Impact of Internet News 2
discussion and contacting. Sixty-six percent of those who went online for news said they follow
national news most of the time, compared to just 47% of those who do not use the Internet.
Similarly, Robinson et al. (2000) found no significant evidence that Internet usage reduces time
spend with media or social activities. In fact, Internet users reported significantly higher use of
print news media and attendance at movies.
The Internet’s lack of influence on traditional news consumption can be partly explained
by the fact that people spend far less time getting the news online than they do getting news from
traditional sources. According to a recent survey report by Pew (2004), while about half of all
Americans (51%) say they spend at least 30 minutes watching television news during a typical
day, and about a quarter spend that much time reading the newspaper (26%) or listening to radio
news (25%), only about 7% say that they spend at least a half-hour each day getting the news
online.
Thus, instead of diminishing news audiences, the Internet might be emerging as a
supplement to—not a substitute for—other traditional news sources. The question remains
whether in the long-term, given the exponential growth of online news consumption and the
attraction of the Internet to the younger generation, this pattern will be maintained or whether
online sources will gradually come to replace traditional news sources.
The goal of this study is to explore the potentially growing impact of Internet news
consumption on traditional news usage. Unlike previous analyses, this study will track the
impact of Internet news on the use of traditional mass media news sources such as television,
newspapers, radio, and magazines between 1998 and 2004. Data for this study come from four
national telephone surveys conducted by Pew in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. Since each of the
surveys contains the same questions regarding respondents’ news exposure, this study is able to
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