photo by Courtney Giles
Sophomore Premedical and Preprofessional Studies major, Anna GoForth, looks for news on Twitter on an Academic Hall computer lab PC.

As a freshman commuter, Josh Wright generally keeps up with the news, preferring to view it on his phone instead of browsing a newspaper.

Elle Wallace, a second semester cinema student, shares the same trend. With the internet at her fingertips, she can access any important news story within minutes.

“With everyone having a mobile device now, we’re able to see it [news] firsthand and put it up on social media in an instant,” Wright said. “I don’t think we get the paper anymore.”

According to a study released by the PEW Research Center at peoplepress.org, these new sources of news represent a growing trend. The study, which is written from data collected between the years 1991 and 2012, shows a decline in radio, television and newspaper while online news sources skyrocket.

As stated by PEW Research Center, “online and digital news consumption, meanwhile, continues to increase, with many more people now getting news on cell phones, tablets or other mobile platforms. And perhaps the most dramatic change in the news environment has been the rise of social networking sites.”

The 2012 study by PEW Research Center also showed the dramatic increase of mobile news sources, even as the other news mediums decreased in use. According to the graph, in 2004 online news is introduced for the first time and is the lowest of the four forms of news recorded (the other three forms being radio, newspaper and television).

In 2010, it has already surpassed newspaper and was tied with radio, which it surpasses the following two years. This trend shows the growing popularity of online news as a source of news information.

Point Park’s radio station, WPPJ, is transitioning to have more of an online presence.

“I want to direct the station to doing a lot more online based content…since it is a more digital age,” Nathan Keenan, a senior broadcast production and programming major, said.

Recently, WPPJ rebuilt their website, which now allows viewers to stream their music online. They also have a presence on the Tune-In Radio App, which premieres music from multiple stations in the area.

However, there are still plenty of students that still use non-digital media as a primary source of their news information.

“I read the paper generally every single week,” Baylee Zimmerman, a freshman sports, arts and entertainment management major, said. “I tend to like hard copies of stuff…If a news article catches my eye online, I’ll definitely read it, but I like having it on hand.”

Despite the transition of the various forms of news that exist, there are still students that use all of these forms of news, new and traditional.