For the first time, the Internet surpassed newspapers in 2010 as a source for news, a report released today by the Pew Research Center says.
According to a December 2010 survey, 46 percent of people say they get news from online sources at least three times a week, compared with 40 who say the same about newspapers. Only local TV news is a more popular news platform, at 50 percent.
The online news audience also grew by more than 17 percent between 2009 and 2010, the survey found, while all the audiences for other platforms declined, according to the survey. Losses ranged from 1.5 percent for local television news to 13.7 percent for cable TV.
The survey also found that 47 percent of Americans get some local news or information from mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean they’re browsing City Council stories on their iPads: The most common uses were for weather reports and information about local restaurants and businesses.