Newspaper Readers Decline - Online and Smartphone Readership UP, Says Pew

By Editor Wireless and Mobile News on August 21, 2008 1:11 PM

According to Pew Research Center for People and the Press, news audiences blend online and traditional sources. The good news for Wireless and Mobile News is that online news reading is increasing. The diversity of news audience segments identified reflects the long-term changes in news consumption observed in the biennial survey, conducted April 30-June 1 among 3,615 Americans.

Since the early 1990s, the proportion of Americans saying they read a newspaper on a typical day has declined by about 40%; the proportion that regularly watches nightly network news has fallen by half.

Since 2006, the proportion of Americans who say they get news online at least three days a week has increased from 31% to 37%. About as many people now say they go online for news regularly (at least three days a week) as say they regularly watch cable news (39%); substantially more people regularly get news online than regularly watch one of the nightly network news broadcasts (37% vs. 29%).

Since 2006, daily online news use has increased by about a third, from 18% to 25%. However, as the online news audience grows, the educational divide in online news use - evident since the internet's early days in the mid-1990s - also is increasing. Currently, 44% of college graduates say they get news online every day, compared with just 11% of those with a high school education or less.

A slim majority of Americans (51%) now say they check in on the news from time to time during the day, rather than get the news at regular times. This marks the first time since the question was first asked in 2002 that most Americans consider themselves "news grazers."

Social networking sites are very popular with young people, but they have not become a major source of news. Just 10% of those with social networking profiles say they regularly get news from these sites.
Overall, 15% of Americans say they have a smart phone, such as an iPhone or a Blackberry. More than a third of smart phone owners (37%) say they get news from these devices.
Believability ratings for national news organizations remain very low. If anything, believability ratings for major online news outlets - including news aggregators such as Google News and AOL News - are lower than for major print, cable and broadcast outlets.