News is revolutionizing.
Younger generations in the United States are obtaining news differently than past generations as technology allows for new ways to receive news.
In the past, people received news from the television, the newspaper and the radio, but today those outlets are being side-swept by the Internet and a generation increasingly seeking its new through mobile devices.
The “State of the News Media” report from the Pew Research Center found that while advertising revenue for newspapers continues to slip, some of the top digital news websites have seen traffic from mobile devices more than desktop computers.
Malayna Nesbitt, 17, consumes news in a variety of ways, accessing a mix of old and new technologies.
“Social media is the main source of this generation,” said Nesbitt, who explained that she gets her news primarily through applications she has on her smartphone.
Nesbitt said that her parents used to have the newspaper delivered to their home when she was younger. But not any more.
Now, she listens to NPR in the morning and receives breaking news updates from the CNN application on her phone.
Nesbitt is part of a growing trend.
The news is becoming more accessible as people switch from desktop to mobile news apps, or tune in to NPR. The Pew Research Center reported in a Public Broadcasting report that, “The number of NPR associate and full member stations grew 11% in 2014 and the number of stations airing NPR programming grew by 3%.”
At the same time, the Internet has become a main news source for the younger generation. It beats out television, newspaper and radio.
But age matters.
Another Pew Research Center report found that the 18-29 age group claimed the Internet as their leading news source for national and international news, while the 65+ age group labeled television and the newspaper as their top news sources.
Steve Monroe, 66, used to be the business editor for the now-defunct The Gazette in Montgomery County, Maryland. After putting down his hard copy of The Washington Post on a recent morning sitting at a Tenleytown Starbucks, he explained his own news habits.
“I get 70 percent–no 60 percent–of news information from hard copy,” Monroe said.
He explained that he reads from a multitude of newspapers: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, plus a local paper called Washington City Paper.
But even some who are closer to Monroe’s age see newspapers as a source of the past.
Rebecca Owens, 56, watches her local MSNBC affiliate twice a day and gets national news at 5:30 p.m. Other sources for Owens include the Internet but never a print newspaper.
Alice Scarborough, 47, watches her local Fox News affiliate and it’s been a while since she received a newspaper at home.
“Not in the past 10 years or so,” Scarborough said.