August 7th, 2006

Message From Michael                    
                                                  August 7, 2006                                                            

• Watching, Reading and Listening to the News – A Special Report

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• GOING NEWSLES:  Nearly one out of every five Americans (19%) are going ‘newsless,’ according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.  That’s how many told the researchers that they got no news from either television, the radio, newspapers or the Internet.  It’s all part of a wide-ranging report released July 30th and detailing the changing landscape of news consumption starting in 1993.  Of course, on the flip side, that means 8 out of 10 (81%) did get news, and as the report authors say, “getting the news is an integral part of the day for most Americans.”  But even that number is a dramatic drop from the 90% looking for news a decade ago and a significant drop since 2004 when it was 85%.  Even when they do get the news, they are only spending about an hour doing it -- 30 minutes watching, 15 minutes reading, 16 minutes listening and 6 minutes going online.


• REGULAR NEWS USE:  Not to further depress you news folks out there, but the report also shows the percentage of people who regularly watch, listen or read news has dropped dramatically since a decade ago (something we all sort of knew) but also dropped significantly in the last two years.  The percentage who regularly watch local TV news has dropped from 77% in 1993 to 59% in 2004 and now down to 54% in 2006.  Nightly network TV news has dropped from 60% in 1993 to 34% in 2004 and now down to 28% this year.  In a similar vein, the numbers for radio are 47% in 1993, 40% in 2006 and 36% this year; while 58% said they regularly read newspapers in 1993, only 42% did so in 2004 and only 40% this year.  Network morning news was the only area showing the slightest of upticks from 20% in 2000 to 22% in 2004 and now 23% this year.  The percentage watching cable TV news has dropped from 38% to 34% in the last two years.


• MEDIA CREDIBILITY:  You may have read or heard other reports about the study that also cite the increasing skepticism toward the media.  Less than one in four people believe “all or most” of what the various news organizations say.  Every one of them (CNN, 60 Minutes, ABC, CBS, NBC, The News Hour and local TV news) has shown significant drops since 1993 and slight drops in the last two years.  Only Fox has remained relatively flat, but even then, only 25% believe in its credibility and that is only slightly higher than the 22% reported for NPR, CBS and ABC or the 23% reported for NBC, the NewsHour and local TV news and Fox’s numbers are lower than its rival CNN (28%) and 60 Minutes (27%).  More interesting (to me at least), the report shows the degree of skepticism is across the board.  In 1993 the range of highest to lowest was 23%; this year there is only 7% difference between the highest credibility and the lowest.  The report notes there is little change in the attitude toward print news credibility over the last two years, but that there is “no recovery” from a long, downward trend.  The Wall Street Journal has the highest score but it’s still a meager one in four (26%) who say they believe “all or most” of what the WSJ reports.  For other print news operations, it’s more like one in five with Time and U.S. News tied at 21%, only a point ahead of the New York Times (20%), followed by “your daily paper” (19%), Newsweek and USA Today (18%), and the Associated Press at 17%.  An interesting side note – Good news for the National Enquirer; it has doubled its credibility rating from 3% in 1998 to 6% this year;  Bad news for People magazine; it barely beat the Enquirer with an 8% credibility rating.And, yes, the political polarization surrounding news credibility continues, with more Republicans (34%) watching Fox News and more Democrats (28%) watching CNN.  More interesting is that the gap between Republicans and Democrats watching the three nightly broadcast news show has tripled since 2004.  In 2004, 36% of the Democrats and 31% of the Republicans said they regularly watched the evening news.  This year, 38% of the Democrats but only 24% of the Republicans watch the evening news.


• THE INTERNET:  And for those looking or thinking it’s all because of the Internet… think again.  The study says the Internet serves more as a supplement to other news sources rather than a primary source for news.  The report also notes that half of the American public uses multiple sources for news on any given day… a pattern that has not changed over the last decade despite the growth of the Internet.  About a third (31%) say they rely on only one source but ONLY 4% of the respondents say they rely on the web alone.  When people do rely on only one source, it’s TV (16%).   Despite what I and many others would have thought, the web is not even the prime secondary source.  When people cite only two sources, it’s either TV and newspaper (12%) or radio and TV (9%), followed by the Internet and one other (8%).   One out of six (17%) say they use three or more sources and a very small 3% say they use all four – TV, radio, newspapers and the Internet.  The report authors say “the audience for online news is fairly broad but not particularly deep.”  For example, people who go online for news spend an average of 32 minutes doing so, compared to 53 minutes for television, 43 minutes for radio and 40 minutes for newspapers.  Even with the rise of the Internet, there has not been a rise in overall news consumption.  In fact, the report says that since 2000 nearly all of the growth among regular Internet news user has been in the 25-64 age group.  The report says there has been a significant increase (from 47% to 53%)  in the number of people going online from either home or work in the last two years, but that the number who went online “for news yesterday” is significantly lower (23%) and is roughly the same (24%) as two years ago.  


• ENJOYING THE NEWS:  A little more than half (52%) say they enjoy keeping up with the news “a lot.”  A third (34%) say they enjoy keeping up with the news “some.”  Not surprisingly, younger people are less likely (38%) to enjoy the news compared to older people (59%).  The biggest problem – Time.  More than a third (38%) say they’re just too busy and the same percentage (38%) say they “lack the background” to keep up.  Even with the flood of sources, most people say they are not concerned about “information overload.”  Nearly two thirds (64%) say they like having so much information while slightly more than a quarter (28%) complained about overload.  A majority of Americans (57%) say they follow local news and national news (55%) most of the time, not just when something big happens.  But the increase in international news interest we saw after 9/11 has dropped.  Only 38% follow it “most of the time” – a significant drop from the 52% two years ago.  But if something “important” happens, the number jumps to 58%.  (The authors note the survey was done before the situation in Lebanon erupted.)


• NEWS COMPETITION:  And we’re not talking among news sources.  Aside from time, the biggest competition is the alternative choices people, especially young people, have.  No surprise there.  Playing video games is particularly popular among young people, especially men (36%) compared to women (18%).  And 40% of those under age 30 say they either watched a move at home, or DVD or pay-per-view yesterday.  If it’s any consolation, 49% say they watched news yesterday.  What is surprising, the researchers say, is that reading books is a favored activity (41%) among young people.  As anyone who has gone on a Nielsen visit will understand, the report says more people (63%) say they watched a non-news television program the day before the survey than watched TV news (57%).    


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