Newspapers: Present

 

 

 

 

     Newspapers today are an interesting position. They are learning to deal with this new digital age that the world is coming into. There are more ways to get entertainment,news, and advertisements that newspapers have had to compete with television,radio, and now the internet to be the first.  Through laptops, smart phones, and IPads there is news at people's fingertips so easily that the thought of going and getting a newspaper or waiting for one to arrive is almost a hindrance. Those are not their only issues; newspapers today are facing a decline in readership and their inability to attract new readers.As Jeffrey Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future says

"Sadly, today in America when a newspaper reader dies, he or she is not replaced by a new reader".

 

 

^{NEWSPAPER OPERATIONS} 

 

Today, a normal weekly newpaper may only employ two or three people, while a major paper like the New York Time may employ thousands. These employees can be used for anything from creating comics, contacting adversisers, writing articles, and distribution. In today's newspapers, Mainly 1/2 to 2/3's of newspaper space is taken up by advertisments. That which is not taken up by advertisments is what is called the "Newshole". The Newshole has shrunk drastically since 2010, mainly because of the extreme need for revenue. The amount of people reading Newspapers has also substantially shrunk, which makes the advertisers pay less, and newspapers need to make up the loss in other areas.

 

Editorial Responsibilities in Today's Newsroom

 

The publisher is always the most important indevidual, He controls all of the final decisions made in the newsroom. Following the publisher, the Editor in Chief is the main editor of all of the newspapers that come through the door, under the main editor assistant editors have a very important role in the newsroom. They are mainly in charge of sports, photos, local news, state news, and wire reports that contain international news. Next, Reporters are the individuals who work for editors. They are the people that actually go out into the field and get the news. More traditionally, you would think of reporters as those who stand in front of a video camera and report from the scene where the news is actually happening.

 

 

A great video on how the newspaper is made today. (:54)

 

 

While trying to figure out the future of digital news holds and many papers are struggling, there are some that are doing well such as local papers. We must look at all these aspects to get a sense of where newspapers are today, and how that will affect the future for newspapers.

 

Local Newspapers Still Doing Well

     With all the information saying that newspapers are going downhill it's important to note that not every newspaper is. Local newspapers such as community newspapers, weeklies, and college newspapers do better than many "big city papers". There are a few reasons for why these papers are succeeding when others are not:

 

1. Smaller papers are a dominant source for local information and local advertisers. 
2. There isn't much competition against papers for ad space and more likely to retain their revenue from those ads.
3. Have a steady, loyal base of readers.
4. More consensus-oriented than conflict driven.  

 

 Readership Decline

Newspapers have always had their ups and downs when it comes to readership. The first came after the rise of radio. The next came with the rise of network television viewing. This last decline in began in 2000 with the emergence of internet news. With a lack of readership comes with a decline in circulation as well.  

 

In an article called "Are Newspaper Audiences Really Shrinking?" cites a NYU study that states "53 percent of the Boomer generation (those 55 and older) said they read print newspapers, only 22 percent of Millenials (ages 18-34) and 32 percent of Generation Xers (ages 35-54) used the medium and that “smartphone use is far higher in the younger cohorts than among Boomers.”

 

Top Newspaper Circulation

Newspaper	2010	2012	Difference
Wall Street Journal	2,061,142	2,118,315	+57,173
USA Today	1,830,594	1,817,446	-13,148
New York Times	876,638	1,586,757	+710,119
Los Angeles Times	600,449	605,243	+4,794
The Washington Post	545,345	507,615	-37,730
Minneapolis Star Tribune	297,479	296,605	-874

 

So as you can see in the chart above, the circulation of major newspapers has gone down for some and up for others in last few years. So what is happening to the newspaper industry?  The answer is advertisers are going digital.  Newspapers get the majority of their income from advertisers and classifieds.  Since classified ads are now found online in sites such as craigslist and advertisers are moving to digital sources such as smart phones, email, TV, and internet, the newspaper industry is having a hard time keeping up.

 

A look at how publications have changed over the years since the very first into 2011. Shows the growth and decline of newspapers into the present. 

 

 

An example of lack of readership: 

A video of Sarah Palin, who ran for Vice President, unable to name onemajor newspaper she has read lately. 

 

Impact of the Internet 

The internet has been a huge impact on all mass media industries especially newspapers. People have more ways to get news and entertainment as the internet grows and develops.With this happening newspapers having started going completely or at least partially digital. As the Huffington post has reported the Audit Bureau of Circulation has showed that while there has been a general decline in overall magazine circulation, the digital magazine circulation has doubled. That is an amazing statistic  that shows just how much people are moving to the digital world and how newspapers must adapt if they are too survive!

 

"The age of mobile, in which people are connected to the web wherever they are, arrived in earnest. More than four in ten American adults now own a smartphone. One in five owns a tablet. New cars are manufactured with internet built in. With more mobility comes deeper immersion into social networking."

 

Citizen Journalism: When people, such as activists, amateurs, and concerned citizens, who use the internet and blogs to disseminate news and information. Rise of blogs in the 1990s lead to amateurs coming into journalism. This did create some problems in sources becoming less credible and biased. 

