"News Grazers" and Finding News Sources

For American consumers online news sites are third on the list for most popular sources of news behind local and national television news according to a new report from PEW Research Center's Internet and American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Statistics show that around six in 10 American adults get their news online on an ordinary day and around 71 percent of adults receive their news online occasionally. However, national and local print newspapers and radio all fall behind online news.

But the most staggering statistic showed that over 92 percent of Americans receive their daily news from multiple sources. On the other hand only seven percent of Americans get their daily news from a single media source, usually either Internet or local television news.

The term 'News Grazers' refers to the 92 percent of American Adults who find their news from multiple sources. To help along this growing trend Web sites such as Google News, AOL, and Topix have now become the most commonly used online news sources. Others include CNN, BBC and local or national newspapers.

Also pushing this trend along is the growing usage of mobile technology. Now news has become more portable, personalized and participatory. 33 percent of smart phone owners now access news on their cellphones and 28 percent have customized their home pages to include news from multiple sources that interest them.

Along with grazing news outlets, American news consumers are contributing to the creation of news, commenting, or disseminating it through postings on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. According to the study over 37 percent of users have become more interactive news consumers.