Pew: Mobile dominates digital news

Mobile editors of American newsrooms, stand proud.

An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults, about 80%, now use digital sources for national and international news. But among the digital readers who use various types of devices, more than half, 56%, prefer mobile screens over desktop or laptop computers, according to a survey by Pew Research Center released Thursday.

Nearly three-fourths of U.S. news readers, 72%, now get their news from a mobile device, up from 54% in 2013, the survey said. Only 13% said they rely solely on desktops and laptops for news. And 5% depend solely on mobile devices as a news source.

In a two-part survey, Pew queried 4,700 adults in January and February, followed by 14 short online surveys about a month later.

TV news still dominates. The survey said 57% of U.S. adults “often” get news from TV. But about 40% said they “often” consume news on digital platforms. Print lovers have declined to about 20% from 27% in 2013.

Nearly half, 46%, said they prefer to watch news than reading it. Only 35% said they prefer reading news.

More than seven in 10 U.S. adults follow national and local news “somewhat or very closely,” the survey said. The number was slightly lower for international news, at 65%.

Other findings:

* Readers still trust traditional media sources more than social media. Two in 10 Americans trust the information they get from local or national news organizations “a lot” vs. 14% who said the same of the information they get from friends and family, it said. About a quarter of social networking news consumers “often” click on links to news stories on social media, it said.

* Three-quarters of Americans think that news organizations are biased politically. But about the same amount of respondents said news organizations still serve as watchdogs that “keep political leaders in check.”

Pew's survey was conducted in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation