Online news or printed newspaper? A comparative study on the reading preferences of two selected age groups

Abstract

The advancement of the technology has cultivated the growth in the news media in these recent years, hence it has somehow served as a tool to motivate the news media to change in order to adapt to this transformation in recent years. Compared to the past, where people only have access to news through certain news media, people are now able to read the news through a wider range of medium. A comparative research was conducted to examine the preference of two age groups between print newspaper and online news. A total of 50 respondents from the employees of the Department of Agriculture Field Office Region VI with 25 respondents aged 20-39 and 25 respondents aged 40 and up.

Results showed that the readership towards print newspapers in Philippine media landscape is unrelieved and it has shown that the preferences stay in print newspaper regardless of age group. The gratifications obtained from print newspaper are relatively higher than online news. The present study was aided by the uses and gratification approach concluding that audiences are actively seeking for the interactive media in order to obtain gratification.