Statistically based sources

United States. Census Bureau. Table 1127: Internet Access and Usage and Online Service Usage: 2006.

The Census Bureau’s Internet Access and Usage and Online Service Usage table is an excellent resource to gauge the people who have the Internet. The next statistic has a narrower focus, but the two combined can offer incite into the demographic that is most interesting in Internet news sources. An interesting concept associated with this table is that more than 218 million people have Internet access at home or work. The other category could be a neighbor, family member, or local library. Potentially every one of these people could be a citizen journalist if they chose to do so. The possibilities for the field in this respect become clearer with this data. Journalists can’t be everywhere at once, but each one of these people could carry that torch.


Pew Internet and American Life Project. 24 Aug. 2008. (http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/c/1/topics.asp)

The Pew Internet and American Life Project is a non-partisan organization that researches online activities by Americans. The activities include communication, information gathering, entertainment and transactions. The most relevant to citizen journalism are the statistics about how Americans access their news. Other useful studies include general Internet usage by age group and for what purpose. Applications to online journalism for this information are boundless. News outlets can find out who receives their news from what sources in order to tailor the product to that demographic. This information is also particularly useful for advertising on these Web sites.