Study: Americans Still Want Serious News

Despite worries about technology and the wide range of media options it's made available leading people to just pay attention to their limited areas of interest, a new study from the Media Insight Project found that Americans of all ages still pay attention to serious news, they're just getting their information in different ways.

According to the study, three-fourths of Americans see or hear news daily, including 60 percent of young adults under age 30, and 90 percent of people said they enjoy keeping up with the news. Three out of four young adults with cellphones use them to check the news, as do most tablet owners. Nine out of 10 watched some type of TV news in the previous week, newspapers -- including online editions -- and radio news each reached more than 50 percent of people, and online-only news sources reached nearly half.

The study found that people turn to different media sources for different types of news:

• Local newscasts -- crime, traffic, weather and health stories
• Cable TV -- foreign news, politics, social issues and business stories
• Newspapers (online or in print) -- local news, education and schools stories, and arts and culture coverage
• Specialty media -- sports, entertainment news and science and technology coverage.
• TV coverage is where people go when there's a natural disaster