Just as people have options in getting material that helps them cope with stressful circumstances, they also can consult a variety of sources as they try to understand what has happened to the economy and the policies that are being proposed as remedies. So, we also asked respondents in our survey about the methods they had used to try to comprehend what had happened to the financial system and economy.

For the general population – internet users and non-users alike – we found that traditional media outlets were even more important to people as they tried to understand the nation’s economic problems than they were in helping people cope with their own financial issues. For all Americans, printed news media, television, and radio were at the top of the list, ahead of the internet, friends and family members, and professionals. At the same time, we found that for the 79% of Americans who are online, the internet rivaled newspapers as a significant source of information, though internet users still cited television and radio as their top sources. For the 63% of Americans who have high-speed broadband connections at home, the internet again was behind broadcast media, but it ranks aside printed media such as newspapers and magazines as a source of information. That was also the case for the 54% of Americans who connect wirelessly.

In the answers to the online survey among volunteer panelists, there is a pervasive sense that people became more and more transfixed over time by the story of the financial storm that was sweeping the nation through 2008. A typical response came from GeorgeAnn Wence:  

I have occasionally monitored the stock market.  As it began to tumble dramatically I took a much more close interest by monitoring every day.  Prior to that, the particular moment for me that caused me to begin to worry about the turn the economy was taking was learning about the shenanigans the financial institutions were up to and how it was destroying some families’ lives…. Now I watch what is happening with the mortgage companies, loan lenders, automakers, etc. worrying about the devaluation my house is undergoing because of this situation. I check throughout each week for what major company/corporation is going bankrupt, being consumed by larger sharks, and dread what might happen to my own financial institution.  I pay closer attention to how rapidly the dollar is devaluing.  I worry about where all this will end, knowing that even when it does it will take a very long time for the American economy to recover.