Where NC gets its news...and the implications for campaigns

Katherine's poll earlier this week showed that for 56% of North Carolinians television is their main source for news, as opposed to newspapers or the internet.

That's just another reminder why you need to have the resources to run a serious media campaign if you're going to win a race for statewide office. Showing up in Podunk, NC and getting a story about yourself in the local paper just isn't going to reach the folks in the way you need it to, nor are letters to the editor, or any other sort of earned print media that lesser funded candidates often hope to be able to use to effectively get their message out.

The preference for TV news is particularly strong among Republicans with 63% of them saying that's where they go. Fred Smith may have learned that lesson the hard way in the primary against Pat McCrory last year.

There are also indications within the poll that point to the unfortunate possibility of a newspaperless society further down the road...while 45% of senior citizens get their news from a paper that drops gradually with every age group, all the way down to 20% for those polled under the age of 30.

A newspaperless society is also likely to be a dumber society, since most television news coverage does not have nearly the depth and level of understanding that newspapers provide.

But the world moves on...