As an important factor influencing the formation of knowledge gap ,media difference has long been a research focus in the knowledge gap literature .Previous studies ,however ,primarily compared the differential effects between newspaper and television on the knowledge gap .Little attention has been paid to the possible disparities between new media and old media regarding their impacts on people's knowledge acquisition .Based on two national surveys in the U .S .A . , this study finds that the usage gap between individuals with different socio-economic status is greater for the Internet than for traditional media .More importantly ,the greater usage gap on the Internet is also associated with a bigger knowledge gap .This suggests that the digital divide not only has a stronger magnitude ,but has more severe consequences than does the analog divide . These findings can facilitate our understanding of the knowledge gap and its antecedents ,and can help justify the necessity of the digital divide research .