Those Darn Internets Strike Again

Pew finds that among younger demographics, the internet has surpassed TV or is about to pass TV as the primary news source. In the broad numbers, TV is down to the 60s while internet has passed newspapers at 41% to 31%. There is a ton of interesting numbers in the story, but here's the one thing I find missing.

What is the internet?

I read through the article, and yes, I get that as a delivery system, younger consumers like the computer or tablet for their news. But where is the news coming from?

Is this survey really just about delivery? Are those indicating the internet is their source saying that born digital news outlets (HuffPo, for example) is where they get their information, or are they simply replacing sitting on the couch with the remote to watch Fox News or CNN with a mouse and a desktop?

My sense is that true internet based news hasn't caught up, and what the surveys mean is that delivery of news -- whether from TV or newspapers -- is desired to be via the internet.

What worries me here is that once the eventual full collapse of the ratings & subscription based advertising system happens, who pays for that journalism that folks want to read via the internet? Yes, dropping terrestrial transmitters and old-school print and throw delivery saves a lot of money, but as I noted earlier in the week, someone has to still generate enough revenue to pay the talent to create content that is not only compelling, but in the case of news, accurate.