News consumption habits - summer 2016

http://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/pew_report_online_news_sharing.php

http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/the-modern-news-consumer/

People still prefer to watch news over reading or listening, and TV remains the dominant medium. However, older viewers are shielding broadcast news from the disruption that has ravaged the newspaper industry. More than 72 percent of those over the age of 50 still prefer getting their news from TV, but the number drops to just 27 percent for people aged 18-29.

Pew also found that younger news consumers are generally less trusting and approving of news organizations than their elders, unless they are already familiar with the news brand.

In the digital environment, more people consume news while doing other things (55 percent) than actively seek it out (44 percent). Seekers are more likely to supplement their social news diet with visits to news organization websites and apps.

Despite huge growth in the use of social networks, 85 percent of US adults still prefer to share news by word of mouth rather than digitally, according to Pew.

The proportion of people who often liked, commented, posted, and shared news was less than 16 percent, while those who did it only sometimes accounted for less than half of those surveyed. Interestingly, although young people are more likely to get their news online, they are no more likely to engage with news online than older people; indeed, Pew found that people over 50 were most likely to comment on news posts. That could be because young adults are less interested in news than their elders and discuss news at lower rates.

We saw the downside of being too quick to share unverified information Thursday, when Mark Hughes was identified on Twitter by the Dallas Police Department as a suspect in the killing of 5 police officers. Social media users were equally quick to help clear his name by posting and spreading evidence proving he wasn’t involved, but he still received thousands of death threats.

breaking news = incorrect news.

social media mob can both harm and help.

#media