Submitted by Steve Hanson on Thu, 03/05/2009 – 11:11am

A recent Rasmussen Reports Survey indicates that most people now believe that online news sources are at least as reliable as newspapers.  Notably, it also reports that only 30% of adults read a paper almost every day, and that among younger people the rate is half that.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans say they go online and use the Internet every day or nearly every day, and most of those adults now find online reporting comparable to that in their local newspaper. Seventy-four percent (74%) of these daily Internet users say that reporting from web sources is at least somewhat reliable while 69% say the same about local newspaper reporting.

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COMMENTS

My Father

Submitted by sharkscott on Thu, 03/05/2009 – 11:54am.

My Father, a self professed “I don’t really use computers for anything” guy, is now going online to get the news when he is travelling or out of town, and it has caused him to actually put a computer on his desk at home now because he can get the news he wants faster and easier than sifting through the paper.

I asked him if he can see any difference in the quality, he didn’t understand what I meant..and there was my answer. To him, there is no difference.

He does understand that not every site is as good as every other, but to him that falls right in line with being choosy with what, who and where you get your news from. Which he does/did with regular media before going online.

When someone like my Dad switches over to reading the news online and either doesn’t care or doesn’t notice any difference quality, that says everything to me. My Father may not be technologically savvy, but he is one of the smartest people I have ever known and if he doesn’t see a difference, then there really must not be that big of one.

Scott