Most Americans watch TV for news

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. residents gather more information about their communities from local TV news than newspapers, a Pew Research Center report indicated Monday.

More than two-thirds of survey participants (69 percent) said if their local newspaper were to stop publishing, it would not have a major impact on their ability to keep up with news and information about their communities, a survey by the Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Internet & American Life Project found.

Weather, breaking news, local politics and crime were found to be the most important local news topics for survey takers.

Americans are watching the news on television predominantly for weather, breaking news and traffic reports. Newspapers, both print and online, ranked first on subjects related to civic affairs, such as government and taxes.

The survey of 2,251 people 18 and older also found people younger than 40 years of age said they are more apt to use Web-only sites as a top source of information on local subjects such as weather, politics, crime, jobs and housing.

The survey, conducted Jan. 12-25, found print newsletters, online mailing lists and word of mouth are how people learn about community events and local school news.

The survey has an overall margin of error of 2 percentage points.