Pew Report Says Americans Are News Grazers

Americans are picking and choosing from an information smorgasbord to get their news, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and a large majority are switching between different platforms, with the Internet playing a significant role in their news “grazing.” —KA

PC Magazine:

“Americans have become news grazers both on and offline – but within limits,” Amy Mitchell, deputy director for the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, said in a statement. “They generally don’t have one favorite Web site but also don’t search aimlessly. Most online news consumers regularly draw on just a handful of different sites.”

About 57 percent of people rely on two to five Web sites for news, and only 35 percent have a favorite, Pew found.

Of the 2,259 people surveyed by Pew, about 59 percent get their news from a combination of offline and online sources. Only 7 percent use a single media platform, and those people are most likely to use the Internet or local TV news.

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