Americans Get an Increasing Amount of Their News Digitally - Horowitz

Americans Get an Increasing Amount of Their News Digitally - Horowitz

The shift from the post-World War II mass media structure, in which broadcast television news and daily newspapers were dominant, to today’s fragmented niche media structure, one that is increasingly digital, continues to accelerate.  

 

While it may seem like several lifetimes ago, as recently as close to the beginning of this century, people still mainly received their national news by sitting down at 6:30 PM every weeknight to watch one of three national broadcast networks or by reading their local newspaper. They did so with a high degree of trust that what they were viewing and reading reflected reality. When Walter Cronkite ended each of the CBS newscasts, he anchored for nearly 20 years with “And that’s the way it is,” the American public, by and large, nodded their heads in agreement.

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Today, people select their national news from a seemingly endless list of options and do so in large measure by choosing to watch, read, and click on news sources that are in line with their own political viewpoint.  These sources are increasingly digital, according to the Pew Research Center’s annual State of the News Media report.

 

More specifically, nearly 6-in-10 (57%) American adults say they often get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, and nearly 9-in-10 (86%) get their news at least sometimes from these digital devices, according to the Pew news media report. In contrast, 1-in-3 (33%) American adults say they get their news from television often and a little more than 6-in-10 (63%) get their news from television at least sometimes.  Even fewer adults now get their news from newspapers and other print sources; only about 1-in-4 (26%) say they receive news this way at least sometimes.

 

Similarly, a substantial majority of American adults prefer accessing news digitally to getting it on other platforms.  "When asked which of these platforms they prefer to get news on, 58% of Americans say they prefer a digital device, far higher than the share who prefer TV (32%),” documents the Pew report. “Relatively few Americans prefer radio (6%) or print (4%).”

 

People connect to news on their digital devices in various ways. The most frequently employed are news websites or apps, and search engines, with about 2-in-3 American adults accessing their news in each of these ways at least sometimes. “A little more than half (54%) at least sometimes get news from social media, and 27% say the same about podcasts.” according to the Pew media report.

 

This transition from television and print to digital as the main platform for news will —  if anything —  move at greater speed as mortality takes its inevitable toll on older Americans. The only age group where television news consumption still outpaces digital news consumption is people 65 and older. In this sub-group, 70% of American adults get their news from digital sources at least sometimes as compared to 86% who receive their news from television at least sometimes.  In contrast, among people aged 18 to 29, more than 9-in-10 (91%) get their news digitally at least sometimes, while less than half (46%) receive it from television at least sometimes.

 

In terms of news and information, the brave new digital world that we continue to hurtle towards has some significant advantages.  There is far more rich, credible, and insightful information available at one’s fingertips today than at any time in our history, and the advent of AI will supercharge this advantage.  For discerning news consumers, there are also more ways to independently verify the accuracy of the news one reads or watches.

 

We have still not made much progress, however, in grappling with the troubling downsides. These include the prevalence of disinformation, intentional and damaging falsehoods and propaganda spread to advance a political or economic agenda.  Also, highly problematic is the polarizing impact of people selecting the news sources that reinforce their own political views. Studies document that it causes people to be more extreme in their political outlook, more certain that they are right, and less open to new ideas and other ways of seeing an issue.  Also, the fragmentation inherent in a digitally dominated news delivery system in which people select from hundreds of different options —  makes exposing Americans to the common corps of information that grounds and lubricates democratic debate and deliberation — elusive.

 
These are the inescapable problems we must solve if we are to realize the tremendous potential of the digital media age. One thing is certain, however: there is no going back.