Will the Last
One Here Please Turn Off the Press?
January 19, 2001
Winning
with the News Media
"Angst in the Newsroom" was
the cover story on a recent national journalism
magazine. "Will Bill Gates Crush Newspapers?’
headlined another.
Newspapers are dying. The percentage
of Americans who buy and/or read a daily newspaper is
steadily dropping.
Back in 1970, they sold roughly one
newspaper per household every day in America. By 1998,
the number of households had increased by 59.37 per
cent, to 101 million. In that same period, daily
newspaper circulation dropped 8.66 per cent, to 56.7
million. (See chart below)
"A Dangerous Decline"
The National Newspaper Association of
America (NAA), which has historically painted a rosy
picture of the industry, commissioned a study in 1997
which showed only 51 per cent of Americans read a
weekday paper, what the study called "a dangerous
decline."
The NAA survey asked which news medium
people would miss most if it were no longer available.
Those polled said they would miss their Sunday newspaper
most. But on weekdays, newspapers were not as valued as
TV and radio.
People say they don't have time to
read the newspaper any more. In 1998, the Pew Research
Center for The People and the Press conducted its
biennial national survey to find the average American
spending 31 minutes per day watching news on TV,
18minutes reading a newspaper, and 17 minutes listening
to radio news. A quarter of 18-to-24-year-olds get no
news of any kind.
Newspapers Sold
& U.S. Households
(in millions)
Source: U. S. Census,
Editor & Publisher
The competition of television is just
part of the problem for newspapers. Other reasons for
the drop in readership --
Illiteracy. A large segment of the
population does not read well enough to tackle a
newspaper. Publishers have made a nationwide effort to
encourage programs that teach adults to read.
A mobile population, with few ties or
personal identification with the local community.
Newspapers in this country have traditionally been heavy
on local news -- particularly government. Other
developed nations have national newspapers. The closest
America has is The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and a relative
newcomer -- USA Today.
Expanding options for using leisure
time -- particularly computers and the Internet. Much of
the information that was once available only in
newspapers is now accessible, 24 hours a day, with a
home computer and a modem. And the information is
updated every few minutes -- not every 24 hours. Stock
market data and sports scores are a prime example.
Women working outside the home.
Homemakers were once a major segment of newspaper
readership. With outside jobs, women still shoulder
household chores, too. Free time is scarce. Newspaper
reading is one of the things they drop.
Sunday Papers Now Sliding, Too
While it hasn't kept pace with the
growth in households, Sunday newspaper circulation in
1998 (60.5 million) was 23 per cent higher than it was
in 1970 (49.2 million), according to Editor and
Publisher. But even on Sunday, the circulation figures
peaked in 1993 and have been sliding since.
One theory for the difference in
Sunday and weekday circulation trends was more time to
read on Sunday, when readers didn’t have to go to
work. Why are Sunday sales dropping now? Depends on who
you talk to. But the increasing range of options for
both entertainment and information is probably the root
cause.
. . .
(This chapter continues with how circulation is
measured, the tabloid-ization of
"respectable" newspapers, the decline of
afternoon newspapers, the delivery of newspapers by
FAX and the Internet, a chart showing how advertising
dollars are split between U. S. media, another chart
showing circulation trends for afternoon and morning
papers)
Number of Dailies
In 1950, there were 322 morning
papers, 1,450 evening newspapers -- a total of 1,772. In
1998, Editor and Publisher magazine counted 705 morning
papers, 816 evening newspapers -- a total of 1,521. The
1998 numbers include 12 "all-day" newspapers,
which publish both morning and evening. All-day
newspapers are counted twice in these totals.
Most American newspapers are fairly
small. Only 16 per cent have circulations of more than
50,000.
. . .
(The nation's 10 largest newspapers and their daily
circulation, the largest newspaper chains [four out of
five newspapers are now owned by a corporate group]
and their percentage of national circulation)
Competing Papers
American cities with separately owned,
competing newspapers are extremely rare. In 1956, there
were 94. In 1990, the count was down to 43.
By 1998, only 18 cities had completely
separate, competing newspapers, according to Editor and
Publisher. In another 16 cities, morning and evening
newspapers were still published through joint operating
agreements (JOAs).
Joint Operating Agreements
In a JOA, the larger newspaper
(usually a morning paper) contracts to print the other
paper on its presses, use its circulation department to
sell subscriptions, and then deliver the other paper. In
most JOAs, the advertising departments are also merged.
The editorial and news staffs for the
two papers remain separate, distinct, and theoretically
competitive, even though they share the same building,
and sometimes the same newsroom.
Newspaper Costs
In most cities, what you pay for a
daily newspaper doesn't even cover the cost of the blank
paper it's printed on. Newspapers have always depended
on advertising to make a profit. The real threat now is
that advertising dollars will be siphoned away to new
media -- particularly the Internet.
About 40 per cent of the average
newspaper’s gross revenue is classified advertising.
Internet classifieds are much more user-friendly, and in
some cases, free. In late 1998, a few newspapers were
banding together to create their own, regional Internet
classifieds.
