News No Longer Newspaper’s Forte
February 3rd, 2009 by Justin DuffAccording to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the Internet has now surpassed all other media except television as an outlet for national and international news. Currently, 40% of the survey respondents say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers. Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news.
| National and International New Sources (% of Respondents) | |||
| Year | Television | Newspaper | Internet |
| 2001 |
74% |
45% |
13% |
| 2002 |
82 |
42 |
14 |
| 2003 |
80 |
50 |
46 |
| 2004 |
74 |
46 |
24 |
| 2005 |
73 |
36 |
20 |
| 2006 |
74 |
37 |
21 |
| 2007 |
74 |
34 |
24 |
| 2008 |
70 |
35 |
40 |
| Source: Pew Research Center, December 2008 | |||
For young people, however, the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online; an identical percentage cites television. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied mostly on television for news than mentioned the internet (68% vs. 34%).
| Main News Source for Young People (% of Respondents Age 18 to 29; Multiple Response OK) | ||||
| Main News Source | Aug 2006 | Sept 2007 | Dec 2008 | Change 07-08 |
| Television |
62% |
68% |
59% |
-11 |
| Internet |
32 |
34 |
59 |
+25 |
| Newspaper |
29 |
23 |
28 |
+5 |
| Radio |
16 |
13 |
18 |
+5 |
| Magazine |
1 |
- |
4 |
+4 |
| Other |
3 |
5 |
6 |
+1 |
| Source: Source: Pew Research Center, December 2008 | ||||
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 3-7 among 1,489 adults, finds there has been little change in the individual TV news outlets that people rely on for national and international news:
- 23% of the public says they get most of their news from CNN
- 17% cite Fox News;
- Smaller shares mention other cable and broadcast outlets
While the 2008 presidential campaign attracted high levels of public attention, the economy was the top story of the year in terms of news interest, according to Pew’s Weekly News Interest Index. In late September, as the nation’s financial crisis deepened, 70% said they were following news about the economy very closely. That ranks among the highest levels of news interest for any story in the past two decades.
| Top News Interest Stories of 2008 (% of respondents) | |||
| Rank | Story | Date | % of Respondents Who Followed Very Closely |
| 1 | Conditions of US economy |
9/22-28 |
70% |
| 2 | Rising gasoline price |
6/2-8 |
66 |
| 3 | Wall Street bailout |
9/29-105 |
62 |
| 4 | Presidential election |
10/13-19 |
61 |
| 5 | US Stock Market drop |
10/6-12 |
59 |
| 6 | Falling gasoline prices |
10/13-19 |
53 |
| 7 | Hurricane Ike |
9/8-14 |
50 |
| 8 | Wall Street financial crisis |
9/15-21 |
49 |
| 9 | Obama transition |
11/17-23 |
49 |
| 10 | Presidential primary |
2/11-17 |
44 |
| 11 | Hurricane Gustav |
9/1-7 |
42 |
| 12 | Auto bailout debate |
11/17-23 |
41 |
| 13 | Rising unemployment |
12/1-7 |
40 |
| 14 | Midwest floods |
6/16-22 |
39 |
| 15 | Olympic games |
8/18-24 |
35 |
| Source: Pew Weekly News Index, December 2008… a weekly survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, gauging the public’s interest in and reaction to major news events. | |||
And, from eMarketer, a recent report confirming that, without sugarcoating, “the outlook for newspaper publishers in the US is dismal.” eMarketer estimates that newspaper advertising revenues declined 16.4% in 2008 to $37.9 billion.
| US Newspaper Advertising Revenues (Billion $ and % change) | ||
| Year | Ad Revenues ($Bil) | % Change from Previous Year |
| 2007 |
$45.4 |
-7.9% |
| 2008 |
37.9 |
-16.4 |
| 2009 |
31.9 |
-15.9 |
| 2010 |
30.2 |
-5.3 |
| 2011 |
29.1 |
-3.6 |
| 2012 |
28.4 |
-2.5 |
| Source: eMarketer, December 2008 | ||
Carol Krol, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Newspapers in Crisis: Migrating Online, says “… newspaper revenues are falling more than in any other major medium… even… classified advertising is plummeting due to craigslist and other online alternatives.”
The financial pressure on newspapers is enormous, says the report. Ms. Krol continues “… newspaper publishers are beefing up their Websites… “but online ad revenues, which offered a glimmer of hope, are now falling.”
The Newspaper Association of America tracked two consecutive quarters of declining revenues for newspapers online for Q2 and Q3 of 2008, the first time that has occurred since it began tracking online figures in 2003.
For 2008, eMarketer estimates online newspaper ad revenues declined by 0.4% overall compared with 2007, to $3.2 billion, and forecasts they will drop further into negative territory in 2009, down 4.7% to $3 billion.
The “State of the News Media 2008″ report describes the dilemma as a decoupling of news and advertising: “… the emerging reality is that advertising isn’t migrating online with the consumer… new business models beyond advertising may be required,” says Ms. Krol.
For additional information about the PEW report, please visit here. To learn more from the eMarketer article, please visit here.