 

    

 

 

 

 

Politics of the Newspaper Industry Today

Today's newspaper industry has pulled through the technological advancements such as radio and TV.  They were able to adapt to these changes and continue to remain in business.  The new advancement of the internet is a much different story.  Newspapers get about 70%-80% of their income from national advertising, local advertising, and classified advertising.  

 

The emergence of internet advertising has drastically dropped their revenue.  There are still opportunities for newspapers to sell ad space on their websites but they cannot charge anywhere near what they were charging for ad space in the paper.  There is so much available ad space on the internet that it is not worth as much.  If the papers website costs to much they could make their own website or advertise on a different website.  Local businesses are choosing to use more cost effective ways to advertise such as word of mouth, door to door, or making their own sites and promotions.  In the economic situation we are in no one can afford to pay for ad space in the paper.  Classifieds have become non-exsistant with the emergence of sites such as Craigslist where you can post for free.  There is no reason to make a classified ad in the paper especially since with the decline of ads there comes a decline of readers.  So as you can see, this is a cycle and it is the worst it has ever been.  

 

Quality of the News Today

In all the mess of cost cutting and trying to stay above water the newspaper industry has had to make some tough decisions.  They have to balance cutting costs while still producing quality information for their readers.  It is becoming more difficult to produce quality news because most newspapers have been forced to cut high quality journalists, reporters, and other employees.  They have also closed domestic and foreign news bureaus such as

 

 

 

 

 

Newspapers Past 

Newspapers Future

 

References:

1.  Audit Bureau of Circulations (2009, September 30). Top 100 USA Newspapers @ ThePaperboy.com | List of the Most Popular US Newspapers. Paperboy Online Newspapers. Retrieved October 5, 2012, from http://www.thepaperboy.com/usa-top-100-newspapers.cfm

 

2.  Goldstrom, M. (n.d.). The Newspaper Industry Today. Newspaper Association of America. Retrieved October 12, 2012, from http://www.news-press.net/smdocs/documents/NewspaperToday-10%20Ways.pdf

 

3.  Heathr456 (2009, March 30). CNN: The Newspaper Industry in Decline [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9AtkO7eqIk

 

4.  Kirchhoff, S. M. (2010, September 9). The U.S. Newspaper Industry in Transition. Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40700.pdf

 

5.  Lieberman, D. (2009, March 19). Newspaper closings raise fears about industry - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY: Latest World and US News - USATODAY.com. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-03-17-newspapers-downturn_N.htm

 

6.  M35nyntk545 (2012, September 30). Sarah Palin Can't Name a Newspaper She Reads [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRkWebP2Q0Y&feature=related

 

7.  Newspaper Association of America (2012, October 1). The Connection With Newspaper Media. NAA.org Homepage. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.naa.org/Connection.aspx

 

8.  Nordenson, B. (2008, November). Overload! : Columbia Journalism Review. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.cjr.org/feature/overload_1.php?page=all

 

9.  Shafer, J. (2006, January 28). What newspaper history says about newspaper future. - Slate Magazine. Slate Magazine - Politics, Business, Technology, and the Arts - Slate Magazine. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2006/01/not_just_another_column_about_blogging.html

 

10.  Starkman, D. (2012, October 18). Are newspaper audiences really shrinking? : CJR. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved October 29, 2012, from http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/weakened_newspapers_expanding.php?page=all

 

11.  TED (2005, February). James Surowiecki: When social media became news | Video on TED.com [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/james_surowiecki_on_the_turning_point_for_social_media.html

 

12.  The Economist Print Edition (2012, July 7). Making news pay: Reinventing the newspaper | The Economist. The Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.economist.com/node/18904178

 

13.  Uwacomm2203 (2008, June 11). Citizen Journ vs Traditional Journ [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU5LonkXbCE&feature=related

 

14.  Yael (2008). Google Image Result for http://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/images/2008/04/30/obama_repudiates_wright_043008_nyt.jpg.Google. Retrieved October 5, 2012, from http://www.google.com/imgres?q=new+york+times+newspaper+front+page&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1250&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbnid=mDUYKJDr4Qjw_M:&imgrefurl=http://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2008/04/index.html&docid=dCH8s0DIya4A9M&imgurl=http://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/images/2008/04/30/obama_repudiates_wright_043008_nyt.jpg&w=400&h=417&ei=fHluUOqXGYSVyAGwqIDoCw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=351&vpy=240&dur=495&hovh=229&hovw=220&tx=108&ty=159&sig=104021743790523404667&page=1&tbnh=142&tbnw=134&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:2,s

 

15.  Zara, C. (2012, September 20). Newspaper Industry Shrinks 40 Percent In A Decade: Report.International Business Times - International Business News, Financial News, Market News, Politics, Forex, Commodities. Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.ibtimes.com/newspaper-industry-shrinks-40-percent-decade-report-793706

     

       16. Finding Old Newspapers: The Big Picture.  The Bill Lane Center For The American West.  Stanford University.  24 OCT 2012.  youtube video link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8HyP3TSFpw