Emergence of Mobile News
According to the State of the News Media: An Annual Report on American Journalism, nearly half of all American adults (47%) report that they get at least some local news and information on their cell phone or tablet computer. They are interested in obtaining news that is practical and in real time and fall under the demographic of higher socioeconomic status, younger, newer residents, reside in non-rural areas, and parent minor children.
Mobile news is important because participants “feel they can have an impact on their communities, more likely to use a variety of media platforms, feel more plugged into the media environment than they did a few years ago, and are more likely to use social media.”
Citizens can not only read news from their local community, with tablets and smart phones, they can also share and post links to stories, comment, or contribute themselves.
Survey
The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project partnered with the Knight Foundation to conduct a national survey from January 12–25, 2011. They polled 2,251 adults over the age of 18 in both English and Spanish to “explore the role that cell phones and tablet computers play in people’s patterns of consuming and contributing to community information.
Results
84% of adult Americans own a cell phone and 47% of that population access local news and information on mobile devices, as it serves an immediate need.
However, those polled stated that topics like crime, community events, schools and education, and politics and cultural events are a fraction of topics sought after. In other words, citizens have not reached the point where they use mobile devices as a primary source to acquire community journalism-related subjects.
Read more about this topic: Community Journalism
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