Reading sparingly, listening liberally

People are turning more frequently to online news, according to a new Pew Research Center report. This seems to come at the expense of radio, which competes most directly with online for the breaking-news headlines audience.

Beyond that, news habits haven't changed much in my reading of past Pew reports. The combined news audience has held steady amid expanding leisure pursuits; there's a booming demand for news about finance, health and religion.

And the taste for news is still acquired with age; younger readers enjoy the Web because they don't need to read much. However, NPR's audience share is catching up to Fox News; liberal Democrats bucked a trend and maintained their interest in politics in advance of the offyear elections.