RJI Research
Kenneth Fleming
Kenneth Fleming obtained a doctoral degree in mass com- munication and journalism in 2005 and an MBA in finance in 1993 from University of Missouri. His research interests include the relationship between social capital and mass media, health communication, political communication, and research methodology. He has extensive experience in social science survey research including research design, survey instrument development, sampling, data collection and complex data analysis... (read more)
Associate Researcher
Brian Steffens
Brian Steffens, the former senior vice president and editor of the Editor & Publisher Co., is executive director of the National Newspaper Association and adjunct associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. NNA, representing nearly 3,000 community newspapers nationwide, moved its headquarters to the Missouri School of Journalism in 2002...(read more)
National Newspaper Association
Contact
For more information about the surveys, contact Brian Steffens, director of the National Newspaper Association at steffensb@missouri.edu, or Kenneth Fleming, associate director of research of the Reynolds Journalism Institute at flemingk@missouri.edu.
86% of Adults 18-plus Read America's Community Newspapers Weekly
COLUMBIA, MO — Just when Americans find themselves drawn to news reports from a contentious presidential election and deflating economic challenges, new research from the National Newspaper Association (NNA) again demonstrates that Main Street America relies upon community newspapers to inform and empower citizens from coast to coast. In a follow-up to its landmark 2005 research and 2007 update, NNA finds that 86 per cent of adults read a local community newspaper each week, which compares with 83% in 2007 and 81% in 2005. The survey was conducted this past summer, before the presidential race heated up and the stock market took a dive.
“This is in stark contrast to news reports trumpeting the decline, if not demise, of newspapers,” says John Stevenson, president of NNA and publisher of the Randolph Leader in Roanoke, AL. “We learned three years ago that we had a different story to tell, and with this second update we again prove that our initial findings hold up.”
According to the 2008 NNA survey, conducted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute’s (RJI) Center for Advanced Social Research at the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri:
• 86 percent of adults over the age of 18 read a newspaper every week.
• 75 percent of those readers read most or all of their paper.
• On average, readers spend 45 minutes reading an issue of their paper, compared to 42 minutes from the 2007 survey, and 38 minutes in the 2005 survey.
• More than one-third of readers keep their paper for more than six days, enabling them to revisit a story or advertisement at their leisure.
“Readers and advertisers have not abandoned community newspapers that serve their communities well, that are involved in their communities,” Stevenson said. “In towns and cities across the country, vibrant local newspapers continue to help strengthen their communities, and those communities in turn strengthen and support their local news source. They grow, together.”
“Just about all of the research and news reports on the “struggling” newspaper industry have been based on what’s happening at the top 100 major metropolitan newspapers, maybe the top 250,” said Brian Steffens, NNA executive director. “That doesn’t tell the story of the remaining 1,200 daily newspapers or 8,000 community weekly papers in America. Many of those troubled papers started as community papers and then enjoyed decades of growth as they expanded into adjacent communities and surrounding suburbs, becoming regional newspapers and losing that tight community focus. That worked for awhile, but that model may not be as successful going forward. But it doesn’t seem right to paint the rest of our industry with that brush.”
To capture a snapshot of readership along Main Street America, NNA surveyed adults in markets served by newspapers of less than 25,000 circulation to examine the relationship between Main Street America and newspapers. The 2007 survey included population centers less than 50,000; the 2005 survey targeted population centers less than 100,000.
According to the 2008 NNA survey, local community newspapers are the primary source of information for both news and advertising in local communities—by a 5-1 margin over the next most popular media.
Primary source of news and information about local communities: (where they get their news)
• 59 percent: local newspaper (compared to 45 percent in 2007)
• 11 percent: television (compared to 20 percent in 2007)
• 9 percent: friends and-or relatives
• 6.6 percent: radio (compared to 5.7 percent in 2007)
• 3.4 percent: Internet (same as 2007)
(The rest say they get their local information from co-workers, “others”, or they “don’t know.”)
Readers told NNA they prefer to get their local news and information from: (where they’d prefer to get their news from, if they had a choice)
• 64 percent: local newspaper (compared to 47 percent in 2007)
• 10 percent: television (compared to 19 percent in 2007)
• 5.4 percent: radio (same as 2007)
• 5.2 percent: (tie) friends and-or relatives; Internet
The findings also note:
• 99 percent of readers read local news.
69 percent read local news “very often”, compared to 64 percent in 2007; 49 percent in 2005.
59 percent say they never read local news online.
(A 2007 RJI/Associated Press Managing Editors survey similarly found that only 32 percent of the American public sought local news online).
• 92 percent read local education (school) news, the same as in 2007, 2005.
66 percent read local education news somewhat to very often.
71 percent say they never read local education news online.
• 91 percent read editorials and-or letters to the editor, up slightly from 2007.
72 percent read local editorials and-or letters to the editor somewhat or very often.
76 percent say they never read local editorials and-or letters to the editor online.
• 80 percent read public notices, compared to 72 percent in 2007 and 2005.
• 74 percent read local sports, nearly the same as in the previous surveys.
