I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The Internet is now the third most popular source of news, behind local and television national news, says a new report by the Pew Research Center for People & the Press. Loyalty to one particular news organization is a thing of the past, as 92 percent of Americans told Pew they use multiple news platforms on a typical day, including television, Internet, newspapers and radio. Only 7 percent get their news from a single platform on a typical day.
Most Americans use a combination of Internet and non-internet sources for news on a typical day:
- 78 percent of Americans say they get news from a local TV station.
- 73 percent say they get news from a national network such as CBS or cable TV station such as CNN or Fox News.
- 61 percent say they get some kind of news online.
- 54 percent say they listen to a radio news program at home or in the car.
- 50 percent say they read news in a local newspaper.
- 17 percent say they read news in a national newspaper such as the New York Times or USA Today.
The report highlighted three attributes of how and why people use news on the Web: It’s portable (read on devices like cell phones), personalized (Internet users have their own set of favorite news outlets they check each day) and participatory (Internet users are likely to comment on news and share it with others).
In terms of content, at least 50 percent of Americans thought all of the topics listed by Pew were adequately covered. But significant numbers think that state government and local neighborhood/community issues aren’t covered adequately.
The study also looked at the content satisfaction level based on identification with political groupings–Independents, Republicans, and Democrats. Independents–who the Pew Center identify as the largest political group in the country at 34 percent–want more coverage of particular topics across the board than those identified as Democrats or Republicans.
Chart showing satisfaction based on political group, in "Understanding the Participatory News Consumer, by the Pew Research Center
