Public relations research project, analyzing "where lawyers get their news." This research was used to identify publications where we should target our media pitches.

1. Where Lawyers Get Their
News: Getting on Target
By Tamiko M. Lee

2. ON TARGET
Where Do People Get Their News?
Influence of New Technology on News Consumption
•News is no longer one-size-fits-all; the Pew Internet and American Life
Project indicates that 92% of Americans use multiple platforms to get their
news each day, including television, the Internet, local newspapers, radio
and national newspapers
•46% of Americans get their news from more than six platforms per day
•Just 7% get their news from a single source
•According to Nielsen, 56% of Americans with smartphones have downloaded
news-based applications in the past 30 days – as of June 1, 2010
•In general, 33% of cell phone owners (more than 90% of Americans) access
news on their phones
•The internet has surpassed newspapers and radio in popularity as a news
platform on a typical day and now ranks just behind TV

3. ON TARGET
News Source: Print
A traditional news source, print’s popularity has slowly decreased with the
advent of the Internet

4. ON TARGET
Print Overview: Key Findings
•50% of Americans say they read news in a local newspaper
•17% say they read news in a national newspaper such as The New
York Times or USA Today
•Just 10% of print newspaper subscribers have a post-graduate
degree
•The largest percentage of print subscribers—26%—are 65 or older,
indicating the role of age in news source preference
•14% of subscribers are in “professional or related” occupations; 10%
are in “management, business and finance-related” positions
•Newspapers have lost 25.6% circulation since 2000
Source: Newspaper Association of America

5. Top 10 U.S. Newspapers by Circulation
From Newspapers.com:
• Wall Street Journal • New York Daily News
– Ranks #2 in terms of reaching • Chicago Tribune
nearly 60% of opinion leaders
• New York Post
• The New York Times
– Ranks #1 in reach, delivering • Long Island Newsday
content to more than 61% of • Houston Chronicle
opinion leaders
• Los Angeles Times
• Washington Post
• New York Daily News

6. ON TARGET
Informal Survey
In an informal survey of the ABA Family Law listserv, the Division for Bar
Services information coordinator and ABA Journal staff, the following
publications were mentioned frequently as news sources for lawyers:
•The New York Times
•Wall Street Journal
•USA Today
Local papers were also listed, although particular papers vary by region. One
respondent noted local newspapers as “weak, but nonetheless local,”
indicating the papers as a necessity, although not that useful.

7. ON TARGET
News Source: Online
Online news sources, including blogs, online newspapers (often
extensions of print papers), and other web-based resources are
increasing in popularity as we move toward a digital age

8. ON TARGET
Online Overview: Key Findings
•Online news consumers typically appreciate coverage on local/current events, local
public affairs, live feeds, breaking news and more
•Only half on online news consumers have ever visited their local paper’s website
•The most popular online news subjects are as follows:
– Weather (followed by 81% of online users)
– National events (73%)
– Health and medicine (66%)
– Business and the economy (64%)
– International events (62%)
– Science and technology (60%)
•44% of online news users get news—at least a few times a
week—via emails, automatic updates or posts from social
networking sites
•In the 2009 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report, 96.9% of surveyed
lawyers reported that they use the Internet to obtain news on current events. This
percentage is well above the 73% of general online users who consume current events
news

9. ON TARGET
Online Overview: Key Findings (cont’d)
•17.3% of lawyers reported using blogs as a daily news source
•20.9% of lawyers reported using blogs as a news source one or more
times per week
•33.7% of lawyers reported relying on e-mail
newsletters as a daily news source
•37.3% of lawyers use state and local bar publications to obtain
information specifically on legal technology
•60.9% of lawyers rely on the ABA Journal to obtain
information specifically on legal technology
•63% of lawyers responded “yes” to the question:
“How often, on average, do you use each of the following online
resources for current awareness [on a daily basis]: Third party
websites? (e.g., CNN.com, NewYorkTimes.com)?”

10. ON TARGET
Online Overview: Social Media and the News
In the World Wide Web, social media
plays an important role in news
News Topics Across Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
consumption. Each social network Media Platforms
takes on its own personality with news
Blogs Twitter YouTube Print
themes unique to each site, according
to the Pew Research Center.
Politics/Government 17% 6% 21% 15%
Foreign Events 12 13 26 9
Economy 7 1 1 10
Technology 8 43 1 1
Health and Medicine 7 4 6 11
From 1/19/09 –
1/15/10

11. Top 20 News Websites in General
From eBizMBA.com, as reported by Alexa Global Traffic Rank:
• Yahoo! News • Reuters
• CNN • ABC News
• MSNBC • USA Today
• Google News • BBC News
• Digg • Drudge Report
• The New York Times • CBS News
• Huffington Post • The Guardian
• Fix News • AOL News
• Washington Post • Times Online
• Los Angeles Times • Associated Press

12. Top News Sites for Lawyers
According to ABA Division for Bar Services information coordinator, Molly Kilmer Flood, an informal survey and
ABA Journal staffer Stephanie Ward:
• Law.com
• FindLaw
• ABAJournal.com
• CNN.com
• NYTimes.com
• MSNBC.com
• HuffingtonPost.com
• NPR.org
• USAToday.com
• Newsweek.com

13. Top Blogs for Lawyers
According to ABA Division for Bar Services information coordinator, Molly Kilmer Flood, an informal survey and
ABA Journal staffer Stephanie Ward:
• Above the Law
• SCOTUS
• Wall Street Journal Law Blog
• The Blog of Legal Times
Additionally, the ABA Journal publishes an annual list of the top 100 legal blogs. A detailed list can be found
here.

14. ON TARGET
News Source: Mobile
The use of mobile sources is increasingly popular among busy
professionals like lawyers and similar audiences, particularly with
smartphones and mobile Internet viewers (iPad, Sony Dash, etc)

15. ON TARGET
Mobile Overview: Key Findings
•61.6% of lawyers surveyed in the 2009 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report reported
using their laptops as a means to conduct research/obtain news
•19.1% of lawyers surveyed in the 2009 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report reported
using their Blackberry or other smartphone as a means to conduct research/obtain news
•In general, 63.2 million people are using their mobile devices to access the Internet
•17.6% (39 million people) used their cell phones to access news-related websites
•Other studies show that up to 33% use their cell phones to
access news-related websites
While there is no readily available information on the most popular mobile sites,
research indicates that consumers want the same information that they are able to
obtain on their regular browsers.
“A lawyer with a smartphone is a walking law firm.”
-Jordan Furlong

16. ON TARGET
News Source: Broadcast

17. ON TARGET
Broadcast Overview: Key Findings
•78% of Americans say they get their news from a local TV station
•73% say they get news from a national network, such as CBS or cable TV station such as
CNN or FoxNews
Despite general population surveys indicating that broadcast news is still the
leading medium, informal and formal research on lawyers suggests that this
on-the-go group is much more interested in mobile and online news.

18. Top Broadcast Channels for Lawyers
According to ABA Division for Bar Services information coordinator Molly Kilmer Flood, an informal survey and
ABA Journal staffer Stephanie Ward:
• CNN
• C-Span
• Local news

19. ON TARGET
Findings Analysis
•Lawyers are more likely than the general population to get their news from
wireless resources, including laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices
•Lawyers are more likely to rely on national news sources, as opposed to
local and broadcast sources, including The New York Times, USA Today,
CNN, Wall Street Journal and others
•Lawyers are forward-thinking and less likely to rely on traditional forms of
media
•Lawyers rely on a variety of online news sources, including blogs, although
blog preference depends on practice area and is typically not limited to one
source