“When the U.S. stock market plunged over 400 points last week, Americans heard the news from a wide variety of sources. While a plurality of Americans learned about the downturn from television, the internet was a much more important source of news this year than it had been in November 1997 when stocks fell over 500 points in a day. In 1997, 59% of those who were paying at least some attention to the stock market fall first heard the news on television, this compares with 43% today. The percent of the public who heard the stock market news online increased ten-fold from 1997 to today. Roughly one-in-five (19%) heard about the market from listening to the radio (unchanged from 1997), 8% heard about it from talking to others (down slightly from 1997), and 9% heard about it by reading a newspaper (up marginally from 1997).”