These are the bread and butter topics of community newspapers. But how well do community newspapers perform these functions?
• 77 percent of readers believe their local news coverage is good to excellent.
Only 52% believe the local coverage they find online to be good to excellent.
• 72 percent believe the accuracy of their community newspaper is good to excellent.
Only 51 percent believe the accuracy of the local news they find online to be good to excellent.
• 70 percent believe the quality of writing in their community newspaper is good to excellent.
Only 53 percent believe the quality of writing of local news they find online to be good to excellent.
• 66 percent believe the fairness of reporting is good to excellent.
Only 43 percent believe the fairness of local reporting they find online to be good to excellent.
“While there is room for improvement, it should be noted that these were rated on a five-point scale, with the middle being fair or acceptable,” Steffens says. “Adding fair or acceptable to these numbers push them up dramatically – to between 94 percent and 98 percent. The difference in results for newspapers and online for coverage, quality, accuracy and fairness suggests that online readers may be finding some of their local “news” from blogs or other less-trusted online sources than their community newspaper or the paper’s web site.”
The 2008 and 2007 surveys asked a new set of questions asking readers to rate the following statements on a seven-point scale, from “doesn’t describe at all” (1) to “describes extremely well” (7).
• My newspaper understands the things that are of special interest and importance to people who live in the area:
81 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 77 percent 2007).
• My newspaper is well-organized and easy to get through:
81 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Same as 2007).
• My newspaper makes it very easy to find the information I want:
80 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Same as 2007).
• My newspaper is a newspaper I really trust:
76 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 73 percent 2007)
• My newspaper has stories for people with my particular interests:
73 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 69 percent 2007)
• My newspaper is extremely useful to me personally:
68 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 64 percent 2007).
• My newspaper does an excellent job of investigating claims and statements made by government, civic and business leaders:
67 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 63 percent 2007).
NOTE: 89 percent believe it’s important to investigate the claims and statements made by government, civic and business leaders.
• My newspaper provides more background and depth than any other news source:
65 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 48 percent 2007).
• My newspaper gives me the information I need to hold government, civic and business leaders to a high level of accountability:
64 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 56 percent 2007).
NOTE: 92 percent believe it’s important that the public, or newspaper on their behalf, hold government, civic and business leaders to a high level of accountability.
• My newspaper really cares about people like me:
62 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Same as 2007).
• My newspaper does a better job than any other news source of helping me understand the news:
54 percent combined (5-7) agreed. (Compared to 52 percent 2007).
To reinforce the concept that the public, or newspapers on the public’s behalf, should hold government accountable, 81 percent of readers said that government should be required to publish public notices in newspapers. This compares to 79 percent in 2007 and 71 percent in 2005.
“This is an excellent report card on the value of community newspapers,” says Stevenson. “But we cannot ignore a changing media landscape. We urge our members to view the Internet as an opportunity, not a threat; to consider it as one more tool to deliver value to our communities.”
Internet access at home has increased to 75 percent compared to 67 percent in 2007 and 61 percent in 2005, according to the latest research, Broadband (high speed) Internet access has jumped to 74 percent from 66 percent in 2007 and 39 percent in 2005.
Some 31 percent of community newspaper readers report they have visited their local paper’s web site in the last month, about the same as a year ago and compared to 20 percent in 2005.
“Despite a sizable growth in Internet and broadband access in smaller communities, these results indicate tremendous community support for their community newspapers,” Stevenson said. “The value proposition to readers and advertisers remains strong.”
NNA continues to seek donations and funding to update the research annually, according to NNA’s Executive Director Brian Steffens. “There are plenty of community newspapers that are maintaining or growing profit margins, many of them in double digits,” says Steffens, “I get more calls about new papers starting up than I get from publishers who are considering shutting down. Just in the past few weeks I’ve learned of nearly a dozen new community newspapers starting up. Community newspapers remain the dominant source of local news, products and services – typically by a wide margin – over any other media.”
When comparing 2008 results to 2007 and 2005, do not assume that they indicate a true increase or decline year over year. A direct comparison is impossible because the same people were not surveyed each year and the survey sample was changed each year: each year the “top end” was reduced to focus more on adults in smaller towns and cities that were more likely to read a community newspaper instead of a major metropolitan daily.
What we can say is that the results were extremely consistent across all three years. These results demonstrate that the findings were not a fluke of a particular year or sample. These results might suggest that adults in smaller towns and cities have a stronger relationship with the newspapers than adults in larger towns and cities.
Established in 1885, the National Newspaper Association is the voice of America¹s community newspapers and the oldest and largest newspaper association in the country. The nation’s community newspapers inform, educate and entertain more than 60 million readers every week.
Founded in 1908, the Missouri School of Journalism has set the standards for journalism and strategic communication training for almost a century. The proven "Missouri Method" blends theory and practice through coursework and the university's own media, including a community newspaper, a network television station and a national public radio station.
- Readership/Advertising Survey Highlights
- Community Newspapers Build Connection Between Readers, Advertisers
Power Point Presentation (download)