Chief
08-17-2008, 01:49 PM
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003839872
Published: August 17, 2008 4:00 PM ET
NEW YORK The always-interesting results of the biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press were released Sunday afternoon. Findings on TV news and online-only news produced a few surprises (follow to come), but on the newspaper front the indications were mainly negative, especially on the print front, but also in some aspects of newspapers on the Web.
Namely: while more young people are indeed reading newspapers online, their total readership, print and Web combined, has not grown in two years.
This survey was conducted by telephone from April 30 to June 1 among 3,612 adults nationwide.
Looking first at print, Pew reveals, “This year for the first time in roughly 15 years of asking the question, fewer than half of all Americans report reading a daily newspaper on a regular basis. Only 46% say they read the paper regularly – this number is down from 52% in 2006 and was as high as 71% in 1992. In a similar vein, fewer now report having read a newspaper 'yesterday,' a more reliable measure of newspaper readership. Only 34% say they read a newspaper yesterday, down from 40% in 2006.
“The falloff in readership over the past two years has occurred across the board – men and women, whites and blacks, college graduates and those who never attended college are all reading the newspaper at lower rates than in 2006. Age continues to be strongly correlated with newspaper readership….Currently, only 15% of those younger than 25 report having read a newspaper yesterday. Among those ages 25 to 34, 24% read a newspaper yesterday. This compares with roughly half (46%) of those 50 and older.”
On the other hand: “The audience for online newspapers has grown modestly since 2006. In the current survey, 13% say they read the web version of a newspaper yesterday, or both the print and online versions, up from 9% two years ago. Yet that increase has not made up for the steep loss in print readership (from 34% to 25%).
“Still, online newspapers are gaining readers, especially
among people ages 25 to 34. Among people in this age group who read a newspaper yesterday, fully 16% report having read the paper online; slightly fewer (12%) say they read the paper version.
"The proportion of this age group reporting it read an online newspaper yesterday has doubled – from 9% in 2006 to 19% in 2008." But here's the kicked: "Even so, total newspaper readership among those ages 25 to 34 has not increased over the past two years."
Weeklies, however, are doing a little better: "At a time when daily newspapers are losing readers, the audience for local weekly community newspapers has remained relatively stable. Currently, 33% say they read such newspapers regularly, about the same as in 2006 (35%) and 2004 (36%)....
"As is the case with daily newspapers, however, weekly
community newspapers are much more popular with older people than young people. Four-in-ten of those 50 and older say they regularly a community newspaper, double the percentage of those 24 and younger (19%)."
Published: August 17, 2008 4:00 PM ET
NEW YORK The always-interesting results of the biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press were released Sunday afternoon. Findings on TV news and online-only news produced a few surprises (follow to come), but on the newspaper front the indications were mainly negative, especially on the print front, but also in some aspects of newspapers on the Web.
Namely: while more young people are indeed reading newspapers online, their total readership, print and Web combined, has not grown in two years.
This survey was conducted by telephone from April 30 to June 1 among 3,612 adults nationwide.
Looking first at print, Pew reveals, “This year for the first time in roughly 15 years of asking the question, fewer than half of all Americans report reading a daily newspaper on a regular basis. Only 46% say they read the paper regularly – this number is down from 52% in 2006 and was as high as 71% in 1992. In a similar vein, fewer now report having read a newspaper 'yesterday,' a more reliable measure of newspaper readership. Only 34% say they read a newspaper yesterday, down from 40% in 2006.
“The falloff in readership over the past two years has occurred across the board – men and women, whites and blacks, college graduates and those who never attended college are all reading the newspaper at lower rates than in 2006. Age continues to be strongly correlated with newspaper readership….Currently, only 15% of those younger than 25 report having read a newspaper yesterday. Among those ages 25 to 34, 24% read a newspaper yesterday. This compares with roughly half (46%) of those 50 and older.”
On the other hand: “The audience for online newspapers has grown modestly since 2006. In the current survey, 13% say they read the web version of a newspaper yesterday, or both the print and online versions, up from 9% two years ago. Yet that increase has not made up for the steep loss in print readership (from 34% to 25%).
“Still, online newspapers are gaining readers, especially
among people ages 25 to 34. Among people in this age group who read a newspaper yesterday, fully 16% report having read the paper online; slightly fewer (12%) say they read the paper version.
"The proportion of this age group reporting it read an online newspaper yesterday has doubled – from 9% in 2006 to 19% in 2008." But here's the kicked: "Even so, total newspaper readership among those ages 25 to 34 has not increased over the past two years."
Weeklies, however, are doing a little better: "At a time when daily newspapers are losing readers, the audience for local weekly community newspapers has remained relatively stable. Currently, 33% say they read such newspapers regularly, about the same as in 2006 (35%) and 2004 (36%)....
"As is the case with daily newspapers, however, weekly
community newspapers are much more popular with older people than young people. Four-in-ten of those 50 and older say they regularly a community newspaper, double the percentage of those 24 and younger (19%)."