The O’Reilly Factor said they follow the national news most of the time.
The survey also ranked respondents’ knowledge by assessing the correct response to three questions:
Which Party has the House Majority?
Who is the current Secretary of State?
Who is the leader of Great Britain?
How did viewers rank? According to the survey, viewers of the New Yorker (48%), NPR (44%), Hardball (43%), and Hannity & Colmes (42%) ranked among the most knowledgeable. Here’s a graph highlighting some notable shows. The Colbert Report and the Daily Show both have younger well-informed audiences, with 34% and 30% respectively answering all three questions correctly. Although, this wasn’t enough to beat out the older demographic of Rush Limbaugh, with 36% of his viewers answering correctly.
In the chart below we can see that men watch the most online news videos across the board with 11% and 16% among the general public and internet users respectively, regularly tuning in to watch current event videos. The 18-29 cohort are the heaviest regular viewers of online news videos -15% and 19% and the 30-49 cohort hold the largest share for tuning in sometimes at 31% and 40% of the general public and internet users respectively. Those with a College education or higher watch more online news videos than those with High School or less.
For those using the internet as their source for news, most do so for news videos (50%), followed by listening to newscasts (36%), and reading political blogs (34%).
With the 2008 U.S. election only weeks away see who’s tuning into read political blogs. Black readers frequent political blogs far more than White readers according to the report. Readers that identify themselves as Democratic read political blogs more often compared to their Republican counterparts. I would be interested to see who’s most likely to be influenced by political blogs.
Click to view the full findings of the PEW report on News Consumption and Believability Study
