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The Demographics of Mobile News December 11, 2012 Men, College Grads and the Young are More Engaged In the growing realm of mobile news, men and the more highly educated emerge as more engaged news consumers, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, in collaboration with The Economist Group. These findings parallel, for the most part, demographic patterns of general news consumption. But there are some important areas of difference between mobile and general news habits-particularly among young people. While they are much lighter news consumers generally and have largely abandoned the print news product, young people get news on mobile devices to similar degrees as older users. And, when getting news through apps, young people say they prefer a print-like experience over one with high-tech or multi-media features. These are key findings of an analysis of mobile news habits across a variety of demographic groups. This report builds off an earlier PEJ and The Economist Group report, The Future of Mobile News, which found that half of U.S. adults now own mobile devices and a majority use them for news. Both reports are based on a survey of 9,513 U.S. adults conducted from June-August 2012 (including 4,638 mobile device owners). Men, especially young men, are heavier mobile news consumers than women. More than 40% of men get news daily on either their smartphone and/or tablet, compared with roughly 30% of women. On the tablet specifically, men check in for news more frequently and are more apt to read in-depth news articles and to watch news videos. Women, on the other hand, are more likely than men to use social networks as a way to get news.

"NYT launches thrice-daily minute-long news videos avatar by Kristen Hare Published Nov. 20, 2013 9:37 am The New York Times At 6 a.m. Wednesday, The New York Times launched New York Minute, a one-minute video featuring three current news stories. The debut video spends about 32 seconds on Iranian nuclear talks with chief Washington correspondent David Sanger, about 10 seconds on the once-graffiti-covered 5 Pointz building, and about 15 seconds on the mating behavior of sea slugs, with science correspondent James Gorman. Turns out those sea slugs stab each other in the forehead during sex. The Times will release videos every day at 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. ET. "Video is a fast growing and important part of our news report," Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson said in a press release Wednesday. "The New York Times Minute series is a natural extension of our journalism that allows our viewers a quick and useful way to keep up with the news." In September, Poynter reported on the debut of the Times weekly video series, "Science Take," with 60 to 90 second videos on current scientific research. A Times press release mentions a number of new video projects, about 15, with original video content. In an Oct. 13 story in the Times by Christine Haughney, video department general manager Rebecca Howard said that since she'd arrived in March, 17 additional people were added to her department. Mark Thompson, Times' president and CEO, said that video would be part of the company's strategy. "Video will form a part of the answer to how marketers will use small mobile devices to get powerful advertising messages across," he said. With its New York Minute, the Times also one-ups by a second The Washington Post's apparently dormant video series "59 Seconds," which launched in March of 2012."

"November 14, 2013 News Use Across Social Media Platforms By Jesse Holcomb, Jeffrey Gottfried and Amy Mitchell How do different social networking websites stack up when it comes to news? How many people engage with news across multiple social sites? And what are their news consumption habits on traditional platforms? As part of an ongoing examination of social media and news, the Pew Research Center in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation analyzed the characteristics of news consumers and the size of their population across 11 social networking sites. News plays a varying role across the social networking sites.1 Roughly half of both Facebook and Twitter users get news on those sites, earlier reports have shown. On YouTube, that is true of only one-fifth of its user base, and for LinkedIn, the number is even smaller. And Pinterest, a social pin board for visual content, is hardly used for news at all."

Survey: Public prefers news from professional journalists eynolds Journalism Institute The public's trust in the institution of the press may be fading, and digital platforms have opened the publishing world to anyone with a desire to speak, but it seems professional journalists themselves are not seen as obsolete. More than 60 percent of U.S. adults say they "prefer news stories produced by professional journalists," and more than 70 percent agree that "professional journalists play an important role in our society," according to new survey data from the Reynolds Journalism Institute. Respondents also disagreed with a social-media-centric model (that most news should come through trusted friends) and disagreed that it doesn't matter who produces the news.

"Localism emphasis poses risk But stations see value in filling news vacuum Published on Current.org, September 17, 2013 Analysis by Mark Fuerst Print This Page Of all the complex and potentially fateful decisions faced by public radio program directors as they navigate the emergence of multiplatform distribution, one of the most significant is the drive to "go local" and produce more local programs, especially news and information. This push signals a strategic shift for public radio, with potentially enormous consequences for growth or decline. Audience 2010, one of a series of landmark research reports on programming trends published in the previous decade, reported that much of the credit for the growth of public radio listenership could be traced to a shift "away from local production toward network production, away from music-based content toward news, information and entertainment." That shift was extraordinarily successful, representing two decades of impressive audience expansion and financial growth at a time when other parts of the radio industry struggled. Now, it appears that program decision-makers are changing course. But why would dozens of stations move off the path that worked so well and choose another approach that, viewed through the lens of audience research, would seem to be both more costly and less powerful in attracting listenership?"

Survey: Local TV is considered the most trustworthy source of news (Credit: Los Angeles Times) Highlights from the just-released USC Annenberg-Los Angeles Times Poll on Politics and the Press: * More than half of voters (58%) say they watch local television news broadcasts daily; older Americans are far more likely than younger voters to rely on television for their news. * Thirty-nine percent of voters read their local newspaper in print or online each day. * Thirty-five percent of voters watch the national nightly network news each day and 16 percent read a national newspaper like USA Today, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times daily, either in print or online. * Voters are more likely to tune in to NPR on a daily basis (19%) than conservative talk shows like the Rush Limbaugh Show (12%).

"FCC Chair Wheeler advocates for public TV stations to sell spectrum Published on Current.org, December 3, 2013 By Dru Sefton Print This Page The new chair of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, is urging public broadcasters to sell their television bandwidth in upcoming spectrum auctions, reports TVNewsCheck. In an appearance Monday at Ohio State University in Columbus, Wheeler advocated for channel-sharing deals in which broadcasters would sell off pieces of spectrum and consolidate their signal with other broadcasters. Wheeler said that arrangement would give "forever cash-starved" pubcasters a "pot full of cash" that they could use as an endowment to run their operations while using spectrum more efficiently. "It may be just a great godsend to the PBS business," said Wheeler, a former PBS Board member. CPB has commissioned Booz & Co. to research the effect of spectrum policy issues on the pubTV system for a spring 2014 white paper. In interviews with system leaders for the report, researchers are finding "a significant commitment" to public-service use of spectrum, CPB s.v.p. Mark Erstling told CPB Board members at their September meeting. In fact, Erstling said, some g.m.'s are saying they could use additional bandwidth for public-service projects."

Even NPR is not holding up.