• by Paul Gough , September 2, 2003

In another sign that TV still commands the lion's share of attention among consumers, a new study finds a majority of Americans would turn to television first in the event of breaking news like another terrorist attack.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project with Federal Computer Week, focused on an all-too-familiar aspect of recent years, terrorism. Among other things, the survey asked Americans where they'd turn to get information about a terrorist attack in their community.

Fifty-four percent said they'd turn to TV first and 22% more said they'd go to it as a second source in the event of a terrorist attack or other emergency. That's far ahead of the closest rival medium, radio, which 15% anticipated would be their primary source of information and 25% would turn to the radio as their secondary source.

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that the survey confirmed that television remains the most significant source of information for the majority of Americans.

"TV is still the primary source people would rely on in an emergency," Rainie said. It's not only habit honed from three generations of national emergencies, from the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy to 9/11 and, most recently, the war in Iraq. Rainie said that television above all has the aura of well-known, reputable journalism that people turn to for quick and reasoned news and information. No other new communications channel - not even the Internet - can rival its reach in a crisis.

"Television has the most credibility, particularly on breaking news. If you can get to a TV, you're more likely to chose that option on a breaking news event," said Evans Witt, president of Princeton Survey Research Associates, which conducted the survey.

But because the question had a local component - clearly differentiating between a terrorist attack in the respondent's community and not just in general - Witt said that TV's numbers might even be lower than they would be without the local qualification.

The study did, however, flesh out Americans' expectations of the Internet's role in a crisis. Eight percent would turn to the Internet first as a source of information in a terrorist attack but 17% considered it a second source of information. Rainie said that TV's primacy over the Internet didn't have to do with degree of trustworthiness. In fact, Rainie said, that following 9/11 the big news Web sites learned a lot about how to update information quickly, what to have on the sites and how it connects to the offline medium. But it's not how many Americans use the Web, said Ivo H. Daalder, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., who analyzed the survey data. Daalder said the Internet was generally where Americans go to dig deeper into a subject.

Multitasking is also a factor, with the number of viewers searching the Web at the same time they're watching TV, Daalder said. Princeton Survey Research's Witt pointed out that there are some limiting factors on the use of the Internet. Sixty-four percent of the 1,001 adults who responded to the survey used the Web or email. Witt said that the Internet has become a major source of information for Americans.

"American who have the ability to access the Internet will use it in times of crisis. They won't use it to the exclusion of TV, they'll use it in addition to TV. They won't use it to the exclusion of newspapers, they'll use it in addition to newspapers," Witt said.

The recent East Coast blackout, which took place soon after the survey was completed, also highlighted how most of the other media couldn't be used due to the power failure. Radio became important because it could still be used without electricity, which can't be said for television, the Internet and even wireless

"It is still the way in which true emergency communication is going to be done, because all the other things are too dependent on electricity," said Daalder.

At the same time, the survey revealed that Americans are open to more than just the traditional ways of getting news. Although not widely available or in use, 22% surveyed said they want a warning system on pagers and cell phones. This indexed much higher - 36% -- among Americans under 29. With the chips down, Americans seem to want as many channels of communication open as possible.

"They want every possible communications channel firing on all cylinders, because they aren't sure that they'll be near a TV or a radio, or that those devices will be working perfectly," Rainie said. "When a big story hits, they want to hear about it wherever they are."