Newspapers continue their decline

A new study in Editor & Publisher reports that newspapers continue to be seen as less important at their primary job — being sources of information.  The report was compiled by the University of Southern California and was prepared as part of the nine-year-old Digital Future Project from the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.  Read about it here. http://miniurl.com/47752

As a former newspaper and magazine editor this comes as no surprise, but is disappointing.  I still begin everyday with the local paper and a cup of coffee then move on to the Web and cable news shows.  My generation, eh.

I grew up when most major cities had two newspapers.  In Tampa, where I worked, we had the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Times and just across the bay was the St. Petersburg Times and Evening Independent.  The Clearwater Sun was nearby and Florida Trend Magazine and Tampa Bay Business Journal set the trend for business publications throughout the nation.  It was quite an area for journalism and many lifelong relationships were created there.

The USC study found that just 56%  of Internet users ranked newspapers as  important or very important sources of information for them, down from 60% in 2008 –  and below the Internet (78%) and television (68%).  You’ll have to check out the study to find out more.

Passion Rules!