The Age Divide in Local News

http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0911/The_age_divide_in_local_news.html?showall

September 26, 2011
Categories: Polls
The age divide in local news

Polls have shown for years now that young people tend to hang out on the internet while older people are kicking back before the flat screen. But a new poll on local news consumption by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Internet & American Life Project fleshes out the contours of this divide.

For Americans polled under 40, the web ranked or tied for first as a source for local news in three quarters of the subjects asked about – 12 out of 16.

From Pew:
If someone is under age 40, she tends to get the following kinds of local news and information from the following places:
• Internet: weather, politics, crime, arts/cultural events, local businesses, schools, community events, restaurants, traffic, taxes, housing, local government, jobs, social services, and zoning/development
• Newspapers: crime, arts/cultural events, community events, taxes, local government, jobs, social services, zoning/development
• TV stations: weather, breaking news, politics, crime, traffic, local government, and social services
• Radio: traffic
• Word of mouth: Community events
If she is 40 or older, she tends to get the following kinds of news in the following places:
• Newspapers: politics, crime, arts/cultural events, local businesses, schools, community events, restaurants, taxes, housing and real estate, government activities, jobs, zoning/development, social services
• TV stations: weather, breaking news, politics, traffic, crime
• Internet: local businesses, restaurants
This puts news organizations – especially local TV stations wondering how much emphasis to put on their websites – in a tough spot. As Pew notes, the data suggests that people who look for local news online don’t do it by going to their local TV station’s website, so much as to a specialty website or a search engine.