The internet offers choice in variety of topics in addition to choice in numbers of news sites. Our December 2005 survey not only asked internet users a general question of whether they get news online, but also asked them about six different kinds of news available online. The table below shows that internet users have a wide range of online news interests. A strong majority (81%) have gotten news about at least one variety of news asked about and more than half have sought out three types of news topics online. Broadband users, unsurprisingly, seek out a greater variety of news topics online and indeed half have explored four of the six topics at an online news site.

Once again, the high-powered users are most fully engaged with a range of news topics online. Nearly all (97%) have gotten news about one topic online, and approaching half (45%) have gotten news about at least five of the topics. With respect to specific topics:

• 79% of the broadband elite have gotten news about politics and public affairs online (a 28 percentage point advantage over remaining broadband users);
• 73% have gotten news about science and technology online (a 30 point margin over remaining broadband users);
• 73% have gotten news about entertainment (a 25 point margin over remaining broadband users).