FOR NEWS, TV LOSING GROUND TO ONLINE

Fifty percent of all Americans still cite television as the medium that provides them with news about national and international issues, but that percentage is dropping every year. According to the Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media 2011, cable news lost a whopping 13.7 percent of its audience during the past year (16 percent during primetime), network TV lost 3.4 percent and local TV, 1.5 percent. On the other hand online news media gained 17.1 percent as 46 percent of the public cited the Internet as their preferred destination for news. “The new wild card in digital is mobile,” the study said, noting a surge in the number of people who say they get some kind of local news on mobile devices including cellphones and tablet devices. Despite the audience erosion, however, revenue in every medium rose in 2010, with the exception of newspapers, where revenue declined 6.4 percent. Local TV news posted the highest gains — 17 percent. Part of the increase was attributed to the bailout of the auto industry, which put manufacturers and dealers back in the ad game again.