Internet, cable fail to increase knowledge of current affairs

INTERNET, CABLE FAIL TO INCREASE KNOWLEDGE OF CURRENT AFFAIRS
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Americans' knowledge of national and international affairs has changed little in two decades despite the emergence of 24-hour cable news and the Internet as major news sources. People surveyed earlier this year were slightly less able than those polled in 1989 to name the vice president, their state's governor and the president of Russia but slightly more able to answer other questions correctly about national politics, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The most knowledgeable -- the 34 percent of those surveyed who could answer 15 or more of 23 questions correctly -- were four times more likely to say they enjoyed keeping up with the news "a lot" than those who answered nine or less questions correctly. More than half of those in the most knowledgeable category listed as news sources cable TV shows such as the "Daily Show," the "Colbert Report" and the "O'Reilly Factor," major newspaper Web sites, the "PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Rush Limbaugh's radio show and National Public Radio. More than 40 percent of the most knowledgeable group said they regularly get information from news magazines, local daily newspapers, CNN and Web sites Google and Yahoo along with and TV news sites on the Internet.
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/jun/11/internet-cable-fail-increase-kno...