Message from Michael -- September 8, 2008

A NATION OF NEWS GRAZERS

THE FLIP SIDE OF NEWS

WHAT DO YOU KNOW

DEFINING NEWS AUDIENCES

THE EDUCATIONAL DIVIDE

TIT FOR TAT


We encourage people to pass on copies of Message from Michael. But if you would like to get your own copy, you can subscribe by sending an e-mail to Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “subscribe-MM” in the subject line.

A NATION OF NEWS GRAZERS: That’s how a study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press describes Americans. For the first time since the center began its biennial survey of American viewing habits, the majority of Americans (51%) say they get their news “from time to time” rather than at regular times. Those same news grazers spend dramatically less time with news, averaging 56 minutes a day versus ‘regular-time’ news consumers who spend 79 minutes a day “consuming” news. Despite this, the report says, getting news ‘in one form or another’ remains a daily habit for the vast majority of Americans with roughly four out of five (82%) either seeing, reading or listening to some kind of news. Despite the pace of modern life, the report says, two-thirds (68%) say they do not feel they are too busy to keep up with the news. More than half (52%) even go so far as to say they “enjoy” keeping up with the news.

ANOTHER FIRST: But an unfortunate one for my newspaper brethren. For the first time in 15 years of asking the question, the study authors say fewer than half of all Americans (46%) report reading a daily newspaper on a regular basis, a figure that is down from 52% only two years ago.

THE FLIP SIDE OF NEWS: Probably not surprising, the percentage of young people (those under 25) getting NO news on a typical day has risen significantly from roughly a quarter (25%) of the population in 1998 to a third (34%) in the latest survey. But more than that, one in seven Americans (14%) are what the study calls “Disengaged” – people who don’t follow any news, whether local, national or international, business or finance. This group was less affluent with a third (35%) making less than $30,000 a year and the least educated with two-thirds (69%) not having attended college.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW: Not much apparently. Not surprisingly, when asked three questions testing political knowledge only two percent of the ‘disengaged’ group could answer all three questions. Of course, it’s not saying much that less than one in five of all those surveyed (18%) could answer all three questions. Somewhat surprisingly, a group described by the study as “Traditionalists” who rely primarily on traditional news sources such as newspapers, television and radio didn’t do very well with only one in seven (14%) able to answer all three questions. The two other news consuming groups outlined in the study “Net-Newsers” and “Integrators” did dramatically better, with a little less than a third (29%) of each of these groups getting all three right. In case you’re wondering, the three questions were – which party holds the majority in the House of Representatives, who is the Secretary of State and what is the name of the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Pretty funny, but more Republicans (64%) know that Democrats have the majority than Democrats (54%). It doesn’t say anything for the nightly network news then that its audience is two-to-one Democratic (45% versus 22% Republican.)

DEFINING NEWS AUDIENCES: The Pew study breaks news consumers into three cutesy but convenient groups. “Traditionalists” are those who rely on traditional media sources (TV, newspapers, radio) almost exclusively and is the largest group (46%) and the oldest (median age of 52). As the study authors put it, they are “the most economically downscale” and most conservative. Somewhat disheartening to traditional media types, the ‘traditionalists’ have the lowest average income of the three groups and -- the factoid that made me wonder – nearly half (43%) of them are not employed. Note – not employed, not unemployed.

The second largest group is “Integrators” (23%) who identify a traditional medium as their main news source but also go online for news several days a week. Like their media choice, they fall into the middle in terms of age (media of 44) and politically are not much different than the general public. The smallest group is “Net-Newsers” (13% of the population) who are also the youngest (median age of 35) and the better educated and the most affluent, although only slightly more so than the Integrators. These two groups seem to represent the target audience for new media advocates. Nearly all of the people in these two groups have a home computer (96% to 98%), with Internet access (93% to 95%), most of which is broadband (81% for Integrators to 86% for Net-Newsers) and nearly all have a cell phone (92% each) with a quarter of them (24% to 26%) having either an Iphone or Blackberry. Interestingly the only major difference is that Net-Newsers are more likely (72%) to have an Ipod or MP3 player than Integrators (54%), which probably isn’t surprising since the Net-Newsers skew younger. As an example of how Net-Newsers are different, nearly twice as many regularly watch news clips on the Internet as regularly watch nightly network news (30% vs. 18%). But just to keep a reality check or balance in here, remember that these two groups together comprise only slightly more than a third (36%) of the total population.

THE EDUCATIONAL DIVIDE: It’s getting bigger, says the report. Nearly half of college graduates (44%) say they get news online every day, compared with just one in ten (11%) of those with a high school education or less. Using another measure, nearly two thirds (61%) of college grads go online at least three times a week compared to one in five (19%) of those with a high school or less education. Nearly three quarters (71%) of college graduates are likely to have gone online at work compared to less than a quarter (20%) of those with a high school education. (Obviously there are concurrent economic issues.) Less educated people are more likely to want news presented with their point of view than people with more education, according to the report, although the difference isn’t hugely significant (28% for high school versus 19% for college). The report says people with more education are more likely to trust some sources more than others. Nearly seven in ten college graduates (69%) say they trust a few news sources more than others, compared with half (55%) of those with some college and less than half (44%) of those with no more than a high school education. A quarter of college graduates have an Iphone compared to one in ten of those with only a high school education. Highly educated (and higher income) people are far more likely than those with lesser education to say it is important for their jobs to keep up with the news. There is little educational difference when it comes to reading newspapers, according to the report, with people with a high school education almost as likely to be regular readers as people with a college degree (31% compared to 36%).

TIT FOR TAT: Here are some examples from the report of facts and factoids that you can take as either good news or bad news, depending on your perspective, or are the Ying and Yang of news media consumption.

The percentage of the American population using any traditional news source on any given day has fallen from 90% in 1994 to 85% in 1998 to 73% today. BUT TV remains the most widely used source with 57% of Americans watching news on TV, a rate that the report notes has remained stable for the past ten years.

Although there has been little change in the credibility ratings of most major news organizations in the last two years, over the last ten years virtually every news organization has seen its credibility marks decline. BUT online news outlets are viewed with even more skepticism, according to the report, than either their print, broadcast or cable counterparts.

One-third of day-time news consumers say they get their daytime news Online, up from just 5% who said that ten years ago. BUT television still remains the dominant source for news, both overall and at each time of day, according to the report.

The percentage of Americans who say they got news online yesterday (often considered a better measure) has risen from 23% two years ago to 29% now. BUT of the 29% who got news online yesterday, more than four out of five (84%) ALSO got news from either TV, radio or a newspaper.

The percentage of Americans who say they read a newspaper yesterday has dropped from 40% two years ago to 34% today. BUT the audience for On-line newspapers has grown from 9% two years ago to 13% today. (The report does note though that doesn’t compensate for the loss in print readership.)

DAILY online news use has increased by about a third from 18% to 25% in the last two years. BUT just 5% of Americans got their news ONLY from the Web.

DISCLAIMER: As always, with the amount of material involved, I have only scanned the surface. I may, in fact, do a second report on the survey. So, stay tuned.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail Michael@MediaConsultant.tv with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com. You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.