The decline in print media

Our next topic is newspapers: an industry that has changed hugely in the last 20 years due to the impact of the internet.

In the lesson, we looked at the history of the newspaper and some key terminology we need to learn:

Newspapers: hard and soft news

Newspapers cover a range of stories that are generally divided into two categories:

Hard news: stories related to current affairs, politics, economics, wars and other serious news.

Soft news: stories related to entertainment, sport, celebrities, gossip, scandal and human interest/lifestyle topics.

Newspapers: tabloid and broadsheet

Newspapers were traditionally available in two sizes: tabloid and broadsheet. Today, most newspapers are in the smaller broadsheet size but the terms are still used to describe the style of paper:

Tabloid: focusing largely on soft news, famous examples include the Sun and the Mirror. Generally read by more working class audience. Mid-market tabloids are a middle ground between tabloid and broadsheet and include the Daily Mail. 

Broadsheet: serious newspapers that focus more on hard news. The Times, Guardian and Telegraph are all examples. 

Newspapers: sources of news

Newspapers tend to get their news content from two sources:

Journalists: newspapers employ reporters and photographers to attend events, interview people and write stories. 

News agencies: Reuters and Associated Press are examples of global news agencies that are independent institutions that employ journalists to write stories that newspapers and other media organisations can pay to use.

Increasingly in the digital age, newspapers are sourcing news from their audiences using citizen journalism. This is sometimes criticised as creating clickbait – an example of soft news aimed simply to attract online readers.

The decline of newspapers

In the last 20 years, the newspaper industry has faced a sharp decline due to the rise of the internet.

In 2003, almost 30 million newspapers were sold in the UK every day. By 2017 that was down to 12.4 million (source: Ofcom). 

Newspapers have traditionally made their money in two ways: through the cover price and by selling advertising. With so much news available for free online, audiences are not buying newspapers so both these sources of income have been decimated.

The Wall Street Journal produced a short video demonstrating how the industry has changed in the last 100 years:

Once you've learned the key terminology, watched the video and considered the decline in the industry, work through the blog tasks below.

Blog task 1: The impact of Google

Read this article looking at the impact Google has had on the traditional newspaper business.

Answer the following questions:

1) Why has Google led to the decline of the newspaper industry?

advertising money has disappeared from the newspaper business over the past decade or so — more than $40 billion, or about 60 percent of the ad revenue the industry generated at its peak in 2000, according to figures from the Newspaper Association of America — and they draw a direct line connecting that with the in advertising revenue that Google brings in every year from AdWords.

2) Find a statistic from the article that illustrates the decline of traditional news media.

that of the $60 billion plus of potential annual ad sales that print publications seem to have lost, Google had grabbed about $44 billion by 2012, from virtually nothing in 2000.

3) Looking at the graph featured in the article, what period has seen the steepest decline in newspaper advertising revenue? 

2000-2009 

4) Do you personally think Google is to blame for newspapers closing and journalists losing their jobs? Why?

I agree to a certain extent seeing as Google is so easy and accessible with all the information any person could need therefore this leaves newspapers in a negative place because people will not see the use of them. There revenue will rapidly decrease and this leads to journalists losing their jobs and newspapers closing down. 

5) Read the comments below the article. Pick one comment you agree with and one you disagree with and explain your response to the comments in detail.

"The irony is that Google is probably more of a savior than a killer of journalism and editorial content. How many thousands of blogs, fan sites, writers, startup outlets, etc., have been discovered by Google’s search algorithms? How many talented artists and great stories have found a launching pad on YouTube and other Google outlets? How much content has been spread into new languages due to Google translate?

Google has forced journalistic outlets to innovate and search for new ways of doing things. It has made information dissemination more efficient. While at times that has been bad for the average journalist trying to make a buck, from a big picture perspective, it has been good for helping people get access to information, and that includes journalism."

I agree with this comment to a high extent seeing as Google has massively helped journalists. They can gather more information from Google, post it on their blogs and that will be their job done. You could even argue that Google has made it faster and easier for journalists.

Blog task 2: Ofcom report into news consumption 2018

Now read this Ofcom 2018 report on the consumption of news in the UK. Note down the key statistics and changes that Ofcom highlight and answer the following questions:

1) Look at the key findings from the report on page 2. How do UK adults generally get their news? 

TV is the most-used platform for news nowadays by UK adults (79%), followed by the internet (64%), radio (44%) and newspapers (40%).

2) Read the overall summary on page 8. How popular are newspapers as a news source? How does this compare to other news sources?

 Newspapers (40%) used platform

3) Look at the summary of platforms used on page 13. What audience demographic groups are most and least likely to read newspapers?

People 65+

4) Read Section 3 on cross-platform news consumption (page 19). What newspaper brands can you find in the list of most popular news sources across platforms?

Daily Mail, The Metro, The Sun, Mail on Sunday

5) Now turn to Section 6 focusing on newspapers (page 38). How has the circulation of national newspapers decreased since 2003?

Decreased from almost 30 million in 2003 to 12.4 million in 2017. National Sunday titles have gone from 13.9 to 5.4 million and national daily titles from 13.3 to 7 million.

6) What are the most-used newspaper titles?

Among the two fifths of adults who claim to consume news through newspapers, the most-used titles are the Daily Mail (31%), Metro (23%), The Sun (21%) and The Mail on Sunday (20%).

7) What newspaper are 65+ people more likely to read?

Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.

8) What are the most popular titles when print and online figures are combined (look at page 41)?

The Daily Mail is the most widely-read news title in the UK. The Guardian is the most widely-read digital newspaper and the Metro the most read print newspaper.

9) How does the i compare to the Daily Mail?

The i has a less readership compared to the Daily mail.

10) Look at page 42. What percentage of newspaper users used free newspapers such as Metro in the UK in 2018 ('freesheets')?

26% of newspaper users used daily ‘free-sheets’

11) Now study the demographic details for our two CSP newspapers on page 44. What is the breakdown of the Daily Mail audience?

Male: 29%
Female: 32%
16-24: 22%
65+: 37%
ABC1: 31%
C2DE: 30%
EMG: 31%
Non-EMG: 31%

12) What is the breakdown for the i audience?

Male: 7%
Female: 4%
16-24: 11%
65+: 5%
ABC1: 7%
C2DE: 4%
EMG: 4%
Non-EMG: 6%

13) Look at the summary on page 46: news consumption via social media. What audience groups are using social media for their news and what sites do they use?

More than two fifths (44%) of adults claim to consume news via social media. Of these, three quarters (76%) claim to use Facebook for news nowadays, followed by Twitter (32%), then WhatsApp (22%) and Instagram (21%). 16-24s are more likely than those aged 65+ to use most social media channels for news. 16-24s are also more likely to claim to mostly get their news from ‘social media posts’ rather than ‘directly from news organisations’.

14) What does this report tell us about the decline of the traditional newspaper industry in the UK?

It tells us that sson social media will take over print media seeing as people use social media to consume news more then they use newspapers.

15) How can media institutions such as the Daily Mail and the i remain relevant and profitable in the digital media landscape?