Chapter 6 Journal Entry Part. A

Many metropolitan daily newspapers have lost circulation and some have shut down. Why? Any examples? Community newspapers however, especially suburban weeklies are booming. Why? Any examples?

In February of this year the New York Times published an article about metropolitan newspapers losing circulation. The article mentioned that "major downsizing...has been imposed at The San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The San Jose Mercury News, USA Today and many others." Part of the reason that these papers have lost circulation is because they have lost some of their advertising revenue. It also mentioned that, "Circulation revenue has declined steadily since 2003, and the number of copies sold has been slipping about 2 percent a year. Some of the largest papers - including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times - have lost 20 to 30 percent of their circulation in just a few years."

The reason for the decline has to do with the economy and online advertising. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/business/media/07paper.html?_r=1&fta=y&oref=slogin)

A study of a University of North Carolina professor Philip Meyer, "predicted that if newspapers make no changes, they will lose their last reader in 2044." (http://www.nysun.com/arts/newspaper-industry-alive-and-well/31468/))

It seems that there is always the question whether newspapers will stay around or not. I think they will. I think people like having a newspaper in their hands. However, today with the iphone people can have newspapers in their hands. I think everyone and everything is going online. I think a lot of newspapers are losing advertising and readership to people who are going online.

There is a lot of competition for metro newspapers because of Google News and MSN and such. Also, with programs such as NetVibes, people only need one or two papers (like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times) and they don't care so much for the other metros.

Community newspapers usually only don't have any competition because there is only one newspaper per community, and the readership is high because people want to know what is going on in their community.

http://www.naa.org/

This website has a neat campaign called, "Newspaper's Reach: The Competitive Edge 2008." This campaign covers such topics as Newspaper vs. Cable, Newspaper vs. Direct Mail, Newspaper vs. Radio, Newspaper vs. Television, Newspaper vs. Yellow Pages. This campaign is full of charts that show how newspapers are successful for advertising in many areas. Check it out here: http://www.naa.org/docs/TrendsandNumbers/Newspaper-Reach-new.pdf

I like to read the newspaper and have it in my hands, but I also like to read it online. When I read it, I just glimpse it and I rarely read any articles all the way through. I like to read the metro paper (like the New York Times) because I think it covers important issues in-depth. I like to read the Daily Universe to know what is going on on campus. Because the Daily Universe doesn't have any competition with other campus newspapers, it's circulation will probably remain higher than other metro papers.

Here are some highlights I found on readership:

Highlights

Total Adults: Main news/front page is the most widely read section among adult

daily newspaper readers at 87%.

Gencer: After main news/front page, men and women read the local News

section most (83% & 87% respectively).

Age: Daily newspaper readers 35-44 are more than twice as likely as those

18-24 to read circulars/inserts/fliers (40% vs.15%).

Education: Daily newspaper readers with high school diplomas are more likely

to read the classified section than those with bachelor’s degrees

(45% vs. 28%)

Household Income: Daily newspaper readers with household incomes under $30,000 are

more likely to read sections with any advertising (66%), than daily

readers with household incomes $75,000+ (57%).

Occupation: Daily newspaper readers in professional occupations are more

likely to read the entertainment/lifestyle section (52%) than daily

readers in production occupations (34%). Daily newspaper readers

in production occupations read the sports section more (74%), than

those in professional occupations (51%).

Employment Status: Employed daily newspaper readers are more likely to read the sports

section than unemployed readers (57% vs. 51%). Unemployed

readers are more likely to read the editorial page than employed

readers (50% vs. 37%).

Marital Status: Daily newspaper readers who are married are more likely than those

who are single to read the business section (47% vs. 32%). Single

daily newspaper readers are more likely than married readers to read

classified advertising (42% vs. 36%).

Geography: Daily newspaper readers in the northeast Census region are more

likely to read any advertising than readers in the west Census region.

http://www.naa.org/docs/Research/Daily-Readership-Active.pdf