• by Wayne Friedman , January 5, 2011

Television is still the dominant way Americans get their news -- but the Internet continues to gain ground.

Sixty-six percent of Americans say TV is still their main source of news, with 41% saying they get most of their international and national news from the Internet -- this according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

TV has dropped its influence from a high of 82% in 2002 and 74% in 2007. The Internet is up 17 percentage points since 2007 -- although it actually dipped in 2009 from 2008, to 35% from 40%.

There is no confusion concerning newspapers, however; a consistent drop has occured. Fifty percent of Americans said newspapers represented their main source of news in 2003 -- and this is now down to 31% in 2010. Radio has been more consistent -- at 18% in 2001, up to 21% in 2004, and at 16% for 2010.

No surprise: Pew says more young people claim the Internet as their main source of news vs. TV. The Internet's influence over 18-29s has doubled. This group now says the Internet is the main source of news 65% of the time -- almost double that of 34% three years ago.

At the same time, younger Americans say TV has dropped as their main source of news -- dropping to 52% from 68%.

Pew says slightly older Americans are also gaining on the Internet -- but TV is still their main source of news. Currently, 30-49s rate the Internet 48% of the time as their main source of news -- up 16 percentage points in three years. This group cites TV at 63%, down eight points during that time period.

Looking at just television, Americans say cable and broadcast news outlets represent a smaller share as their primary source of news. In contrast to five years ago, cable news outlets have dropped to 36% from 43%; broadcast has slipped to 22% from 30%. When asked to name a news network, 36% cited CNN, Fox News Channel, or MSNBC, while 22% named ABC News, CBS News or NBC News.

Pew say the study was conducted from Dec 1-5, 2010 among 1,500 adults reached on cell phones and landlines.