Pew Research Center » Digital Media

State of the News Media 2013

Pew Research Center — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:52:35 +0000

News reporting resources continued to decline in 2012 and nearly a third of Americans have abandoned a news outlet. Meanwhile, more newsmakers are able to take their messages directly to the public.

Infographic: Visualizing the Future of Mobile News

Pew Research Center — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:28:34 +0000

See a selection of infographics presenting data from The Project for Excellence in Journalism's Future of Mobile News report. The infographics are the result of a designer challenge issued by PEJ in collaboration with The Economist Group and data visualization website Visual.ly.

Infographic: The Rise of Digital Politics: Social Media, Mobile Devices and the Campaign

Pew Research Center — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:27:44 +0000

The growth of social media and rapid adoption of internet-enable mobile devices have changed the way Americans engage in the political process. An infographic provides a summary of the latest data from national surveys taken during the 2012 campaign.

Internet Gains Most as Campaign News Source, But Cable TV Still Leads

Pew Research Center — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:49:18 +0000

Americans are following the presidential campaign more closely on nearly every news platform than they were earlier in the year.

One-in-Ten ‘Dual-Screened’ the Presidential Debate

Pew Research Center — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:54:50 +0000

More than half of America watched the first presidential debate live, including 11% who were "dual screeners," following coverage on a computer or mobile device while also following television coverage.

Future of Mobile News

Pew Research Center — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:20:02 +0000

The era of mobile digital technology has crossed a new threshold.

Infographic: The Future of Mobile News

Pew Research Center — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:56:18 +0000

Highlights from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism report The Future of Mobile News.

In Changing News Landscape, Even Television Is Vulnerable

Pew Research Center — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The transformation of the nation’s news landscape has already taken a heavy toll on print news sources, particularly print newspapers. But there are now signs that television news – which so far has held onto its audience through the rise of the internet – also is increasingly vulnerable, as it may be losing its hold on the next generation of news consumers.

Online and digital news consumption, meanwhile, continues to increase, with many more people now getting news on cell phones, tablets or other mobile platforms.

And perhaps the most dramatic change in the news environment has been the rise of social networking sites. The percentage of Americans saying they saw news or news headlines on a social networking site yesterday has doubled – from 9% to 19% – since 2010. Among adults under age 30, as many saw news on a social networking site the previous day (33%) as saw any television news (34%), with just 13% having read a newspaper either in print or digital form.

These are among the principal findings of the Pew Research Center’s biennial news consumption survey, which has tracked patterns in news use for nearly two decades. The latest survey was conducted May 9-June 3, 2012, among 3,003 adults.

Eight-in-Ten Following Olympics on TV or Digitally

Pew Research Center — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:11:01 +0000

Large majorities of Americans are following coverage of the Olympic Games in London. Nearly eight-in-ten (78%) say they have watched or followed Olympic coverage either on television, online or on social networks.

YouTube as a Major Platform for News Videos

Pew Research Center — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Amy Mitchell, Deputy Director of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, answers questions about PEJ’s report on the emergence of YouTube as a major platform for viewing news. She was interviewed by Lesley Lanir of the website, Digital Journal. The full article and interview can be found here. You can also view a video presentation of the report by Amy Mitchell.

Lesley Lanir: Why do you think people are turning to YouTube for News videos?

Amy Mitchell: The YouTube platform offers a new form of video journalism. Individuals can bear witness to events in a new and powerful way. As with other social and web-based media it also allows people to watch these moments on their own agenda, and to share them with others.

LL: Are you surprised at the type of news videos being viewed?

AM: There is a wide variety of videos in the mix of most viewed across these 15 months. In some cases they are major international events that were also covered heavily in the mainstream media. But in other cases, they demonstrate the way that as in blogs and other social media more obscure events can quickly gather massive interest. One element that was rather consistent was the event be centered around events rather than people – which supports the idea of bearing witness to events. Fully 65% of the videos studied did not feature any one individual.

LL: Are you surprised at the types of videos available, the quality, etc.

AM: One finding that stood out was the complex interplay between citizens and news organizations. All stages of the process — capture, production, posting — the data show both citizens and news organizations involved in different ways depending on the video and the news events. There is also a solid mix of raw footage and edited, with citizens and news organizations offering a mix of both.

LL: Do you think adding a video enhances interest and pumps up views no matter what the news story?

AM: It is unwise to make vast generalizations like that. Certainly certain events are more visually oriented than others and there are hundreds and thousands of videos that attract very few viewers. That said, more and more, producers of information are thinking about a multi-media approach, using all four methods of consuming information: visual, audio, text-based and graphical.

LL: Do you think more people in the future would rather watch videos than news on TV?

AM: Again, I would prefer not to answer such general questions like that. Network news offers something different than videos on YouTube and there are still somewhere around 20 million people watching network evening news daily.