Are you an Integrator? Traditionalist perhaps? Net-Newser, anyone? Those new-media labels describe how different types of people keep themselves informed about the world today. In the vernacular of Pew Research Center for The People and The Press, which just released its biennial survey on news consumption, the predominant group is Traditionalists, who comprise almost half of news users. They are fiftysomethings who prefer TV news to any other medium.
About a quarter of those polled are Integrators, middle-aged folks who access news online as well as from TV and other traditional sources, with a pointed interest in politics. A little more than one in ten persons are Net-Newsers, meaning their preference is nothin’ but ‘net. Predictably, they are the youngest of the groups, median age 35.

The current Pew poll shows that the overall share of the public “using any traditional news source on a given day has fallen from 90 percent in 1994 to 85 percent in 1998 to 73 percent today.” Moreover, a typical day for one-third of the populace under 25 is news-free –they’re just not interested – compared with one-quarter of that age group ignoring news on a daily basis a decade ago.

The traditional media most forsaken by those moving on to other news sources are daily newspapers and broadcast radio. Less than half of the sample say they read a newspaper regularly, a marked decline from 52 percent only two years ago and a steep drop from 72 percent in 1992.

The “news” from Pew is much brighter for papers like North County News. “At a time when daily newspapers are losing readers,” says the report, “the audience for local weekly community newspapers has remained relatively stable.” With one-third of those polled saying they regularly read a local weekly, community papers are steadily closing the gap with daily papers in appealing to a critical mass of consumers.

The chief reason for the shift in print-media momentum away from dailies and toward weeklies is in large part attributable to the immediacy of the internet, as the Pew survey confirms. The information found in the typical daily paper is freely abundant online, where more people are spending more time at home and at work.

In sharp contrast, the singular value of a community paper is nicely articulated by one of our own readers, Maggie Pinque of Cortlandt. “We get a more intimate portrait of our area from NCN than from [the local daily]. I love the small town feel. It’s wonderful to see your kids’ names, or your friends’ kids’ names, in print.”

I had reached out to Ms. Pinque, a very active and well-informed community volunteer who is a PTA Co-President in the Hendrick Hudson School District, after reading a barbed comment or two she submitted as part of a reader survey we just conducted. She was lobbying for more coverage of her schools and community. She wasn’t alone. Other readers, from Somers to Putnam Valley, want to know why there isn’t more focus on their towns as well. Our growing staff is working hard to do just that.

As I assured Ms. Pinque, every reader’s feedback is of value to us, and we want to hear from you as much as possible. That’s the only way we’ll serve you better, and publish a better newspaper in print and online.

Like Maggie said, that personal, one-to-one connection is the unique advantage of a small-town newspaper. Thanks for sticking with us, even when you stick it to us.

To read Bruce Apar’s blog, start at home page of NCNlocal.com and click on Blogs button.