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	<h2>Local news is tops among TV sources; Fox News Channel leads cable</h2>&#13;
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	<h3>By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting &amp; Cable, 3/17/2011 12:01:00 AM</h3> &#13;
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According to a new survey from the&#13;
Pew Internet &amp; American Life Project, a quarter of all U.S. adults (24%)&#13;
got most of their news about the 2010 elections from the Internet, which is up&#13;
over threefold since 2002 and up 9% since the last midterm election in 2006.&#13;
But television still dominates, with almost two-thirds (67%) saying they get&#13;
their campaign/election coverage from TV. That is down only slightly from the&#13;
69% figure in 2006, or, statistically speaking, essentially no change at all&#13;
(the margin of error is in the 2.4-2.8% range). <p>&#13;
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Newspapers still top the 'net, with&#13;
27% saying that is where they get most of their election news, but that is down&#13;
from 34% in 2006. Newspapers also now rank behind online news sources for the&#13;
under-50 crowd, according to the study.</p><p>&#13;
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If, as they say, all politics is&#13;
local, then the most popular source of coverage is as well. The study found&#13;
that "local news programming" was the top source of TV news at 33%.&#13;
The study did not break that out between local broadcast news and regional news&#13;
channels like a News Channel 8 in Washington. </p><p>&#13;
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The next biggest source was Fox News&#13;
Channel at 26%, up from 21% in 2006; NBC Network News was next at 12%, but down&#13;
from 17% in 2006. CNN was next at 14%, but also down from 17% in 2006; followed&#13;
by ABC Network News at 10%, down from 5%; CBS Network News at 9%, down from&#13;
13%, MSNBC at 5%, down from 6%; and CNBC at 2%, down from 3%. </p><p>&#13;
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But Fox, CNN and MSNBC are also&#13;
major players in the online space, according to the study. CNN.com was the&#13;
main source of online political news at 22%, followed by Yahoo at 20%, Google&#13;
at 13% and Fox at 10%. MSNBC was the main source for 7% of respondents.&#13;
According to PEW, Republicans, Tea Party supporters and conservatives were more&#13;
likely to watch Fox, while Democrats, liberals and those not supporting the Tea&#13;
Party were more likely to watch CNN, MSNBC or the network newscasts.</p><p>&#13;
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The increased use of online for&#13;
campaign info is a double-edged sword. While 61% of the respondents said&#13;
it exposes people to a wider range of political views than traditional media,&#13;
56% say it is "usually difficult" for them to tell what online&#13;
information is true and what is not. Could that be because of the absence of&#13;
that trusted traditional media editorial function, despite the fact that&#13;
veteran media outlet CNN is the most-visited single site? The report's author,&#13;
Aaron Smith, Pew Internet Senior Research Specialist, sees it more as&#13;
respondents being worried about effects on others that they don't see on&#13;
themselves. "Generally when we ask these types of questions, we see people&#13;
responding very positively to the Internet's benefits to them personally&#13;
while expressing concern for the Internet's impacts on other people or society&#13;
in general," he says. "They say it makes it easier for me to connect&#13;
with other people and expose me to a wider range of traditional viewpoints, but&#13;
I worry that other people are being exposed to extreme comments or&#13;
misinformation."</p><p>&#13;
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But there could be some of that lack&#13;
of trusted moderator. He pointed out that while CNN is listed at the top,&#13;
the single biggest category was the "long tail" of 29% who picked the&#13;
"somewhere else" category.</p><p>&#13;
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And while 54% of said the 'net makes&#13;
it easier to connect with others who share their political views, 55% said it&#13;
also increases the influence of those with extreme views. Maybe that answer&#13;
could be a key to the one about determining the truth online?&#13;
"Absolutely," says Smith. "Increasing the influence of people&#13;
with extreme viewpoints, I would expect that regardless of your political affiliation&#13;
you are probably thinking about 'the other guys' when you are answering that&#13;
question.</p><p>&#13;
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The report was based on a daily&#13;
tracking (phone) poll of Internet use. It was conducted by Princeton Survey&#13;
Research Associates International from November 3-24, 2010, among a sample of&#13;
2,257 adults, age 18 and older.&#13;
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</div></div><p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a class="rssreadon" rel="external" title="TV Still Dominant Source of Political/Campaign News" href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/465377-TV_Still_Dominant_Source_of_Political_Campaign_News.php?rssid=20065" target="_blank">http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/465377-TV_Still_Dominant_Source_of_Political_Campaign_News.php?rssid=20065</a></p>