Getting the News in the High-Tech Age

Practice Lecture
OK, we've been... we've been looking at news sources, meaning where people are getting their news... and
we've also, we've explored this in both the print media and online news. So, today we're going to focus just
on Internet news. And my focus today is on... is on the research on the kinds of news that Internet users
are getting from... from online news sources.

OK, I, I... I'm going to be reporting on a few recent studies on Internet use. Now, I want to point out that
these are the most recent so these are the most accurate findings that we have. They're pretty accurate, I
think. OK, then, I'm going to report on a very large study done by the University of Southern California.
Class, these are important findings. OK, first of all, they found out that Internet users are going online an
average of twelve and a half hours a week. I'll say that again. They're going online twelve and a half hours a
week. And that's up 121% in the last 5 years and... and this is important. One thing they found was that
getting the news was the third most popular activity among all the Internet users they surveyed, so that
means, um, out of nine things people can do on the Internet like shop, do business, use e-mail, do
research, get driving directions, do homework and, you know, other activities, getting the news was
number three.

We have to ask at this point: How have people changed in their interaction with the news?

First of all, what I want you to notice is the increase in the number of people who are using the Internet to
get... to get the latest information. According to another important survey, this was done by the Pew
Research centre, 60% of Americans get their news online. But listen to this, 28% of Internet users get
customised news focused on topics that they are interested in. 33% of cell phone users get their news via
their cell phone and 37% of internet users contribute to the news by commenting on news stories, posting
news to social networking sites or posting opinions… er… opinion pieces to the web.

So, the bottom line is that the Internet is going to remain a main source for current news stories. We’ll
pick this up next week and, we'll talk more about other popular kinds of online news. Got to go. See you
next time.

Lecture
All right. Let's get going. I've got a lot of material to get through today. So, let's go back to our discussion of
the news media and how people get their news. And yeah… this turns out to be a very interesting topic
because we are seeing a significant change in the way people get their news these days, and it's important
to note that this change... like so many other trends we see today, has a lot to do with the Internet. So,
what I want to do today is, I want to cover several aspects of this trend and talk about what this means for
news.

Now, we see the number of people actually getting the news from print media is declining.
It's dropping…. And the Internet is quickly becoming an important source of news for more and more
people. OK? Great. Now, let me move on to give you some statistics on this trend. I want you to pay
attention to this: Researchers noticed that in 2000, about 70% of the people they asked said that papers
were an important source of information for them, so 70% said reading the newspaper was important. In

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2003, that number dropped to 51%... 51%! That's a pretty significant decline, and I'm willing to bet that
that number is even lower now. So, now I’m looking at this room full of college students. Most of you are
between 18 and 24, and my guess is that most or maybe all of you use the Internet. The reason I'm talking
about your age group is that you represent the new trend away from newspapers and toward the Internet.
You are the trend, and experts predict that this trend away… this trend away from newspapers will
continue as more and more young people grow up using the Internet to do so many things.

Let me spell this out a little more for you: There was a key study of young people done in 2004. And for this
study, they interviewed 35-54 year olds who read the newspaper, and they asked them if the newspaper
was an important part of their day. Well, 38% of them said yes. But... but when they asked 18 to 24-year-
old newspaper readers the same question... the same question, only 17% of them said yes... only 17%. This
is big news! All right, so to be sure, there is a move away from the traditional way that people have gotten
their news.

OK, let's move on to why this trend is happening. So, why? Now many young people say that they prefer
Internet news because it's a fast way to keep up with events. Now that's probably true, but there are a
couple of other significant reasons why news on the Internet is gaining popularity. One is simply that news
on the Internet is more up-to-date. It's the most current information. That's a significant difference from
the news you read in the newspaper that comes out once a day and stays the same for twenty-four hours.
Now, a second feature of Internet news is, it gives people the ability to get informed about any kind of
news—weather, world events, traffic... news that is more in-depth than in a newspaper. So, the bottom
line here is Internet news is more complete. With an online newspaper, for example, you can begin to read
a news story, go to a related audio or video link, and so on. You can keep going and get more information.
Now lees move on to another attraction of the Internet. I want you to notice I keep talking about links.
That's because... because on the Internet those links are there, and you decide how much you want to
learn, and you decide what kind of news you want to get. So, the Internet is interactive. In other words,
there is communication between the person looking for news and the website. Again, you, the Internet
user, control the news you get.

Now, I want to point out that this movement to Internet news has obviously made a lot of people excited,
but it's also made some experts who study the media... well, it's made them worried. Some of their
concerns are the flip side meaning the opposite of the attractions we talked about earlier. For example, I
mentioned that Internet news is fresh. It's up-to-date. Well, the down side... that is, the negative side of
this is that reporters writing the news for the Internet must work extremely quickly to research, write, and
get the news on the Internet as soon as possible. So, in this rush, rush, rush to get the news onto the
Internet, it's easy for the reporters to make mistakes or maybe leave out some important information. So
media experts are concerned that Internet news might sometimes be... less accurate and less reliable than
newspaper news. So that's one possible down side of Internet news…

OK. Now, here's another possible problem: We said before that many Internet users really enjoy
controlling their news. Maybe that sounded good, right? But the worry for media experts is the possibility
that Internet users will limit their news too much. They won't know everything they should. Now, this is a
crucial idea, and the idea is that people who get their news on the Internet may only learn what they want
to learn and miss other important information that they should know.

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All right. Now I want to bring up another concern, and it's related to the previous one. It has to do with this
idea of limiting what news you get on the Internet. Right? So, now... right now let's take a look at this. It's
the front page of a newspaper. It's a typical front page of a newspaper. Here you see all kinds of news, just
on the front page—international, national, local news—and you can also find out right away what news is
most important. The important news has a bigger headline. Here it is, at or near the top of the page, and
maybe it's longer. Look at this headline. Mm? You know by where it's at that it's the most important news.
It's more important than the other news.

But, when you get the news online, you tend to see something like a list... a list, you know... line, line, line
of headlines to choose. You don't always know what's important, so the worry is that Internet newsreaders
will have much less information about the important things they need to find out in today's news. So what
I'm saying is, some experts fear that online newsreaders will be less informed citizens who maybe, well,
who might not participate as much in their communities. In other words, if people know less about the
world around them, then they might not vote say, or… or help make other decisions in their communities.
They just won't be as interested in the events going on around them. That's the fear.

All right. I see our time is almost up. Well, I want to stress that the trend away from newspapers to the
Internet is happening right in front of us, and as students of the media, you may or may not agree with
some of the concerns of the researchers. But it certainly offers us a lot to think about. OK, I'll see you guys
next time.

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