Running Head: NEWS OUTLET PREFERENCES Garcia 1

News Outlet Preferences of Reinhardt University

Jazzmyne Garcia

Reinhardt University
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Abstract

This study investigates the news outlet preference of the Reinhardt community, both

faculty, and students. An email survey was sent out to 185 individuals, resulting in 50 responses.

The questions asked were in relation to one’s gender, age, education level, and news outlet

preference. Findings show that demographics have an impact on their outlet preference. Older

generations tend to receive news through traditional media whereas younger people turn to new

media, more women prefer social media as a news outlet rather than men, and people who have a

higher education level prefer traditional news such as television or newspapers whereas people

with less education prefer new media. This shows that when marketing, younger, less

experienced people should be targeted through new media and older people with a higher

education level should be targeted through traditional media.

Introduction

Most college students use the internet to fulfill their personal needs, whether it is through

social media or other resources. These needs consist of things such as school assignments,

entertainment, and current events. The way people consume media has changed over the years,

especially with new technology advances. The internet has become a threat to all kinds of

traditional media, such as radio, television, and newspapers.

Over the years, people have begun to use the internet as their news outlets. News that was

once found only through radio, television, and newspapers are now found on the internet.

Different people have different preferences of what platforms are best for them. In previous

studies that have been conducted worldwide, demographics played a big role in the preferences’

people have towards receiving news. Gender, age, and education level were the three key factors
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that had been compared to one’s outlet preference. The findings of previous research raised a

question for the Reinhardt community; what are the news outlet preferences of the Reinhardt

community? The final research that has been conducted is based on the news outlet preferences

of both faculty and students. The three variables (age, gender, and education) also played an

important role in the study conducted at Reinhardt. This research will advance new knowledge

and a new way of understanding how demographics play a key role when it comes to one's news

outlet preference.

The rest of this article is structured into three sections. First, a literature review is

presented to show previous research that has already been conducted towards the preferences of

people’s news outlet consumption. Second, a methodology section is presented. This is where the

process of the research project is introduced; this section includes three sub-sections. The first

sub-section is to inform the readers about what was done to gather the information found. Next is

the analysis, this is where an explanation lies. The last sub-section is the findings. The article

concludes by stating how this research can be helpful towards future research, and a couple of

suggestions that may be helpful towards the Reinhardt community when it comes to getting

school news out.

Literature Review

Traditional Media vs New Media

There are many ways to consume news. Information always finds a way to the public

either through new media or traditional media. With advances in technology, new media such as

the internet has become more and more popular. When there are new mediums to consume news,

people tend to abandon old ideas. Television news might not bring in big audiences anymore;
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instead, platforms such as the internet, that are portable and viewable at any time, maybe the

major audience drawer (Bergström & Wadbring, 2012). According to Ayyad, "The internet is

seen as one of the most important mediums and a threat to traditional mass media" (2011). In the

United Arab Emirates, there was a survey given to 270 university students. They were asked the

level of exposure they had to mass media, and research shows that there is a high level of

internet access in comparison with the accessing of traditional media. (Ayyad, 2011). Though

accessing information has never been easier, traditional media still plays a major role in people's

lives. It seems that the internet seems to complement television news rather than replace it

(Papathanassopoulos et al., 2013). Bergstrom and Wadbring mailed out 3000 surveys in the

Swedish population. People aging from 16 to 85 were targets in this study. 1,800 people

participated and sent out their results. Findings show that two-thirds of the population watch or

have a desire to watch television news every evening, and 1/3 choose to stay informed through

social media (2012). In a different research, 11 nations were compared to what news platforms

are most popular. Results show that in 9 out of 11 nations, television remains the dominant

source.

Media and Generation Preferences

Both gender and age play a key role in media and news consumption. People, especially

the younger generation, tend to gain their information from the internet rather than watching the

news in a traditional way, such as on television; “The so-called ‘millennial’ generation spends

the most time using digital devices” (Botterill, Bredin, & Dun, 2015). People stick to things they

grew up with. For instance, people aged 54 to 74 are known as the “Baby Boomers." This

generation grew up with traditional media, which makes them more disposed to stick with what

they are used to. Bergstrom and Wadbring state, "As the younger generation is more inclined
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towards new forms of new media, it is reasonable to believe that interest is a more important

factor when it comes to explaining their media use than that of older people" (2012). There was a

study throughout 11 different nations on whether age plays a role in distinguishing which media

is used most. Studies show that young adults have converted to using new media, whereas

mature adults continue using traditional media. (Papathanassopoulos et al., 2013)

Media Accessibility

New media has created multiple ways for people to receive information. It has also made

it more accessible at any time. Portable platforms, such as a cell phone, make it easy to receive

news at any time. The expansion of media consumptions makes it convenient for everyone and

anyone, anywhere, at any time. Not only has new media increased the level of accessibility, but it

has also allowed people to combine different forms of media, also known as “media meshing."

