Media Map

Who Reads What?

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 ~ Forbes has a really interesting interactive map that shows the primary source of news in each of the US states.

The most interesting result is that three states--Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Mexico--get their news from The Onion, a leading on-line humor and satire site. This is much like getting one's news from The Daily Show, but without the addition of any actual facts.

Also noteworthy:

• Here in Washington we opt for The Seattle Times, making us just one of 27 states where the primary source is a newspaper (or its on-line version) rather than from other media like the web or the boob tube.
• The TV (or its on-line versions) is the leading news source in just 12 states, of which only Vermont and Hawaii voted for the Democrat in the last presidential election.
• No states prefer CBS or NBC.
• The source with the most states, 13, is USA Today.
• Newspapers have mostly regional readership, except for USA Today, the source with the broadest and most diverse geographic reach.
• Fox News is the primary source in only 3 states--Texas, Mississippi and Montana.
• Both Alaska and Hawaii, along with 3 other states, prefer MSNBC. Surprisingly, four of the five are politically "red" states, including unlikely places like Idaho and North Dakota.
• CNN, oddly, is the leader only in South Dakota.
• Huffington Post is the most followed on-line only site, with 7 states, all but 2 of which are also traditionally "red" states.
• NPR is favored only in Oregon.

Methodology and more commentary here.