Over the past three years the number of young adults saying the internet is their main source for national and international news has grown rapidly — nearly doubling from 34% in 2007 to 65% today. As a result, for the first time, the internet has surpassed television as the main news source for adults younger than age 30. Over this period, young adults citing television as their main news source has dropped from 68% to 52%. Just 21% of young adults say that newspapers are a main news source. In fact, the internet has been on par with or more popular than newspapers as a main news source among adults ages 18 to 29 since 2003. Even fewer young adults (15%) cite radio as a main source for news. Nearly half (48%) of adults ages 30 to 49 now say the internet is a main source for news — up 16 points from 2007 – as well as a third (34%) of adults ages 50 to 64. People ages 65 and older remain the most reluctant to embrace the internet as a main news source — just 14% do so. For adults ages 30 and older television remains by far the main source for news. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.