Media meshing is when a person is watching television and uses a different media platform, such

as the internet on their cell phone, to look up a related topic of which they are watching on the

television. "Media stacking" is somewhat similar. This is where you are using one platform for

one thing, but another platform for something different. An example of this would be a young

woman using the internet to do homework but watching television at the same time solely for

entertainment. Ofcom states, “The number of hours in a day has not changed, yet millennials

appear to engage in more media experiences in time by stacking devices” (as cited in Botterill,

Bredin, & Dun, 2015). In a Canadian Survey, 388 students were documented in various ways

they use different media platforms. The study shows that "in just a 30-minute period, media

stacking ranged from 2 to 8 different media device usages" (Botterill, Bredin, & Dun, 2015).
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News consumption is expanding every day. Some believe that traditional media is slowly

becoming extinct, but that is not a fact. However, “it has been observed that all over the world,

people are seeking information both in traditional and new media” (Zulqarnain & Taimur-ul-

Hassan, 2017). Everyone is different and has their own preference as to which news platform fits

their needs best. Although there have been many studies on the topic of traditional and new

media, it was still important to do a new study on the preferences of the Reinhardt community

because this topic is constantly changing.

Methodology

Data Gathering:

Looking at previous studies is important when conducting a research project because it

leads to a starting point. In six different articles regarding similar topics, there was a pattern that

kept occurring. At least one of the five variables occurred in each article. Due to the overlapping

categories within previous research articles, gender, age, generation, education, and news outlets,

were necessary variables to involve in the Reinhardt study. Gender, age, and education levels are

key factors towards an individual's news outlet preference, which is why it was important to

make sure they were included. The findings in research are not always consistent but they are

helpful towards future studies such as this one. To get the information needed for the research

question, a survey was conducted which consisted of open-ended and multiple-choice questions

regarding their age, gender, education level, and news outlet preferences. Participants were

approached via email asking to participate in a research study. The questions were formatted

through Google Forms which was then sent out to 185 people within the Reinhardt community,

both faculty and students. A total sample of 185 people was reached out to, of these 185 people,
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there were only 50 responses (27%). Before filling out the survey, individuals with interest were

asked to agree to a consent form; if one did not agree, they simply just exited the survey. Google

Forms collected all the data that was submitted and put it into an Excel sheet.

Data analysis:

In previous studies, one of the top occurring factors when looking at one’s outlet

preference is gender; out of six articles, four looked at gender. It is believed that men and women

have different outlet preferences when it comes to receiving news, such as television or the

internet. Another variable looked at was age. Three out of six articles considered age in their

research. Findings show that mature adults prefer traditional media such as television and

newspapers over new media, whereas young adults prefer new media. Education was mentioned

in two of the six articles. Studies show that people who have more education prefer traditional

media over new media. Internet consumption is used for studies that are in relationship to their

school work, whereas television is mainly used to keep up students with current events. Lastly,

the most important factor that was conducted in these six articles was media consumption. Out of

the six articles, five looked at both traditional and new media. For traditional media: radio,

television, newspapers, and magazines are introduced. For new media, the variables included are

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Results show that four of the five articles that relate to media

consumption prefer traditional media over new media. Out of those four articles that showed

traditional media was most preferred, three had television as the top outlet and one had

newspapers. This shows that new media may be growing fast, but traditional media remains the

number one source for receiving news. Since these variables were showed multiple times

throughout different articles, it is important to have used them within the Reinhardt research

project.
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To discover the percentages of the Reinhardt participants’ gender, age, and education

level, frequency and correlation were used to test and compare the data to one another. These

formulas helped to discover which categories had a significant correlation between variables.

