Commentary

Just An Online Minute... Political News on the Web

  • by March 8, 2005
When it comes to political news, more Americans turned to the Web for information and analysis during the last presidential election than newspapers, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Pew reports that 18 percent of adults used the Web as one of two main sources for news about the 2004 presidential election, versus 3 percent in 1996. Adults' reliance on newspapers fell to 39 percent last year, versus 60 percent in 1996, while their reliance on TV for political news increased from 72 to 78 percent, according to Pew's telephone survey.

The study found that Americans who accessed news on the presidential campaign over the Web were more likely to visit the sites of CNN and The New York Times (43 percent), versus Internet-only news sources including the candidates' Web sites and blogs (24 percent). Pew found that 28 percent of those surveyed said they accessed political news from AOL, Yahoo!, and other online portals.

Pew found that 58 percent of people who followed political news on the Web cited convenience as their main reason. One-third of those who read political news said that they couldn't get all the news they sought from newspapers and TV, while 11 percent said Internet news outlets offered information they couldn't get elsewhere.

Blogs were found to have an influence over what the campaigns addressed and what news organizations covered. Notably, blogs have been credited with sparking CBS' "Memo-gate" fiasco in which Dan Rather was forced to issue an apology for a "60 Minutes II" report on President Bush's National Guard service. Blogs covered the CBS report and its aftermath extensively.

The Pew study also found that those with broadband connections at home were more likely to rely on the Web for political news; 38 percent of broadband users versus 28 percent of all Web users turned to the Internet for political news. In addition, 40 percent of Internet users said the Web was a significant resource in helping them make a voting decision, 20 percent said online information made a difference.

The random survey of 2,200 adults, including 1,324 Internet users, was conducted Nov. 4 through 22.

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