Next, respondents were asked whether they consider each of seven types of media content to be news. The lack of consistency in news definition and news interest, coupled with ever increasing media fragmentation, may suggest that news programs for a mass audience are becoming obsolete. For most respondents, news is a regular part of life. Further differences by demographic subgroup were noted by gender, household income, presence of children in the home, geographic region and political affiliation. Additionally, Democrats expressed the greatest interest in national news, local news and entertainment.
Opinions concerning the remaining five types of media content, however, did vary by subgroup.
Take, for example, the daily performance of the stock market. Classifications of TV magazine programs as news correlated negatively with age, education and household income. Classifications of radio commentaries as news correlated positively with age and negatively with education and income. A more detailed breakdown of news classifications by demographic subgroup can be found in Table 38 . As for interest in specific types of news, online users expressed above-average interest in news about politics, elections and government.