Online News Overtakes Radio, Print

More Americans get their news today from Internet sources than from local or national print newspapers or from the radio. More than 60% of respondents in a Pew survey get their news online, and most use a variety of sources. The most popular information is weather, at 81%, followed by national news at 73%. Only 54% go to the radio for updates, and just 50% pick up a paper, though 92% say they use more than one medium.

As a news source, only television trumps the Internet, CNN reports—73% of people get at least some of their fix from the tube. Pew ascribes the popularity of online news to the collaborative nature of social networking and sharing sites. “People's experience of news, especially on the Internet, is becoming a shared social experience,” the report says. Some 75% say they learn of stories via email or other posts, and 37% say they have contributed to the spread of an item. (More internet stories.)