Web Grows as Political News Source, but TV Dominates

New York Times ^ | 1/05/03 | NY Times

[kattracks]

he Internet is growing as a secondary source for election news, a survey made public yesterday says.

Thirteen percent of respondents to the nationwide poll said they had gone online for election news, significantly higher than the 6 percent who had done so in the last midterm election in 1998.

The poll, conducted by the Pew Internet Project and the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, found that even though the Internet had given voters more choices, television news remained the predominant source of information in the 2002 election.

Two-thirds of respondents said television was their primary source of news for the election. That number fell slightly from the 70 percent who turned to television in 2000, the poll said.

The proportion of the 2,745 respondents who read newspapers for most of their election news fell significantly, to 33 percent from 39 percent in 2000. In 1996, 60 percent did, according to Pew surveys.

"The trend is all downhill," said Scott Keeter, associate director of the Pew Research Center. But Mr. Keeter said newspaper readers might be reading online news from Web sites run by newspapers.

Readers of Internet news were most likely to read the Web sites of established organizations, but it was not clear whether they were substituting newspapers with their Web sites.

"Maybe the news for newspapers is not as bad as it looks on its face," Mr. Keeter said.

Over all, 7 percent of respondents said the Internet was the principal source of their election news. That number is higher than the 4 percent who found most of their news online in 1996.

Among Internet users seeking election news, 64 percent of respondents visited the Web sites of established organizations, a substantial increase from the 55 percent who visited those sites in 2000.

The people most likely to get election news online were veteran Internet users and were more likely to be white, male, well educated and have higher incomes than the general population.

Those users searched primarily for information about candidates' voting records and their positions on issues.

Researchers have long been aware that users with several years of experience online are more likely than newcomers to look for election news in cyberspace.

"In the elections of 2004 and 2008, will more people be getting politics news online?" said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project. "The answer is, very likely, yes."

[MeekOneGOP]

Web grows as source for election coverage

Poll says TV outlets still dominate, while newspapers are slipping

01/06/2003

The New York Times

The Internet is growing as a secondary source for election news, according to a survey made public Sunday.

Thirteen percent of respondents to the nationwide poll said they had gone online for election news, significantly higher than the 6 percent who had done so in the last midterm election, in 1998.

The poll, conducted by the Pew Internet Project and the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, found that although the Internet has given voters more choices, TV news remained the predominant source of information in the 2002 election.

Two-thirds of respondents said television was their primary source of news for the election. That number fell slightly from the 70 percent who turned to television in 2000, the poll said.

The proportion of the 2,745 respondents who read newspapers for most of their election news fell to 33 percent from 39 percent in 2000.

In 1996, 60 percent did, according to Pew surveys.

"The trend is all downhill," said Scott Keeter, associate director of the Pew Research Center. But Mr. Keeter said newspaper readers might be reading online news from Web sites run by papers.

Among those who go online to catch up on politics, almost half of Republicans, 46 percent, said they like to register their opinions in online surveys.

Fewer than three in 10 Democrats, 28 percent, said they like to participate in the online surveys, according to the poll.

The poll was taken between Oct. 30 and Nov. 24 and has an error margin of plus or minus 2 percentage points, slightly larger for Internet users and those who go online for political news.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/010603dnnatpolitics.a3dfb.html

[MeekOneGOP]

Among those who go online to catch up on politics, almost half of Republicans, 46 percent, said they like to register their opinions in online surveys.

Fewer than three in 10 Democrats, 28 percent, said they like to participate in the online surveys, according to the poll.

Take THAT DU !!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

What would have been the consequences of having no real-time election reports? A week later no one would have known the difference!

What would have been the consequences of having no real-time election reports in Florida in 2000?!! A week later we would have THOUGHT that no one would have known the difference--but we would have avoided the ghastly mess that in fact we went through that November!

The virtues of broadcast journalism are wildly overrated.
The dangers of broadcast journalism are "misunderestimated."

[GailA]

NEW news source: State political news from the trenches

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