Internet news sources have vastly outpaced newspapers among Hispanics, a new Pew Research study of news consumption finds.
56 percent of Hispanics surveyed by Pew said they get news from the Internet on a typical weekday. Only 42 percent said the same about print newspapers, a sharp drop from Pew’s 2006 survey, which found 58 percent got news from print.
86 percent get their news from television, the report said. That’s down from 2006, too, but television is still far and away the biggest news source for Hispanics in America. As in other Pew surveys, news sources varied by age and income level of respondents: Younger people read newspapers less than older ones, and richer people turn to the Internet more.
Language consumption is changing
Nearly 60 percent of Hispanics born in the U.S. get news only in English, while 11 percent of Hispanics born outside the States said the same.
Half of all respondents said they get their news in both English and Spanish. People who got their news only in Spanish had the “lowest rate of print newspaper consumption (30%),” the report says. “By comparison, Latinos who consume news media in both English and Spanish are most likely (50%) to say they get news from print newspapers on a typical weekday.”
Similarly, only 18 percent people who get their news exclusively in Spanish are likely to use the Internet for news daily.
Perceptions of news organizations
About the same percentage of respondents said Spanish-language and English-language news organizations “get the facts straight”: 60 percent and 59 percent, respectively.
But when asked whether various media cover news relevant to them, 70 percent said Spanish-language media does an excellent or good job. 58 percent said the same about English-language media.
