Pew: Young people eschewing TV news

It’s no secret that fewer young people are reading newspapers. Now it appears they’re eschewing another form of traditional media, the local news.

A new report from the Pew Research Center finds that only 34 percent of people ages 18-29 watched any TV news the previous day, down from 49 percent just six years ago.

The overall percentage of people watching TV news also dropped, though not as sharply as among young people. It went from 57 percent to 55 percent.

Young people saw by far the sharpest drop, with viewers ages 50 and above actually reporting a gain in TV news viewing.

Asked whether they “regularly” view TV news, 28 percent of 18-29s said yes, compared to 42 percent six years ago.

Clearly media habits are shifting. The study found that only 23 percent of all respondents reported reading a newspaper the previous day, compared to 38 percent six years ago and 41 percent a decade ago.

Just 17 percent had read a print magazine, down 7 percentage points from 2006.
 

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