Newspaper readership
There's this idea that newspaper journalists are devoted newspapers readers. From the outside, it's intuitive. Many journalists work for newspapers. Newspapers print journalism. Journalists read journalism. Journalists read newspapers.
But it's been true for years that journalists are just like everyone else. They read whatever holds their interest...plus, if they are newspaper reporters, they read whatever they personally wrote that morning. It has been an open secret for the 30-plus years I've worked for newspapers that some of us do not read much of the paper at all.
That should have told us something then about what we were publishing, what people wanted and how people were spending their time. With the exception of a few places, it didn't.
There are certainly still some obvious lessons there. But the times have changed. Journalists here are younger than our "typical" newspaper reader. They are more wired, have different interests and many "new" ways of getting information. Like more and more people, that they don't actually read a newspaper from cover to cover doesn't mean they aren't informed. They use the Web. And, of course, they are in a newsroom that is focused on news for most of the day. They hear and talk about it so sometimes the newspaper delivered the next morning isn't as new to them as it is to the typical reader.
All that said, I'm thinking that on principle alone a newspaper journalist ought to read a newspaper, but I'm an old-fashioned loyalist in that way.
I was thinking about this after Robert Niles at OJR posted a question about how many newspapers you read each day. The answers in his unscientific poll aren't surprising.
Comments (3)
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If I owned a newspaper, I would make it so folks would love to read it. Look at Fox Cable, they have liberals and conservatives on their show to stir the pot. They own the top 5 spots in the ratings. Most newspapers are like watching grass grow, BORING. We get the Danville paper on home delivery, it"s the only way, we can find out what is going on in Raleigh. When I buy your paper, MWF and some time Sunday. It like reading a press release for the Liberals. Just try and remember the last time you ran a letter critical of the good ole boys in Raleigh. Newspapers are facing a uphill fight, I can turn on Fox are the internet and get news in a flash. Your ace is I can not take Fox and the internet on the deck and other places. Try it you like it.
Posted on May 15, 2008 6:48 PM
John,
You are spot on with this column. I'm an editor at a large daily and I've found that most of my reporters not only don't read the paper -- they don't even read the section they write for (unless they have an article in it that day). Admittedly, there's a lot of the paper I don't read during the week because who has the time? The fact that we don't even read our own product should be telling us something...
Posted on May 16, 2008 12:56 AM
We are not ever going to get something just the way we like it. The daily newspaper is just like everything else. Just continue to try to strike that balance, continue to provide strong local coverage and you remain relevant. Go the way of telling us mainly about Raleigh and DC and you go the way of the ghost.
Local, local, local...that is how newspaper will survive. I read one paper a day by the way, i used to read USA Today as well, but I felt like it was frying my brain cells. And by the way read the editorial section of the N&R and you will find diversity and varied opinions both liberal and conservative.
Posted on June 3, 2008 2:54 PM