J201 Lecture Newspapers How many of you read a newspaper every day How many of you read a newspaper every day not counting a college paper How many of you read a newspaper every day not counting a college paper not counting online newspapers Are newspapers in trouble people just aren t reading newspapers like they used to of Americans reading newspapers began to drop in 1940s overall circulation rose until 1970 was steady through 1990 population growth masked percentage decline in readership after 1990 circulation began decreasing in absolute terms newspaper reading today properties about 1 500 newspapers in US circulation 55 million single newspapers sold each day readership only 54 of Americans read a newspaper sometime during the week household penetration on average only 53 of households take a newspaper down from 123 in 1950 why have so many people stopped reading newspapers generational change suburbanization free weeklies reporting cutbacks chasing demographics rather than readers competition from television Baughman who is and isn t reading newspapers age young people read less ethnicity readership lowest among fastestgrowing minority population education more education means more likely to read a newspaper comparing newspapers to TV journalistic practices 85 of newspaper front page stories are staff generated rather than attributed solely to an outside source 56 for network evening news 2 of newspaper stories use at least one blind anonymous source 14 for network evening news 52 of newspaper stories use at least four named identified sources 18 for network evening news Do people believe what they read in the papers today 59 of Americans believe their daily paper but in 1985 80 of Americans believed their daily paper people today trust papers less than local and network television news cultural divide journalists seen as out of touch and motivated more by profit than public interest yet people still turn to newspapers to make sense of the world especially during key events yet newspapers remain profitable cover price doesn t even pay for cost of printing 80 of newspaper revenue from advertising only place where local advertisers can reach most of local population with a single ad buy good place to reach people of means and power 2002 total revenues of 55 billion 44 billion from ads big papers earn an average pretax profit of 19 in newspaper publishing size matters large paper 750 000 circulation small paper 100 000 circulation news becomes more local and less international as circulation decreases wire copy use increases as circulation decreases articles become shorter as circulation decreases anonymous sourcing becomes less common as circulation decreases high barrier to entry 100 million to start major city daily newspaper chains and concentration top 7 of newspapers account for 55 of all circulation but top 10 chains account for 51 of circulation 55 billion total revenue in 2002 but 14 biggest newspaper companies took in 40 of this revenue Growth of newspaper group ownership 1920 2001 100 90 80 70 74 70 60 75 57 50 40 30 20 32 17 8 0 0 0 1940 0 1950 0 0 1960 0 1970 0 0 1980 1920 0 1930 10 of all US newspapers owned by groups 0 1990 2001 newspaper chains
View Full Document
Unlocking...