Overall, 50 Reinhardt community members between the ages of 18- 70 years old completed the

survey. Descriptive analyses revealed that 8% (4) of enrolled participants were 65 years or older,

30% (15) were 25-64 years old, with the majority 62% (31) being between 18-24 years of age, as

shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Participants’ Age Frequency Table

Age Frequency

18-24 31 participants

25-64 15 participants

65+ 4 participants

As shown in Table 2, 58% (29) of enrolled participants reportedly have a high school diploma,

18% (9) have a Ph.D., 14% (7) have their masters, 6% (3) have their associates degree, and 4%

(2) have their bachelor's degree

Table 2

Participants’ Education Frequency Table

Education Frequency

High School Diploma 29 participants

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PhD 9 participants

Master’s Degree 7 participants

Associates Degree 3 participants

Bachelor’s Degree 2 participants

Out of these 50 participants, 52% (26) were male and 48% (24) were female, as shown in

Table 3.

Table 3

Participants’ Gender Frequency Table:

Gender Frequency

Male 26

Female 24

By carrying out a correlation test, it was found that there are five significant differences

within the research. The first test calculated whether age correlates with how often a person

accesses news on Instagram, X2 (17, N=50) P<0.05. Results show that there is a significant

correlation between variables and that age does influence how often a person views news on

social media within the Reinhardt community. Second, the analysis test calculated whether age

has a correlation on how often a person accesses news through professional outlets, such as

online newspapers (New York Times). The test results show that there is a significant correlation

between the two variables, X2 (17, N=50) P<.012. The next test calculated whether a person’s

gender correlated their news intake on Facebook, X2 (11, N=50) P<.011; results show there is a
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significant correlation. The fourth test showed that there is a significant correlation between

variables and that the age of a person has a relationship to the amount of time people spend

accessing news, X2 (14, N=50) P<.03. The fifth test shows a relationship between age and

newspapers and that the correlation between variables is significant, X2 (17, N=50) P<.009.

Lastly, the analysis calculated whether there is a correlation between an individual’s education

level and the amount of time one accesses news through professional outlets. Results show there

is a relationship between the two and that there is a significant correlation between variables, X2

(29, N=50) P<.03.

Findings

The results of the survey that was conducted in this study show how much of an impact

demographics have on an individual’s news outlet preference. When looking at the outlet

preferences of the Reinhardt community, statistics show that the majority of the Reinhardt

population has different preferences according to their age, gender, and education level. When

looking at gender, females are more likely to receive news through Facebook than males. 75% of

females receive news on Facebook daily, whereas only 34% of males use Facebook as a news

outlet. Ages 25-64 and 65+ are less likely to view news on Instagram than a person aged between

18-24. 60% of ages 25-64 receive news a couple of times a day through professional outlets,

100% of people aged 65+ receive news through professional outlets a couple of times a day, and

only 9% of ages 18-24 look at professional outlets. According to the findings, ages 18-24 use

new media (Internet/social media) rather than ages 25+.

Conclusion
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According to the Reinhardt community, demographics play a huge role in news outlet

preferences. Unlike men, women prefer receiving news on social media; men are more prone to

receiving news through traditional media or professional news outlets. People of a younger age

with a lower education level prefer to receive news through new media, such as social media,

rather than traditionally through the radio, television, or newspapers. These findings have the

same key factors as other studies but are unique because not one study has been conducted at

Reinhardt University regarding this topic. Based on the findings, there are a few practical

implements that Reinhardt University should try to apply when reaching out to the community.

When Reinhardt has an important message that should only be delivered to the students, it would

be a good idea to reach out to them through new media, such as email. If the administration had

an announcement meant for the whole school, using two different platforms would be best.

Email or some sort of social media is a good way to reach the students, but faculty may need an

alternate. Since older people prefer to receive news through traditional media, sending out letters

to the faculty members may be the best way to reach them. Everyone is different and have

different preferences, which is why it is important to have several options for the Reinhardt

community to receive news.

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References

Ayyad, K. (2011). Internet usage vs traditional media usage among university students in the United

Arab Emirates. Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, 4(1), 41–61.

https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr.4.1.41_1

Bergström, A., & Wadbring, I. (2012). Strong support for news media: attitudes towards news on old

and new platforms. Media International Australia, (144), 118–126.

Botterill, J., Bredin, M., & Dun, T. (2015). Millennials’ Media Use: It Is a Matter of Time. Canadian

Journal of Communication, 40(3), 537–551.

Papathanassopoulos, S., Coen, S., Curran, J., Aalberg, T., Rowe, D., Jones, P., … Tiffen, R. (2013).

Online Threat, But Television is Still Dominant: A comparative study of 11 nations’ news

consumption. Journalism Practice, 7(6), 690–704.

https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.761324