Study: Online News Popular on Broadband

NEW YORK (AP) _ Americans with high-speed Internet connections at home are far more likely than dial-up users to go online for news, a new study finds. <br/><br/>The Pew Internet and American Life Project

Thursday, March 23rd 2006, 11:18 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Americans with high-speed Internet connections at home are far more likely than dial-up users to go online for news, a new study finds.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project says 43 percent of broadband users turn to the Internet to get news, compared with 26 percent for dial-up users. Broadband users are also more likely to read a national newspaper, but less likely to turn to local television.

``Local TV, in particular, takes a hit ... when people start spending more time with online news,'' said John Horrigan, Pew's associate director for research.

Still, local television is the leading source of news, used by 65 percent of dial-up users and 57 percent of broadband users. National television and radio are also popular sources across the board.

Among dial-up users, the local paper is the next leading source, but among broadband users, the Internet has a slight edge _ 43 percent vs. 38 percent. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for questions asked only of broadband users.

The study also finds Americans largely unwilling to pay for news _ only 6 percent of Internet users have bought video clips, articles or other news items online _ but more than half have registered at free news sites by providing information about themselves.

The study of 3,011 U.S. adults was conducted Nov. 29 to Dec. 31 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.