They have been slow to move into this
new medium, and may not be able to catch up. (See INSIDE
THE MEDIA/The
Internet)
Related Links:
Winning
with the News Media
May
30, 2000 -
Online
News All About Text - Hello, gentle online
newsreader. You're not like those Old World newsprint
readers. You're not even like your current
newsprint-reading self. In fact, you're the exact
opposite. So says the preliminary data from a
comprehensive new study by Stanford University and the
Poynter Institute, anyway. The study, which used small
cameras to track the way online readers' eyes scan
websites, found that surfers focus first on text,
ignoring photos and graphics totally, only returning
to them -- if at all -- after reading the text.
Magazine and newspaper readers, by contrast, check out
photos and graphics first, then get on with reading...
August,
2000 -
Publishing
Industry: towards the void? - The publishing
world is headed for the what could be called the
‘second wave’ of Desktop Publishing. During the
first wave, which started with the arrival of the
Macintosh, desktop page layout tools and Postscript,
most publishing companies converted their print
production to computer -based tools. Operations with
complex workflow problems, such as newspapers, moved
to or continued to use high-end editorial systems -
but this currently concerns only a fraction of the
overall number of companies involved in publishing...
August
17, 2000 -
INTERNET
SAPPING BROADCAST NEWS AUDIENCE - Traditional
news outlets are feeling the impact of two distinct
and powerful trends. Internet news has not only
arrived, it is attracting key segments of the national
audience. At the same time, growing numbers of
Americans are losing the news habit. Fewer people say
they enjoy following the news, and fully half pay
attention to national news only when something
important is happening. And more Americans than ever
say they watch the news with a remote control in hand,
ready to dispatch uninteresting stories. To some
extent, these trends are affecting all traditional
media, but broadcast news outlets -- both national and
local -- have been the most adversely affected...
Reports by
the Pew Research Center - "For The People&
the press" - They are an independent opinion
research group, sponsored by The Pew Charitable
Trusts, that studies public attitudes toward the
press, politics and public policy issues. The Center's
main purpose is to serve as a forum for ideas on the
media and public policy through its research...
The
Changing Media Landscape - The revolution in
communications technology is clearly changing the
way Americans live, and it has created a highly
competitive environment for those who provide news
and information to the public. Nearly seven-in-ten
Americans (68%) now use a computer on at least an
occasional basis, up from 61% in 1998 and 58% in
1996. Almost as many have a computer in their home
-- 59%, up from 43% in 1998 and 36% in 1995...
Internet
News: More Log On, Tune Out - The same
demographic groups which are moving away from the
nightly network news in the greatest numbers are
some of the very same groups which are moving toward
online news use at the highest rates - more
affluent, more well-educated Americans...
Financial
News: Traders Turn to the Internet - While
the crowded landscape has fragmented audiences, it
has given the most sophisticated and
technology-savvy news consumers an array of options
that would have been inconceivable just a few years
ago. Americans who are active stock traders and
investors are perfectly positioned to take advantage
of these choices...
Attitudes
Toward the News - The decline in the number
of Americans who say they enjoy the news is a
continuation of a long-term trend. In 1995, a
majority (54%) said they enjoyed keeping up with the
news a lot. That number fell to 50% in 1998 and 45%
this year...
Media
Credibility - While television news
viewership has fallen off in recent years,
credibility ratings for the major TV news outlets
have remained relatively stable. As was the case in
1998 and 1996, CNN is rated the most believable TV
news source. Roughly four-in-ten Americans who are
able to rate it (39%) say they can believe all or
most of what they see and hear on CNN...
ABOUT
THE SURVEYS - Results for the main survey on
Media Consumption are based on telephone interviews
conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey
Research Associates among a nationwide sample of
3,142 adults, 18 years of age or older, during the
period April 20-May 13, 2000. For results based on
the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence
that the error attributable to sampling and other
random effects is plus or minus 2.5 percentage
points. For results based on either Form A (N=1,593)
or Form B (N=1,549), the sampling error is plus or
minus 3 percentage points...
August,
2000 -
The
failure of new media The media business has
invested a lot of money and hope in the Internet over
the past three years. So far, it has been a
disappointment. LAST year, NBC’s Internet strategy
was the envy of the media world. The American
broadcasting network had started investing early and
amassed a portfolio of assets while Internet share
prices rocketed. In November, it rolled them together
and floated them as NBC Internet...
August
18, 2000 -
What
the Internet cannot do - “IT IS impossible
that old prejudices and hostilities should longer
exist, while such an instrument has been created for
the exchange of thought between all the nations of the
earth.” Thus Victorian enthusiasts, acclaiming the
arrival in 1858 of the first transatlantic telegraph
cable. People say that sort of thing about new
technologies, even today. Biotechnology is said to be
the cure for world hunger. The sequencing of the human
genome will supposedly eradicate cancer and other
diseases. The wildest optimism, though, has greeted
the Internet. A whole industry of cybergurus has
enthralled audiences (and made a fine living) with
exuberant claims that the Internet will prevent wars,
reduce pollution, and combat various forms of
inequality. However, although the Internet is still
young enough to inspire idealism, it has also been
around long enough to test whether the prophets can be
right...
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