Despite Increased Internet Use, 75% of Koreans Read Newspapers

According to a recent report, despite increased Internet use, Koreans spend almost the same amount of time in reading newspapers. In addition, those with high income, such as those with professional or managerial jobs, spend more time reading newspapers than others.

“The conclusive fact-finding report on informatization for 2006 Second Half” was released on March 9 by the National Internet Development Agency (NIDA). The agency conducted research from December 1 through December 30 last year on 10,000 households or 25,727 individuals across the country.

About Internet use and changes the Internet brought in their daily lives, 75.1 percent of the respondents said, “I spend the same amount of time reading newspapers as in the past.”

It means that about eight out of ten Korean people spend the same amount of time reading newspapers as they did before. Those who said they spend less time on newspapers numbered 23.5 percent, while 1.4 percent said they spent more time reading newspapers.

The Internet was also polled as more of an influence on watching TV than on reading newspapers. When asked about the amount of time spent watching TV, 36.9 percent said, “reduced,” 61.5 percent said, “same” and 1.6 percent replied, “increased.”

Meanwhile, the average time spent reading newspapers per week was 3.8 hours. More specifically, by profession, those with professional or managerial jobs spent the most time reading newspapers with 4.4 hours, followed by 3.9 hours for office workers, 3.7 hours for those in service or sales sectors, 3.5 hours for housewives, and 3.0 hours for students.

mikemoon@donga.com