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| Newspapers are losing further ground in the US, with more people relying on social media than print in 2018, according to a Pew Research Center report (AFP Photo/ Drew Angerer) |
Washington
(AFP) - Social media has overtaken print newspapers as a news source for
Americans, researchers said Monday, highlighting the growing importance of
services such as Facebook and Twitter as well as the troubled state of legacy
news organizations.
The Pew
Research Center report found 20 percent of US adults say they often get news
via social media, compared with 16 percent from newspapers.
In 2016,
newspapers were more important that social networks and in 2017 the percentages
were roughly even for both sources, according to Pew surveys.
Despite the
rise of social media, television remains the most important source for news,
cited by 49 percent of American adults, Pew said.
The
researchers found sharp differences among age segments in accessing the news,
with younger adults far more likely to rely on social media and older consumers
favoring television and print.
In the
18-29 age group, social media was the most important news source, cited by
nearly three in 10 respondents, with only two percent favoring print
newspapers.
A large
majority of those 65 and older (81 percent) get news from television, with 39
percent using print newspapers and just eight percent social networks.
"Younger
Americans are also unique in that they don't rely on one platform in the way
that the majority of their elders rely on TV," said Pew research analyst
Elisa Shearer.
"No
more than half of those (aged) 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 get news often from any
one news platform."
The report,
based on a survey of 4,581 US adults in July and August, highlights the ongoing
woes of print newspapers, which have been seeing steady readership declines for
more than a decade.
A Pew study
last year showed total US daily newspaper circulation (print and digital
combined) in 2017 was 31 million for weekday and 34 million for Sunday, down 11
and 10 percent, respectively, from the previous year.
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