A Pew Research Report on the 2004 presidential campaign demonstrates a long-term shift in how the public gets its election news. Television news still dominates, but the Internet is gaining ground and, according to Pew, “is now on par with such traditional outlets as public television broadcasts, Sunday morning news programs and the weekly news magazines.”
Awareness Divide: This fact, sadly, does not make for a more informed electorate. The study also shows: increasingly, the young are turning to “alternative outlets, including comedy shows such as the Daily Show and Saturday Night Live, as their source for election news”; only 31% of Americans can identify Wesley Clark as the former-Army general candidate; and only 26% know Richard Gephardt served as House majority leader.
