Pew Research: Traditional media still generate most news

Reading Andres Witterman's blog (disclosure: Andres works at LEWIS PR, Avanade's PR agency in Europe), he points to a new study by the Pew Research Center. Turns out that the vast majority of "new information" published online or in traditional media forms is generated by newspapers.

Here is the Pew's graph showing who reports the news.

But, an article by AFP reporting on the research says that as the traditional business model (ie advertising) crumbles, forcing more newsroom cutbacks and, in worse scenarios, witness media closures, the logical media to replace it will be new media.

This should cause some concern, as the story says: "This may lead to greater government influence over the news since much of the 'new media' reports simply convey the official version of events without attempting to offer different points of view."

The report goes on to cite several concerns about new media reporting, which you can read here.

I agree with Andres' closing comment: The web often breaks the news, but traditional media are still making them relevant.

However, I think the same could be said of some traditional news sources. For example, I tend to track breaking news from wire services (usually through my Web home page), like Reuters, Dow Jones, Bloomberg or AP ... not so much new media sources (i.e. bloggers). I then turn to The Wall Street Journal or BusinessWeek or FORTUNE to add context and perspective.

Or, as Andres says, relevance.