Nearly half of Wisconsinites who took part in a poll this summer commissioned by Refocus Wisconsin say that they get "most" of their news from television.
The survey of 2,500 state residents showed 47.2 percent picking TV, 20.5 percent citing the Internet as their news source, 15.9 percent said radio and 14.7 said they get "most" of their news from print newspapers. Refocus Wisconsin is a project of the conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
Focusing on the city of Milwaukee, 55.7 percent of people surveyed said they got most of their news from TV, 20.2 percent from the Internet, only 7.8 percent from radio and 15.1 percent from print newspaper.
The racial differences in consuming media are interesting. According to the survey, 57.3 of those who identified as black or African American, got most of their news from TV, 19.1 percent from the Internet, 5.2 percent from radio and 15.6 from print newspapers.
Of those identifying as white or Caucasian, 46.8 percent listed TV as their first choice for news, 20.7 percent picked the Internet, 16.4 percent said radio and 14.4 percent said print newspapers.
The question on where Wisconsinites get their news was part of a detailed survey taken in June on various issues.
One of the key things we don't know is how rapidly things have changed. This survey is a snapshot from June, and there isn't a track record to measure the move away from traditional print newspapers.
On TV: Sunday's fifth season premiere of Showtime's "Dexter" brought in 1.8 million viewers, a record "Dexter" debut and the biggest Showtime premiere in 15 years, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers.
- USA has ordered new seasons of "Psych," "Royal Pains" and "White Collar."
- The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd blogs that CBS has bought another sitcom based on a Twitter feed. This one, called Shh ... Don't tell Steve, is supposedly a guy tweeting everything his friend, Steve, does. It actually comes from Ashton Kutcher.
- The future of Starz's "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" is in danger after star Andy Whitfield's cancer relapse. Michael Ausiello reports at EW.com that either an actor will replace him or the show will be canceled.
A clever way to give credit: If you've attended any of the film screenings that are part of the Milwaukee Film Festival, you're certain to have seen the clever sponsor trailer.
Of course, if you've been to multiple screenings, the three-minute trailer becomes repetitive pretty quickly. I don't know if there's any way to get around that.
If you haven't seen it, here's the video:
Speaking of the film festival, tonight's big event is the benefit screening of the restored version of Fritz Lang's 1927 silent classic, "Metropolis," accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra.
Passes won't work for this screening at the Oriental Theatre (tonight and Wednesday night at 7), with balcony seats going for $15, $30 for the wings, and $50 to sit in the center section of the theater. The screening benefits Milwaukee Film and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Here's the trailer:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
