The Pew study on Internet use highlights significant patterns of disparity between online and traditional media. Excerpts :
26% of Americans age 65 and older go online, compared with 67% of those age 50- 64, 80% of those age 30-49, and 84% of those age 18-29. Tim Porter finds that the Internet age gap is the reverse of the U.S. newspaper gap. He is totally right – the average age of an American newspaper reader is 53, and 20 percent of them now say they read the “newspaper” on the Internet. Schooling and digital attraction seem to have a direct correlation. This young force is the foundation on which the traditional newspaper media can gain strength for survival. The trend here is clear – newspapers need to digitize – and do that fast. The mess in mass media meant that Newspaper Circulation Continues Decline, forcing Tough Decisions. The newspaper industry,already suffering from circulation problems, probably will show industrywide declines of 1% to 3%, - possibly the highest for daily newspapers since the industry shed 2.6% of subscribers in 1990-91.The biggest publishers may show the largest decline.The U.S. newspapers face the prospect of an accelerated drop in circulation. The slide is fueling an urgent industry discussion about whether the trend can be halted in a digital age and is forcing newspaper executives to rethink their traditional strategies. Warren Buffet, a longstanding director and shareholder of The Washington Post "sees no clear way for papers to stem recent circulation declines or turn Internet operations into highly-profitable enterprises". The future of newspapers is to change from a news organization into a news community.
Category :Newspaper Future
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