The Internet Is an Important News Source

February 26, 2001

According to a January 2001 BIGresearch report from Prosper Business Development, 50.8% of people in the US get most of their world news from television. The second most important source for world news is the internet -- 19.5% of the survey's respondents get their world news online. Only 17.3% learn about world news from newspapers.

BIGresearch found that the internet did not fare as well as television and newspapers in terms of helping people form their political opinions. Most people (48.2%) cited television as the greatest political influence -- newspapers and the internet fell in after that with 17.5% and 12.3%, respectively.

Comparing the genders, BIGresearch found that 53.0% of women say the television influences their political opinion the most while 38.3% of men think the same. In terms of the internet forming political opinion, only 10.6% of women feel it influences their political views while 15.9% of men are swayed by the internet.

Contact: BIGResearch/Prosper International
Phil Rist
Phone: 614-846-0146
Fax: 614-846-0156
E-Mail: prosper@4prosper.com
Website: www.bigresearch.com