If you’re trying to figure out the dominant platform for news consumption in America – the single platform that Americans rely on over any other: good luck.
(Chart: % of Americans news source accesses in a typical day )
That’s because only 7% of Americans rely on one sole source for news consumption and the overwhelming majority of Americans – 92% of them – digest news in multiple formats, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism in a joint effort.
Think about the last few times you checked headlines: were you online at work? On your BlackBerry at the DMV? Catching the local television broadcast after Sweet 16 match-ups? Trying to quell road rage with talk radio?
Chances are, you’ve probably taken part in more than one.
Convenience, time of day, access to media formats, overbooked personal schedules, and other factors undoubtedly play in to this splinter effect of news consumption. We’re expected to do more with less, and know more about more. (A lesson we know well in custom publishing.)
It can sometimes be stimulus overload (70% of people surveyed in the Pew study reported that news and information available from multiple sources can be overwhelming).
Is media doing a good job of informing the public? Is the public doing a good job of consuming media? Are our Tweet-sized attention spans ultimately holding us back?
I’d argue that people are reading more headlines and less body paragraphs.
I know I catch myself doing this, at least. (Is anyone else willing to admit ReTweeting something after only reading the headline?)
So, is it better to know less about more?
There’s an eerily shallow feeling in thinking we might be a mile wide and an inch deep.
(For more great statistics, make sure you check out the great work they are doing at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism.)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s shocking the % difference b/t the number of people that get news from the radio and those who get news from newspapers… thx for the great graphic.
@Katie Holmes: I should have put this disclaimer in along with the graphic, so I think I’ll put it in here: The graphic is not drawn to scale, so be sure to take a look at the percentages. What can I say, I just like the colors.
Liberals get their news from the Internet and Jon Stewart. Conservatives get their news from Bill O’Reilly and messenger pigeons. Yeah, I went there.
@Sucktackular: What study is that from? Doesn’t sound very scientific…
There are a couple of errors in this graph:
One, it implies only 78% of Americans get news at all (the outermost ring). The Pew report you used says 92% of Americans get their news from multiple sources.
Two, the concentric circles imply inclusion. For example, 17% read national newspapers but 50% read local newspapers. The graph suggests those 17% who read national also read local papers — all 17%! But it’s more likely that the 17% who read national newspapers don’t read a local newspaper at all, and vice versa: the 50% who read a local paper probably don’t read a national paper at all. (We would need a statistic of how many read both to know for sure).
You’re right, Steve. In retrospect, this graphic was misleading and not the best way to present the information. I got carried away and made a “graph” for what should have been a list.