Online News: For many home broadband users, the internet is a primary news source

Part 1. Growing Consumption of Online News

Introduction

Once a person makes the switch to a high-speed internet connection at home, his or her relationship to the internet deepens. A home broadband user logs onto the internet more often and does a wider range of activities online than a dial-up internet user.1 One thing a broadband user does with greater frequency is surf the internet for news; having a home high-speed internet connection increases the likelihood, relative to dial-up users, of someone using the internet to gather news and information. The purpose of this report is to profile people’s daily newsgathering habits with a special focus on how the picture differs for those with broadband connections at home.

Notes

1 The Project has documented how a home broadband connection affects the scope and frequency of online activities several times in recent years. See John B. Horrigan, The Broadband Difference (2003), available online at http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2002/The-Broadband-Difference-How-online-behavior-changes-with-highspeed-Internet-connections.aspx, and also John B. Horrigan, Broadband Adoption in the United States: Growing but Slowing (2005), available online at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Broadband-Adoption-in-the-United-States-Growing-but-Slowing.aspx

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Copyright 2012 Pew Internet & American Life Project

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project is one of seven projects that make up the Pew Research Center. The Center is supported by The Pew Charitable Trust.