More Young People Look to the Times, Colbert and Stewart for News

Highlights from Pew’s biennial news consumption survey

The biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is out, and for those looking for trends in the American media news landscape, it’s a doozy.

In an unexpected twist, there is some good news about news to be had within the exhaustive report, published on Monday. “Americans are spending more time with news over much of the past decade,” the report states. Digital platforms are “more than making up for modest declines in the audience for traditional platforms.”

More, via the report:

Instead of replacing traditional news platforms, Americans are increasingly integrating new technologies into their news consumption habits. More than a third (36%) of Americans say they got news from both digital and traditional sources yesterday, just shy of the number who relied solely on traditional sources (39%).

Here are some other highlights:

>> “Roughly a third (34%) of the public say they went online for news yesterday — on par with radio, and slightly higher than daily newspapers.”

>> People spend 70 minutes on average getting the news on a given day, including 13 minutes online. The 57 minutes spent getting news from TV, radio and newspapers is unchanged from 2000.

>> “Those in their 30s are the only age group in which a majority (57%) reports getting news on one or more digital platforms yesterday.”

>> Yet, “most Facebook and Twitter users say they hardly ever or never get news there.”

>> “Only about one-in-four (26%) Americans say they read a newspaper in print yesterday, down from 30% two years ago and 38% in 2006.”

>> Just 8 percent of those under the age of 30 picked up a newspaper yesterday.

>> But, more than half of regular USA Today and Wall Street Journal readers are younger than 50 — “a profile that largely matches the nation as a whole (roughly 55% of all adults are between 18 and 49).”

>> “Fully two-thirds (67%) of regular New York Times readers are younger than 50.”

>> Eight percent of Internet users younger than 30 — and 6% of all Internet users – “volunteer the New York Times when asked to name a few of the websites they use most often to get news and information.”

>> In terms of age, the “Colbert Report” (80%), “Daily Show” (74%) and New York Times (67%) have the biggest percentage of viewers and readers in the coveted 18-49-year-old demographic. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly (35%) and Sean Hannity (33%) have the smallest.

>> Just 6 percent of CNN viewers tune in for opinions and viewpoints.

>> When it comes to cable viewers, ideologies fall where you’d expect them to:

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