Americans Turning More to Mobile Devices for News

The struggling newspaper industry has been frantically trying to reinvent itself to stay alive in the digital age by beefing up Web operations and packaging its contents for mobile devices. But while there has been rapid growth in the use of smartphones and tablets, like the iPad, to get news and information, a new study did not find a lot of bright spots for local papers.

A survey conducted Jan. 12-25 by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the Knight Foundation found that nearly half of all Americans – 47 percent -- get at least some local news and information on their cellphone or tablet computer.

Forty-two percent use their devices to check up on the weather, 37 percent use them to get information on local restaurants and businesses, 30 percent search out local news, 24 percent follow local sports scores and updates, 19 percent want to find local coupons and discounts, and 15 percent get news alerts.

But while more and more newspapers have developed "apps" for this mobile audience, only 13 percent say they have used them. And that number includes not only apps from news organizations but specialized apps that provide online classified advertising, like Craigslist, and such programs as the Girl Scouts' Cookie Locator app, which helps users find the nearest location to buy Girl Scout cookies.

Only 10 percent of adults who use mobile apps to connect to news and information pay for them, which works out to just 1 percent of the overall adult population.

About three-quarters of those surveyed said they would not be willing to pay to get full access to the content of their local paper online.

Worse yet for newspapers is that a plurality of those surveyed – 39 percent – say the loss of their local newspaper would have no impact on their ability to keep up with news and information in their area. (Forty-two percent of those who are mobile news consumers say the loss of the paper would have no impact). Thirty-nine percent said it would have a minor impact.

Only 28 percent said the loss of the local paper would have a major impact and those tend to be adults over 50, non-Internet users and people who have lived in their community for more than 20 years.

The study said that tablets, like the iPad, "have become one of the most quickly adopted consumer goods of the recent era," with their use almost doubling in four months time, from 4 percent to 7 percent.

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