As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community “a lot.” Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available. Full Story »
Posted by Dan Kennedy
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An important story showing public attitudes underlying the news-business crisis: large percentages of the public just don't care. Poorly written, as the story keeps bouncing around to other topics.
The largest issue facing news organizations is the deterioration of community — the "Bowling Alone" syndrome. Successful news orgs must not only ... More »
A well cited story on an important trend, this lacks a strong central narrative and doesn't read very well. Key stats are presented high enough though.
Worrisome that so many Americans think little of their local press, but this is an attitude I've encountered over and over.
This study provides a snapshot of how poorly the public, ni various demographics, view local newspapers. Rather than focusing on what local issues readers seek out in their local newspapers, this article somewhat strangely veers off into what national news stories garner the greatest interest. I'm left wondering what a local news interest index would look like, and how closely local papers are attuned to that interest. The article seems to place blame on the failure of local ... More »
This article points out a problem that seem to me to be the achilles heel of local newspapers without ever drawing that conclusion. The news ... More »
Just the facts from polling. The strength of the article is the data. The weakness is the breadth of topics covered, making it difficult to maintain focus. Overall, good journalism.
A significant set of statistics provided by the reliable Pew Research Center provides telling insight into current news consumption and the problems newspapers face in the U.S. Extremely relevant -- if newspapers are to survive, many complex issues surrounding coverage, cost and reach must be resolved soon.
When I think of local newspapers shutting down (even though some local papers are of low quality), I think of how it will affect their larger ... More »
An excellent data-driven story that fails to note how users under 40 view the word "community"--as a real or virtual place. The NewsTrust community is virtual. I'm writing this in Ames, Iowa. That's real. The issue at hand just may be that newspapers are failing because communities are failing, especially in as much as we spend less time in real and more in virtual space.
Please read Dan Kennedy's review, citing Bowling Alone. I continued that research since 1999 from a technological standpoint, culminating in my 2005 ... More »
Not unexpectedly, far fewer young people than older Americans say they would miss their local newspaper a lot if it were to close. Less than a quarter of those younger than ... More »
I avoided the first two questions about factual and fair. I trust the information, but cannot answer to whether it is factual. Fair? To whom? What is fair?
I attended a conference a few years ago abut the future of newspapers. I was a city editor of a 22,000-circulation newspaper at the time. One point ... More »
This polling report provides food for constructive thought and debate. It recognizes several of the dimensions of the polling issue under discussion, including the important and interesting issue of age demographics as a differentiator with regard to the impact of "newsprint" news.
The main impact of the disappearance of local newspapers, I expect, will continue to be the growing vacuum of leadership in civic discourse. The ... More »
Not particularly. Quality journalism does a good job of synthesizing information and putting it into context. This story, instead, runs through a series of survey results and attempts to put them into context. The results are not terribly qualified or even that interesting and the question does not account for salience in the public mind.
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