TV Network News Top Source of News and Information Today

TV Network News Top Source of News and Information Today

Just Two in Five U.S. Adults are Regular Readers of Newspapers

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Gathering news and information used to be easy - there was the network news and the daily newspaper. Then cable news stations entered the picture, forever changing the news landscape. And the impact of the Internet has changed it even further. With all of these 24-hour news sources at our fingertips, will there still be a place for newspapers in the new information age?

The answer is "yes", according to a recent Harris Poll. In a survey of adults in five European countries, Australia and the United States, readership of major daily newspapers today ranges from a low of six percent of adults in Great Britain and Italy to a high of 13 percent in Spain and Germany. The number one source for each country is TV network news.

But, looking five years in to the future, the number for major daily newspapers drops just slightly. The lowest percentage of adults who indicate that major daily newspapers will be their source for news and information is in Great Britain and Italy (4% each) while the highest percentage is among German adults (12%). The big difference is that online news and information sites become the number one source of news and information for the United States, France, Italy, and Spain and are tied for first for Australian adults. TV network news will still be first for adults in Great Britain and Germany.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll which was conducted online by Harris Interactive(R) among a total of 8,749 adults within France (1,134); Germany (1,133); Great Britain (1,006); Italy (1,122); Spain (995); Australia (976); and the United States (2,383), between May 2 and 14, 2007. In Italy and the United States, these adults were 18 and older; in all other countries, they were 16 and older. Data from this survey was also presented at the World Association of Newspapers Annual Congress on June 6, 2007.

Are Adults Reading the Newspaper?

Across the countries, frequency of newspaper readership varies greatly. Almost half (48%) of Spanish adults and 46 percent of Germans are regular readers (5 or more days a week). Two out of five US adults (39%) are regular readers as are one-third of British adults (35%), Italian adults (34%) and Australian adults (33%). On the low end, just one-quarter (26%) of French adults regularly read the paper while 44 percent of them are infrequent readers, only one day a week or less.

There have been a lot of reasons given for not reading the newspaper. The number one reason for U.S. (58%), French (57%), German (56%) and Australian (66%) adults is simply lack of time. For British and Spanish adults, the top reason for not reading the newspaper is that it is biased or too narrow of a viewpoint in its reporting (54% for each country). For over half of Italian adults (52%) the top reason is that it is easier to go online for news and information. As this is also a reason for over half of U.S. and French adults (55% each) and half of Australian adults (49%), it is definitely something newspapers should be concerned with in moving towards the future.

Ultimately, it seems that a good deal of information gathering is occurring online. Half of adults in Germany and Australia as well as more than half of French (54%), US (56%) and Spanish adults (58%) access online news and information sites at least once a day. In Italy, this number jumps as three- quarters of adults (74%) access online news sites at least once a day. Great Britain seems slower to go online. One-third (31%) of British adults do not access online news sites with any regularity and an additional 28 percent of them only access them about once a week.

Credibility of Newspapers

Newspapers may have a small credibility issue. While adults in these seven countries do not believe that newspapers have absolutely no credibility, they do not believe they have complete credibility either. On a scale of 0 to 100 where "0" means they have absolutely no credibility and "100" means complete credibility, adults in great Britain rate newspapers a score of 50 - which is the lowest of all the countries -- closely followed by Italy (mean of 52) and the United States (mean of 57). Adults in France, Spain and Australia all are close in their attitudes towards newspapers' credibility as they give mean scores of 58, 59 and 60, respectively. Adults in Germany, however, have the strongest concept of newspapers' credibility as they give them a score of 67.

Roles of Newspapers

While people may not be reading newspapers as much as they once were, they still do see the importance of them. Four out of five or more adults in all seven countries say it is important for newspapers to have roles such as providing news and information about evens in their region, country and the world. Three-quarters or more in each of the countries surveyed believe an important role of newspapers is to provide news they can use in their daily life and that is interesting to know. One area where the United States varies from the other countries is in providing information that is needed to know how to vote. Eight in ten U.S. adults (79%) say this is an important role of newspapers and this is by far the highest of all the countries. Just six in ten Italian and British adults (60% and 61% respectively) feel the same way.

