The Decline of Print Newspapers: Quantified

As a quick follow-up to last week's post about the change in newspaper readers' habits my favorite research web site Emarketer.com posted this chart today which shows that more than a quarter of respondents to a recent survey said they are reading print newspapers less often.

Comments

[Janet Asaro]

I have to say I disagree that it's a good thing that a newspaper would take a press release and run it as a story "as is", and I say that despite being a PR person for a non-profit. It's bad for journalism overall (and society) if objectivity in news reporting is lost. What's the difference between that and free advertising?

[Amy Kweskin]

I also read in the July 22 New York Times http://preview.tinyurl.com/5pkbgt that newspapers are now focusing on local news and reducing the size of their writing staff. This is good for non-profits/Third Sector organizations looking to build awareness, audiences and donors. A reduced writing staff is going to be in search of print-ready articles (aka press releases). Yes, it may be difficult to get their attention at first but if you can do it and build trust, as well as supply quality content, I see opportunity here. People still do like to read the paper over the morning coffee and on public transit.