TRENDS: Study finds teens get news from Web
From SNPA: When it comes to using the Internet, high school students not only pay attention to the news, they like traditional news sources more than most might think.
A majority of high school students say they’re plugged into the news on the Internet at least weekly, and they are getting most of their news from Internet portals and mainstream media web sites – not from blogs, according to a new survey of 15,000 high school students by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Key findings of the survey include:
* 66 percent of high school students get their news and information from the news pages of Internet portals such as Google and Yahoo!, 45 percent from national TV news web sites, 34 percent from local TV or newspaper web sites, 32 percent from blogs and 21 percent from national newspaper sites.
* 45 percent of high school students say TV provides the most accurate news; 23 percent say newspapers, and 10 percent say blogs.
* 46 percent of students get news and information at least once a week from entertainment shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and South Park.
* 31 percent of high school students post comments on blogs or online columns at least once a week.
* Only 10 percent of teens say they are not at all interested in the news, mostly because they feel it isn’t presented in an interesting way.
* Nine of 10 teens are wired to the Internet through school and eight in 10 through the home.
For the full findings of both parts of the 2006 survey, visit www.firstamendmentfuture.org.