The Audit Bureau of Circulations released new numbers on the health of American Newspapers. What's most interesting is the fact that only two out of the top 10 American newspapers, USA Today and The Los Angeles Times (well, they much broke even), report gains in daily sales over the six month period in which the study was conducted. As for the Sunday edition, declines were even steeper and the only top ten paper to gain any ground was the Houston Chronicle, albeit very modest (and to be fair, USA Today doesn't do Sundays).
Another story to come out of all of this is that while newspapers are seeing declines in their print readership, they are seeing tremendous gains in online readership- a service which makes almost no money. Beside the fact that they make almost no money, online content is increasingly full of blogs, quick updates from the field, and many place for readers to post their comments.
Does all of this represent the dumbing down of the culture that we're always hearing about? Do people not have the time or the inclination to sit down and read a newspaper, instead preferring to get quick soundbites and headlines? Or is this a return to a better sort of journalism- not as disconnected from the everyday citizen and allowing reporters to write on whatever esoteric interest they have, given the fact that they have unlimited space and a much wider audience online?
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1 comment:
yeeaah, houston chronicle!
that's all.
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