The study was based on a survey of 1262 teachers from grades five through 12, and was released by the Carnegie-Knight Task Force on the Future of Journalism Education.

57% of teachers use online based news somewhat frequently, compared to 31% who use national television news and 28% who use daily newspapers.

Apart from the bad implications for newspaper readership, the finding is worsened by the fact that psychological studies led by Aric Sigman revealded use of TV in schools could lead students to under-perform academically.  

"Students do not relate to newspapers at all, any more than they would to vinyl records," said one of teachers in the study.

75% of teachers placed ‘newspapers’ at the bottom of a list for students’ favorite information sources.

The study seemed to find that newspapers were the own cause for their diminishing role in classrooms. Many local newspapers have made no efforts to promote their online editions in schools.

Instead, many U.S. dailies are part of the ‘Newspapers in Education’ (NIE) national program, which makes print papers available at cheaper rates for schools. But 87% of NIE local paper directors admit they encourage students to read their print newspaper, while only 2% try to direct students towards their online edition.

There lies the main problem, which is causing the younger generation to forget newspapers, and dismiss them as being only an obsolete print format, rather than an innovative news platform.

A finding that can be even more dramatic, considering some of the close relationship there is between democratic commitment and interest in news, according to Thomas Patterson, professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"A news habit is one of the best predictors of whether people are going to be involved in their community; whether they're going to vote, whether they're going to care."

Source: Washington Post