In an era where TV, radio and newspapers have seen major declines in their audience, the internet is just about the only place where news audiences are growing these days. But despite that growth, the web is not considered one of the more helpful resources. That’s according to a study issued by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which found that the number of people who get their news online has grown more than fifteenfold since 1996. Pew also found that the internet is generally used as a supplement to other news sources, the place where people look to get the headlines but little else. They then switch on TV to get the deeper story. Only 31 percent of the population gets the news online each day, compared with 54 percent who regularly watch local TV news, 40 percent who read newspapers, 36 percent who listen to the radio, 34 percent who watch cable news, 28 percent who watch the nightly network news, and 23 percent who watch the network morning news. While internet news consumption has grown the most over the past decade, the percentage of those who regularly watch nightly network news has declined the most, by 32 percentage points, since 1993. Local TV news is also down significantly, from 77 percent to 54 percent, while newspapers went from 58 percent in 1994 to 40 percent now. Dr. Michael Dimock, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, talks to Media Life about the web’s news function, why small newspapers still have an edge, and whether interest in Iraq is fading.
 

You say in the report that the web serves mostly as a supplement to other news sources rather than a primary source. Why? Has it always been this way?
 
From 1996 to 2000, the proportion of Americans getting news online was exploding so rapidly that it looked as if it might fundamentally change the landscape of news media.

Now the pace of that growth has slowed considerably, the steep declines for newspapers and television have leveled off, and the overall role of internet news can be assessed a bit more clearly.

We find that very few people have replaced the traditional news sources of TV, newspapers and radio with internet news entirely. Even on a typical day the percent who only get news on the web and nowhere else is very, very small.

Instead, we find that most people getting news online are blending it with other news sources. In fact, they are still spending more time with TV, radio and newspapers on a typical day than they spend getting news on the web.

The web has great features as a news source--in particular its convenience, speed, interactiveness, and immediacy. But some of its other characteristics-feeling disorganized, lacking editorial input, requiring the user to seek out what they want to know rather than delivering it already packaged--are things which other media provide much better.
 

Did it surprise you at all that, despite the rise in the number of sources for news, there has not been a rise in the news audience overall?
 
No. The overall appetite for news has varied some over time, but is not on the rise.

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and around the start of the war in Iraq, for example, we saw significant spikes in news engagement, especially with international news. But these spikes have never transformed into a long-term shift in the amount of time people want to spend with the news each day.

As new news sources have arrived over the past few decades, it has provided people with many more ways to get their news, but it has not increased their overall interest in the news, the amount of time they want to spend getting the news, or the priority they place on staying informed.
 

Newspaper readership has plunged over the past 13 years. To what to you ascribe the falloff? Is that where the internet is really hurting traditional news, or is it simply a matter of our changing lifestyles?
 
Three main changes have affected newspaper readership.

First, there are many more news options today than there were 13 years ago, not only from the internet but from cable television and even the expansion of talk and news radio.

Second, many people feel their lives are busier, and newspapers do not fit into their daily schedule as easily as other news sources.

Third, younger generations have not developed the “habit” of reading a newspaper every morning or evening. Overall, it is a combination of lifestyle and technology changes that have dealt the blow to newspapers.
 

Newspaper groups have been hyping readership of web newspapers for months now as print circulation dips. Is web readership all that significant?
 
Millions of people are going to newspaper web sites each day, which is a very significant factor. But it’s hardly turning around the long-term decline in newspaper readership. At best, newspaper readership levels are stabilizing with the help of the web site audience.

In part, this is because nearly half of the people reading newspapers online are also reading in print, so the net gain from the web sites in terms of individuals is limited. In addition, not all newspapers are succeeding online at the same rate.

Our survey shows that the web sites of major national newspapers, such as NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com and USAToday.com are drawing by far the greatest share of the online newspaper readership – in many cases from people who may have read their local paper in print and supplement that with the national paper online.
 

How are web newspaper readers different from print ones?
 
The audience for web newspapers is younger and far more engaged in the news.  By younger, I mean they are under age 60 – in fact, people in their 30s, 40s and 50s are the most likely to read newspapers online – they are more interested in keeping up with the news than people in their 20s, and have more web access (often at work) than people in their 60s and older.

The people who tend to seek out newspapers on the web tend to be news “junkies” so to speak – they enjoy keeping up with the news, and the web is part of a broad mix of media they turn to for news each day. This is different from the internet in general as a source of news. Most people getting news online are not reading newspaper web sites, they are going to MSNBC or Yahoo and getting brief headlines.
 

Local news remains the biggest draw for newspapers. Why? Is this an area where the internet lags behind?
 
Local news is seen as the most unique contribution of newspapers, and people who are interested in keeping abreast of local events and politics rely heavily on newspapers, either in print or online, for their information. I think there is not much competition for newspapers yet in this regard. Local television news covers some, but not all, aspects of what’s going on in a person’s community.

There are opportunities out there for competitors. Smaller community newspapers have grown dramatically in recent years in filling the desire for more localized information about where a person lives.

While there are some community-oriented web sites that have come along, along with e-mail list-servs and other ways people can communicate with their neighbors, this is an area where newspapers have a great advantage on the web.

They have the infrastructure of reporters, photographers and editors who can gather local news in a way that no other news outlet can at this point.
 

You found that interest in news in Iraq has fallen off since spring 2004. Why is that? What are news viewers most interested in right now? Least?
 
I would not say that the public has disengaged from Iraq. It is still the most important issue facing the nation, and probably the single key news item that drives peoples’ political views and attitudes.

But in 2004 it was the single biggest story, while today it is one among many stories that are going on. There is no one topic that has replaced news from Iraq on the public’s radar screen, but energy prices and the economy have grown as public concerns and as a part of their overall focus.

In addition, as the news from Iraq continues to be “more of the same” people are tracking it a bit less closely from day to day, but not because it’s any less important to them overall.