It has become commonplace for industry folks to claim that
further media consolidation is necessary in order for “old media” broadcasters
to compete with the “new media” options provided by the Internet. But a new study by the Pew Research
Center maintains that despite
an increase in Internet use to find information on political candidates, TV remains
the main source of news for Americans.

A recent article in Broadcasting & Cable highlighted the
study’s findings that although Internet use for campaign information is up 11%
since the 2004 election season, the total number of Americans getting their
campaign information online is 24%. The
majority of respondents (60%) are still getting their news and information from
TV. Allowing Big Media companies to own
even more local outlets does not help broadcasters compete—it leads to less
jobs for journalists, less investigative reporting, and an increase in
celebrity news and gossip.

Perhaps one of the most interesting findings is that 52% of
those getting campaign news on the Internet came across it while looking for
something else. The web’s ability to connect people and ideas through linking
and tagging are changing the ways we learn about the world around us. As we kick off 2008 it is important to keep
the pressure on those in Washington
to make Net Neutrality the law. A
crippled Internet could have detrimental effects in an election year.

Read the complete study: http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/384.pdf