Looking to the future

Looking more specifically to the future, the top thing newspapers and their associated online news sites could do to better represent the issues in their communities would be to ensure all points of views are represented. Another important item for the future is providing more research and findings on key issues. Two in five (44%) U.S. adults, half of Spanish adults and 57 percent of Australian adults all say this is something newspapers could do to better represent issues in their communities. More than half of German adults (52%) and 48 percent of Australian adults believe raising the quality of writing and analysis would help newspapers in the future.

TABLE 1
CURRENT SOURCES OF NEWS AND INFORMATION
"What are your sources for news and information today?"
Base: All EU adults in five countries, US adults and Australian adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
TV Network News 25 36 29 30 22 28 35
Online news and
information sites 18 14 17 22 18 16 18
Cable network news 14 2 9 5 7 7 3
Radio 12 16 20 11 16 18 17
Major Daily
Newspapers 12 6 7 6 13 13 12
Local community
newspapers 8 6 3 7 3 4 6
Magazines 4 3 5 5 4 5 3
National Daily
Newspapers 3 11 6 8 12 5 5
School & work
newsletters 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Other sources 3 2 3 3 2 3 1

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Note: Respondents were presented with choices and their total of sources used needed to add up to 100%

TABLE 2

FUTURE SOURCES OF NEWS AND INFORMATION

"What do you think your sources for news and information will be five years

from now?"
Base: All EU adults in five countries, US adults and Australian adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
Online news and 26 26 26 39 28 23 30
information sites
TV Network News 22 33 24 22 17 26 30
Cable network news 15 4 11 8 10 6 5
Radio 11 14 16 9 15 17 13
Major Daily 10 4 5 4 10 12 10
Newspapers
Local community 6 3 2 4 2 3 4
newspapers
Magazines 3 2 4 4 3 4 2
National Daily 3 11 6 8 12 5 4
Newspapers
School & work 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
newsletters
Other sources 4 3 5 2 2 3 2

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Note: Respondents were presented with choices and their total of sources used needed to add up to 100%

TABLE 3

NEWSPAPER CREDIBILITY "How would you assess the credibility of newspapers today (think of those that

you familiar with) on an index of 0 to 100 where a '0' means they have
absolutely no credibility and a '100' means complete credibility at all
times?"
Base: All EU adults in five countries, Australia and US adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
0 4 5 2 2 1 1 2
1-10 4 5 4 5 5 2 3
11-20 5 6 3 4 3 2 4
21-30 5 6 6 8 4 2 4
31-40 3 6 5 8 5 4 4
41-50 17 18 18 22 18 16 18
51-60 6 9 14 15 11 8 14
61-70 8 11 14 14 11 11 11
71-80 21 11 20 12 20 29 23
81-90 10 5 5 3 7 12 8
91-100 4 2 2 2 4 5 3
Don't know 12 16 7 6 11 9 7
Mean 57 50 58 52 59 67 60

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4
IMPORTANCE OF NEWSPAPERS

"Please indicate how important, in your life and/or community, you feel each

of the following roles are for a newspaper and its associated online news
sites as well as any specialty publications it may have?"
Total Important (Very important and somewhat important combined)
Base: All EU adults in five countries, Australia and US adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
Provide news and
information about
events in your local
region and community 88 79 85 93 83 84 90
Provide news and
information about
events in your
country 87 84 95 95 92 90 94
Provide news and
information about
events in the world 86 84 92 94 90 87 92
Hold public officials
accountable for
what they do 84 82 81 79 74 80 89
Report the news as
quickly as possible 84 82 83 82 92 79 88
Provide news and
information you
can use in
your daily life 83 80 77 81 87 82 85
Provide news and
information that's
interesting to know 81 79 87 89 91 80 86
Provide news and
information you need
to decide how to vote 79 61 69 60 63 72 75
Point out problems that
need to be solved 79 80 84 91 92 83 83
Protect the public
from abuses of power 78 82 83 85 90 83 86
Help society to solve
its problems 56 61 69 71 86 66 70

