61% get local news from newspapers, claims a survey recently reported in the Baltimore Sun.
[snip]
A survey by the market research business Outsell Inc., which echoes other recent studies, determined that 61 percent of consumers look to their newspapers as an essential source for local news, events and sports, followed by television (58 percent) and radio (35 percent). About 6 percent turn to the major Internet search engines for local news and information.
The survey of 2,800 consumers’ news habits found that television is consumers’ top choice for national news. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they rely on network, cable and satellite TV as primary or secondary sources of national news. Thirty-three percent choose their local newspapers first or second for coverage of national events, followed by 28 percent who access sites such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL News. Eleven percent of consumers are relying regularly on their daily newspapers’ Web sites, the survey said.
Consumers, the study found, “prefer the Web as the best route to news and information about health, personal finance and travel.”
In addition, it said, the “interactivity and personalization afforded by the Internet” has not only cut into newspaper readership but has weakened the link between reading and shopping, which ultimately costs publishers money.
[snip]
Found via Mike’s Point, who writes:
For those of us in public and media relations, we need to be aware of where those we want to reach get their information. If you are working with a local or regional client, the traditional outlets are still best.
So, those of you who are hoping that you can completely circumvent traditional media, you might want to rethink that strategy.
