Rural Residents Still Rely On Newspapers

I love the city, live in one, (Madison, Wisconsin) and know the newspaper is very important to our lives.   There is a nice feeling when I sometimes hear the thud of the papers in the morning landing up against the door and falling to the stoop.

I also know from growing up in a rural setting (Hancock, Wisconsin) the importance of the daily newspaper arriving in the mailbox at the end of the drive.  As a young kid I would wonder while walking to pick it up how the latest adventures of Buzz Sawyer would unfold…..

As the world of technology moves along with amazing speed it is interesting to find from a latest study how important newspapers remain to folks back in the country.

Americans in small towns and rural areas rely more on newspapers and television for local news than their big-city counterparts, a survey showed Wednesday.

Newspapers are especially important for civic information to rural and small-town residents, who are the most concerned about what would happen if the local paper disappeared, the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey found.

Urban residents use a wider combination of platforms for news including Internet searches, Twitter, blogs and the websites of local TV stations and newspapers.

Suburban residents use a mix of media sources similar to that of urbanites, but rely more on radio, the study showed, possibly for information on commuting times

Urban and suburban residents were also the most likely to get news via mobile devices.

The survey found 61 percent of small town residents would be concerned if their local newspaper disappeared, compared with 54 percent of urban residents.