TABLE 5
REASON FOR NOT READING NEWSPAPERS
"What do you think causes some people not to want to read a newspaper on a
regular basis?"
Base: All EU adults in five countries, Australia and US adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
Lack of time to read
the newspaper 58 52 57 50 44 56 66
Easier to go online for
news and information 55 40 55 52 45 38 49
Biased or too narrow
of a viewpoint in its
reporting 50 54 43 49 54 30 53
Not viewed as a
credible or
trustworthy source
of news 38 52 22 39 35 29 45
and information
Poor quality of
reporting
and writing 32 32 11 20 17 22 33
Cost of the newspaper 30 30 53 31 28 55 32
Not writing or
reporting on topics
that are personally
relevant 27 29 31 13 23 21 32
Not providing enough
information about
local news, people
and events 21 21 12 18 15 16 27
Not visual enough,
not interesting or
compelling
from a design and
formal standpoint 17 15 27 22 19 29 21
Something else 10 10 9 9 23 16 12
Not sure 7 5 3 2 4 3 2
Note: Multiple Responses Allowed

TABLE 6
NEWSPAPERS IN THE FUTURE
"What can newspapers and their associated online news sites and specialty
publications do to better represent the issues in their communities in the
future?"
Base: All EU adults in five countries, Australia and US adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
Ensure that all
points of view are
fairly represented
in key issues occurring
in the community 65 58 64 68 65 57 79
Provide more research
and findings on
key issues occurring
in the community 44 39 37 39 50 34 57
Raise the quality of
writing and analysis
on the key issues
occurring in the
community 43 40 35 43 41 52 48
Better integration
of the newspaper and
its associated online
sites for more in-depth
coverage and links on
key issues in the
community 36 33 32 47 39 37 43
Allow for more
'citizen journalism'
that publishes
citizen stories
and opinion 30 31 37 40 40 31 39
Provide more interactive
reader and audience
forums for debate on
key community issues 26 24 29 33 42 25 40
Take stronger stands
on key issues
occurring in the
community and say
what the newspaper
feels is the
right outcome or
direction 20 30 19 33 41 38 30
Something else 4 3 6 6 8 5 4
Not sure 18 20 12 3 8 14 8
Note: Multiple Responses Allowed

TABLE 7
NEWSPAPER READERSHIP
"Please indicate your frequency of newspaper readership"
Base: All EU adults in five countries, US adults and Australian adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
Regular reader,
usually 5 or more 39 35 26 34 48 46 33
days per week
Occasional
reader, 2 or 3 25 24 30 35 30 22 31
days a week
Infrequent
reader, 1 day a
week or less 36 40 44 31 21 32 36

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 8
ACCESSING ONLINE SITES
"Please indicate your frequency of accessing online news and information
sites. Please choose the statement which best describes you."
Base: All EU adults in five countries, US adults and Australian adults

United Great
States Britain France Italy Spain Germany Australia
% % % % % % %
I access online
news and information
multiple times
per day, they are
an extremely
important source
of information
for me. 19 9 20 33 16 15 16
I access online
news and
information sites
at least once a
day, they are
important but not
the only source I
rely on. 37 32 34 41 42 34 34
I access online
news and
information sites
about once a
week, they are
interesting but I
tend to rely more
on other sources. 24 28 28 17 28 24 25
I do not access
online news and
information sites
with any
regularity. They
are not an
important source
of information
and news to me. 20 31 17 9 13 27 24
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive within France, Germany, Great Britain and Spain (aged 16 and older) and adults in the United States, Australia, and Italy (aged 18 and over) between 2nd and 14th May 2007. By country, the totals are: France 1,134; Germany 1,133; Great Britain 1,006; Italy 1,122; Spain 995. Australia 976; and the United States 2,383. Figures for age, sex, education, region and Internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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Q1006, 1011, 1015, 1021, 1025, 1030, 1035, 1040, 1045, 1050, 1055, 1060

The Harris Poll(R) #52, June 11, 2007
By Regina Corso, director, The Harris Poll(R), Harris Interactive.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiaries Novatris in France and MediaTransfer AG in Germany, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to participate in online surveys, register at www.harrispollonline.com.

Press Contact:
Tracey McNerney
Harris Interactive
585-214-7756
tmcnerney@harrisinteractive.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Harris Interactive

CONTACT: Tracey McNerney of Harris Interactive, +1-585-214-7756,
tmcnerney@harrisinteractive.com

Web site:

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/

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