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STUDY
SUGGESTS GROWTH OF INTERNET IS GOOD FOR
NEWSPAPERS
ATHENS,
Ohio -- More Americans are using the Internet than they did
four years ago, according to a recent survey of the public's
use of various media, including the Internet, newspapers and
television news.
Use of the
Internet has jumped from 7 percent in 1995 when a similar
study was conducted to 34 percent today.
"The
Internet as a medium has arrived,'" says Guido Stempel,
distinguished professor of journalism at Ohio University and
survey leader.
"In the
last four years the popularity and use of the Internet has
exploded."
Ohio
University researchers asked a national random sample of 815
people about their media use, including how many days a week
they use each medium.
Because of
the Internet's growth in the last four years, researchers
repeated the survey to identify changes in media use,
Stempel says.
Although
television remains the most popular medium, it has lost some
viewers in the past four years. Local TV news use fell from
70 percent in 1995 to 61 percent in 1999. Network TV news
dropped from 68 percent to 61 percent. Of the three
traditional media, daily newspaper use showed the smallest
decline, dropping from 61 percent in 1995 to 58 percent in
1999.
Part of
the reason for television's weakening stronghold on the
public, Stempel says, may be that it is not a searchable
medium, unlike newspapers or the Internet. And while some
media representatives have blamed the Internet for their
waning consumer following, the study suggests this may not
be true for newspapers, Stempel says.
Internet
users are more likely to use daily newspapers than nonusers
62 percent compared with 54 percent. A 1998 study conducted
by the Pew Research Center an independent press, politics
and public policy opinion research group found similar
results.
From
Stempel's perspective, the study is good news for the
newspaper industry because the Internet and newspapers have
a lot in common. The media have two of the same demographics
the higher the income and education level, the higher the
newspaper readership and Internet use.
And
growing Internet use could boost the number of newspaper
readers under the age of 35, Stempel says. For years,
newspapers have been concerned with the lack of readership
in this demographic the age of the Internet's most frequent
users. For those under 35, use of newspapers by Internet
users is 55 percent, while use of newspapers by nonusers is
40 percent.
Stempel
says newspapers can learn from the Internet's success by
adopting a more user-friendly print format, as well as
giving readers access to the Web.
Conducted
with the Scripps Howard News Service in early summer, the
study had a margin of error of 4 percent.
The study
was conducted at the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio
University under the direction of Joe Bernt, professor of
journalism.
Stempel
and Bernt hold appointments in the College of
Communication.
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