*PITTSBURGH MEDIANOTE: This local angle on our media was almost really local -- as in the very blog that you're reading. The NewsHour had originally contacted 2pj about being included in the piece, but had to drop us out the day before filming was scheduled due to time constraints. (Well, that's what they told me anyway.) If nothing more, it provided an excellent incentive to do some spring cleaning at my house!
In the midst of an exciting political race, there has been a nationwide upheaval in how news organizations are adjusting to changing consumer patterns, largely driven by new technology and a big drop in advertising revenues. According to a study by The Pew Research Center, when people were asked where they regularly get information about the presidential campaign, fewer said they got it from newspapers, local TV news, and the nightly network news compared to the year 2000. However, cable news networks actually saw a small gain, while the Internet saw the biggest gain, going from 9% in 2000 to 24% this year.
Due to these recent developments, newspapers and TV news stations continue to put more and more content on the Internet, but a recent University of Pennsylvania Annenberg survey showed that 89% of adults still get their information about the political race from the combination of broadcast and cable TV.
Earlier this month, Senior Correspondent Jeffrey Brown went to Pittsburgh to see how local media outlets like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and CBS affiliate KDKA-TV are covering the upcoming primary, and how they are coping with the changing interests of their consumers.
Visit http://www.pbs.org/newshour/topic/media after 9 p.m. Eastern time for more information on this segment.
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