Loading...
Symbols:
Authors:

Old Media and Glossy Fluff Both Lose Ground - Pew

by: Jeff Bercovici August 18, 2008 | about stocks: CBSH / TWX    
Jeff Bercovici

Jeff Bercovici

About this author:
Become a Contributor Submit an Article
  • Font Size:
  • Print

You know that newspapers, newsweeklies and network newscasts are losing their audiences at an alarming rate. But did you know fluffy entertainment shows and glossy tabloids are slipping, too?

That's one of the surprises contained in the newly-released biennial study on news consumption from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Pew's pollsters asked some 3,600 Americans about their media consumption habits, including whether they "regularly," "sometimes," "hardly ever" or "never" watch, read or listen to a slew of networks, shows and publications.

If you follow the trends in magazine publishing -- or, hell, if you've visited a newsstand in the past five years -- you probably think readership of celebrity weeklies such as People, Us Weekly and In Touch is way up. In fact, 53 percent of respondents said they never read such publications, up from 45 percent a decade ago. Meanwhile, the proportion of regular readers merely held steady at 8 percent.

Likewise, in 1998, 41 percent of respondents said they never watch Access Hollywood and its ilk. By this year, that number had climbed to 50 percent, against only a 1 percent increase (to 9 percent) in those who say they're regular viewers.

Elsewhere in the survey's findings, it was a more familiar story, with Americans deserting once-trusted news institutions in favor of cable news and the internet. The percentage of respondents who never watch nightly network newscasts rose 13 points, to 31 percent, over the past decade, while regular viewers fell to 29 percent of the sample, a 9 point drop. Network newsmagazines -- 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Dateline -- showed similar erosion; 29 percent never watch, versus 10 percent in 1998.

Only 12 percent of respondents read newsweeklies regularly, down from 15 percent a decade ago, while 39 percent never read them, up 7 percent. And for newspapers, the numbers are predictably ugly: Regular readers made up 46 percent of the sample, down from 54 percent just four years ago, while those who said they never read dailies went from 13 percent to 19 percent.

Related Articles

This article has 4 comments:

  •  
    Aug 18 09:04 PM
    Wow, people aren't listening to AP (American Propaganda) or Reuters (who the hell owns them anyhow? Where is their office?)

    Oh no!

    Maybe we won't have to go to war with Iran because they are a big bad country?
    Reply
  •  
    Aug 19 12:09 AM
    Media bubble. Thank god. Where's the needle?

    Does this mean America has fewer drones? Or have they just "improved" the circuiting?
    Reply
  •  
    Aug 19 02:01 PM
    So trash pseudo-news is losing just as real news is. It's an ill wind that blows no-one any good, but we appear to be throwing out the baby with the bath water. I am glad we still have NcNeil and Bill Moyers and the like on PBS.
    Reply
  •  
    Aug 27 09:43 PM
    In 1993 58% of the respondents said they read a newspaper in the last day. This study had newspaper readers reading the paper down to 27% in the last day with another 7% reading it online or in both forms. This 27% number is frightening to those at Gannett, New York Times, Tribune etc. There is no way to capture the revenue that is lost when the readers move to online. The preprint revenue is vaporizing, or moving to direct mail packages owned by the papers or their competitors.

    jay washingtoncheap.com
    Reply
More Comments on TWX ยป
More by Jeff Bercovici
Investment Resources
Money Managment
Research
Seeking Alpha provides these ads as a service to its leading contributors
Articles on related themes
Diversified Media
Newspapers
Book Publishing
Cable