Cable and local TV newscasts are the leading sources of
campaign news in the run-up to Election Day, according to the Pew Research
Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
According to a
just-released study, 41% of U.S. adults surveyed said they regularly get
campaign news from cable and 38% said they regularly get campaign news from
local TV. That was followed by the Internet (36%), network newscasts (31%),
local newspapers (23%) and national newspapers (13%).
Internet has made the biggest gains since a January study,
up 11 percentage points from 25%. Local TV news was up 6 percentage points, and
cable news and network newscasts were both up 5 percentage points.
Cable also led the list when it came to news sources tabbed
"most helpful," with 24% citing cable vs. 11% each for local and
network broadcast news, 2% for cable talk shows and 1% for late night comedy
shows -- Daily Show, Tonight, SNL. A little over a quarter (28%) said some form of Internet site
was most helpful, but some of those named websites of traditional broadcast and
cable outlets, so TV figures in those figures as well.
Only 8% of the respondents said newspapers were most
helpful, with public radio getting the nod from 4%. Twitter and YouTube were
tied with comedy shows at 1%.
