How Often Newspaper Is Read

Decline of the Newspaper 1

Running head: THE DECLINE OF NEWSPAPER READING

Body Objectification: The Decline of Newspaper Reading and Correlation with Rise of other Forms of Media Steve Taylor Rutgers University, Camden [email protected] Decline of the Newspaper 2

Decline of Newspaper Reading

Introduction

The reading of newspapers has steadily been declining in America and worldwide since the 1970s. The increase in television viewing and advancement of the internet has had a direct influence on the decline of newspaper reading. The internet poses a bigger threat to the newspaper industry then its two previsions challengers, radio and television, have.

Young people get their news increasingly more from web sites, such as Yahoo! and

Google, and other web media such as blogs. The internet is continuing being updated and is the best source for breaking news. With a newspaper there is a wait while the material is in the process of printing.

One theory of decreasing newspaper readership is the concept of decline in vocabulary at all or most educational levels in the United States in recent years (Gleen, Television

Watching, Newspaper Reading, and Cohort Differences in Verbal Ability). This idea of an increase in television viewing can have a direction effect on reading abilities could also be used to explain the overall drop in readership as a whole and not just newspaper readership. The decline in newspaper reading may have resulted largely from an increase in television watching (Gleen, 1994).

In the past decades, downward trends in newspaper reading have been observed in many countries (Peiser, Cohort Replacement and the Downward Trend in Newspaper

Readership). One segment of the population that has attracted particular attention because of its increasingly lower readership levels is young people (Pesier, 2000). previous research indicates that there is a negative cohort effect on newspaper reading, Decline of the Newspaper 3 meaning that young birth cohorts tend to read less than cohorts born earlier (Pesier,

2000). A cohort group is a group of individuals born at the same time.

Long before any competition from the internet newspapers have been concerned about young readers not picking up the newspaper. As early as 1960 media research scholars began to focus their studies on young adult readers' decreasing interest in newspaper content and population growth is occurring more rapidly than newspaper readership in most communities (Schlagheck, Newspapers Reading Choices by College Students).

Numerous studies have painted a dark picture of a declining relationship between young readers and newspapers.

Decline of the Newspaper 4

Multiple Bivariate Crosstab

How Often Newspaper is Read

Daily Weekly Less than Weekly

Age <30 31.7% 48.4% 20.0% 30-49 48.1% 37.7% 14.2% 50 & Older 67.1% 21.0% 11.9%

Sex Male 54.8% 31.9% 13.3% Female 49.0% 35.3% 15.7%

Web Used for News (Past 30 Days) Never 24.8% 46.3% 28.9% 1-2 Times 31.4% 48.3% 20.3% 3 and Up 45.9% 36.9% 17.2%

How Often Watch News Programs Daily 55.9% 31.9% 12.2% Weekly 34.6% 51.2% 14.2% Month/Less 21.7% 50.3% 28.0%

Education Level No HS Grad 45.6% 32.6% 21.8% HS Grad 51.3% 34.7% 14.0% College Grad 55.3% 33.8% 10.9%

This multiple bivariate cross tabulation is an indication that the reading of newspapers on a daily basis in on the decline. According to the GSS survey people read the newspaper more often on a daily basis the older they get. Males appear to read the paper more often then females on an overall basis. Web usage as and outlet for the news is growing more and more with time. There are many reasons for this and the main one is because new from the web can be constantly updated, you don’t have to wait for the paper version to print. The watching of news programs is a substitute for reading the newspaper for many people. Many people, although, read the newspaper and watch new programs both on a daily basis. The higher educated one is and the more the more schooling one has the more likely they are to read the newspaper on a daily basis more often. Decline of the Newspaper 5

Comparative Trend Analysis

Trends in Television Viewing and Newspaper Reading

Television Viewing and Newspaper Reading

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

% who read newspaper daily % who watch TV 3 or more hours daily

There is a correlation between television viewing and the daily reading of newspaper. As we move into the technological age the percent of Americans reading newspapers on a daily basis is on the decline. The percent of Americans reading newspapers on a daily basis has decreased from just fewer than seventy percent in the early 1970s to around forty percent in 2002. That is a decrease of thirty percent in thirty years. The decline in newspaper reading may have resulted largely from an increase in television watching. As the percent of Americans watching television three hours or more is on the increase the reading of newspapers has directly been affected and is decreasing by the year. We live in the television age and reading in general has been steadily on the decline. Other types of reading have also declined in along with newspaper reading. Decline of the Newspaper 6

Historical Trends of Newspaper Readings

1600 1400 1200 1000 800 Pa 600 per 400 No. of People who200 Read 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Year

WEEKLY

900 800 700 600 500 Paper Weekly400 300 No of People who Read 200 100 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Year Decline of the Newspaper 7

< WEEKLY

500 400 300

Paper < Weekly200 No of People who100 Read 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Year

These graphs are a warning that the reading of newspaper is rapidly on the decline as we move into the future. They indicate that the amount of people reading newspapers on a daily basis has been steadily declining the past ten to twelve years. The amount of people reading the newspaper on a daily basis has dropped from around one thousand people in 1994 to under four hundred people in 2004. That is a decrease of six hundred people reading the newspaper on a daily basis in ten years. The amount of people reading the newspaper on a weekly basis decreased from around just over seven hundred people to just over three hundred people in a two year span. The amount of people reading the newspaper less once a week has been steadily increasing since 1990. The amount of people reading newspapers less then once a week has increased from just over one hundred people in the late eighties to over four hundred following 2000.

Conclusion The decline of newspaper reading is a serious issue facing the major media outlets in the Untied States and other parts of the world. As technology has advanced with the inception of the internet it has replaced the previous threats to the newspaper business, radio and television. The decline of newspapers predates the internet but the internet poses a bigger threat to the newspaper industry then radio and television have. Young people get their news increasingly more from web sites, such as Yahoo! and Google, and other web media such as blogs. As we move into the future the major newspaper publishers need to find a way to reengage their audience, because if the rate of people reading newspaper continues to decline at the current rate the future will look beak for them. Decline of the Newspaper 8

References

Glenn, Norval D. (1994). Television Watching, Newspaper Reading, and Cohort Differences in Verbal Ability. Sociology of Education, Vol. 67, No. 3. pp. 216- 230.

Neuman, Susan B. (1988). The Displacement Effect: Assessing the Relation between Television Viewing and Reading Performance. Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 4.

Morgan, Michael. (1980). Television Viewing and Reading: Does More Equal Better? The Journal of Communication, Volume 30 Page 159.

Peiser, Wolfram. (2000). Cohort Replacement and the Downward Trend in Newspaper Readership. Newspaper Research Journal, Vol. 21.

Robinson, John P. (1980). The Changing Reading Habits of the American Public. The Journal of Communication. Volume 30 Page 141.

Schlagheck, Carol. (1998). Newspapers Reading Choices by College Students. Newspaper Research Journal, Vol. 19.