Updated: Nearly half (48%) of respondents in a new survey from We Media and Zogby International — internet users who took an online survey — say the internet is their primary news source, up from 40% just a year ago. Only 29% said TV is their primary news source, with radio at 11% and newspapers at 10%. Of course, younger users are even more internet-centric: 55% of people 18-29 say the internet is their primary news source. The study also found that the internet (32%) even beat TV (21%) and newspapers (22%) for the most trustworthy source of news.
While these numbers are skewed in favor of the internet because of the survey’s methodology (see more below), this is worth a hard look: 67% believe traditional journalism is out of of touch with what Americans want from their news. “For the second year in a row we have documented a crisis in American journalism that is far more serious than the industry’s business challenges — or maybe a consequence of them,” said Andrew Nachison, co-founder of iFOCOS. “While the U.S. news industry sheds expenses and frets about its future, Americans are dismayed by its present. Meanwhile, we see clearly the generational shift of digital natives from traditional to online news — so the challenge for traditional news companies is complex. They need to invest in new products and services – and they have. But they’ve also got to invest in quality, influence and impact. They need to invest in journalism that makes a difference in people’s lives.”
It boils down to one word: relevancy. The internet, by definition, is more relevant because you can self-select what you want to read and watch. But I think the tendency for local and cable TV news to focus on lowest-common-denominator coverage (urgent crime, breathless disaster, amazing anti-aging face cream, danger lurking to kill your children and your dog, too!) is accelerating the transition from television to the web for news.
Adds Aaron in comments: “I’m shocked, shocked to learn that internet users prefer to get their news on the internet! This is just as useless as the Magid-HA survey from last week. Zogby controlled for age/race/region, etc., but didn’t control for internet usage habits, so we have no idea if these respondents spend more or less time online than the average American. I will ask this — how many infrequent/occasional internet users do you know who will voluntarily take time to fill out internet surveys?”