The Decline of the Newspaper

Clay Shirky who wrote Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable (1993) argues that society doesn’t need newspapers society needs journalism to save society. Shirky supports this argument by giving a historical background to the problems newspapers face and how the problems have developed over time and the solutions society has came up with. The blogger concludes that in order for journalism to go farther new models must be created in place of past molds. Shirky directs this blog toward the current and future generations in attempt to motivate new models and methods of journalism.

In chapter 2 of The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser, after discussing how although two newspapers still create the base of almost all news stories that get shared online, newspapers are failing daily. He then explains how news became centered around “public opinion” instead of just information about the outside world. Pariser reminds us that:

Now, with the advent of the internet greatly transforming the information-gathering sector, the newspaper industry is fighting a tough battle for profitability.

Even though USA Today is a national newspaper, it is written in shorter piece and sprinkled with eye catching, colorful photos, graphs, and charts designed to address the needs of a sound-byte generation, which are never consider by any other media source and it makes the USA Today’s content refreshing and more engaging than other papers. Because of this the USA Today’s circulation grew rapidly from roughly 350,000 in 1982 to approximately 5.9 million daily print and online readers today. When comparing USA Today with other competitors like the Wall Street Journal, which has 2.12 million subscriptions and the New York Times, which has 1.58 million subscriptions, the USA Today remains the number one print newspaper and USAToday.com, is the internet’s top sites for news and

Before newspapers, handwritten news sheets were used (Stephens, n.d.). After the creation of the printing press, the news sheets were then printed on papers which was later called newspapers (Stephens, n.d.). The accuracy and efficiency of the printing press enabled more publishers to use the printing press (Arthur, 2004). Newspapers could then be more widely produced. The ability of mass production of the printing press gave ease in spreading information rapidly to different places (Jeffrey, 2001). This led to a wider use of newspapers. This ability also allowed the newspaper to not easily be corrupted or destroyed since there were so many copies available (Jeffery, 2001). The creation of newspapers allowed the public to gain more knowledge about what was happening in other parts of the world. It also allowed citizens to voice their disagreements with the government. The newspaper was a form of communication that let the voice of citizens be heard (Quinn, 2017). Without the printing press, newspaper would not have emerged and could not have been as widely produced as it was. The creation of newspapers was only possible because of the printing press (Quinn,

Rising international hostility and intensifying wars became a source of aesthetic influence in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Due to multiple wars across the world and dwindling military support in America, news media and propaganda artists found inspiration in exploring the political and social controversies both in America and around the world. Newspaper publishers, such as the New York World and the New York Journal thrived in analyzing and reporting progress made in the fight to obtain power in smaller countries: “Two newspapers locked in a fierce competition for readers, William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, strove to outdo each other with sensational headlines about every Spanish atrocity in

A newspaper would show future generations what was going on in the world and what was important at the time.

In the 1800’s many important speakers and authors addressed topics ranging from prayers and travelling to the State’s involvement in slavery and the Constitution. They criticize and praise what they see as the important and ignored issues involving all people of the Union.

The history of journalism in the United States has spanned from the first colonist crossing the Atlantic Ocean to today’s mass media. Even before we were a country we had printers and journalists writing and printing stories for the people. Looking back, we can divide journalism history into different time periods and see how news reporting developed over time. Some of these time periods include the Colonial Period which spanned from when the first Pilgrims came to America in the mid 1600’s till the 1760’s. Other periods include the Revolution period which picked up from the colonial period till the early 1780’s. The period of Westward Expansion lasted from the 1800 to the 1830’s, then there was the Civil War Period which spanned from the 1840’s till the 1860’s. Finally, the Interpretative Period which lasted from 1930’s and continues to today. Looking back at these time periods we can see what was considered “news” and what was “newsworthy”, the dominate issues of the periods, and how far we have come as a society from those issues.

Looking into the past by viewing old newspapers through a microfilm that was published on my birthday, February 4th, throughout the years of 1860-1940, was quite interesting. Getting the chance to see how similar things were, yet how far along newspapers in the United States came from analyzing the newspapers on how they were set up and the content that was involved and going on in the world at that specific time. Not only being able to see the changes in the way the papers were set up, but realizing that newspapers have so many similarities that we see in papers published today.

The newspaper industry is undergoing a radical change in three primary areas caused by technology. First, the underlying two-sided business model is changing. With the Advent of internet, news content is easily and freely available from various sources but lacks quality journalism and credibility. Revenues from online advertising are not large enough to compensate for decline in revenues from print advertising & subscription. Newspaper industry is experiencing new realm of new content delivery and in process of understanding and establishing sustainable sources and

With the decreasing market, the profitability of newspaper industry is declining. Newspaper revenues came from two sources: advertising and circulation representing approximately 80% and 20% of revenue, respectively. But between 2000 and 2010, annual

Over the last ten years there has been a significant reduction in the total number of newspaper copies circulated in the United States. The total number of newspaper copies circulated, both daily and Sunday in 2000 was 115,194,000. By 2008 this number had dipped significantly to 97,712,000. By the end of 2010 the total number of copies circulated was 43.4 million. Simultaneously, advertising revenues have also steadily declined over the years. Advertising revenues have dipped from $48,670 billion in 2000 to $24,821 billion in 2009. 2010 was relatively calm compared to the hair-raising dips in revenue of 2008 and 2009. Advertising revenues for 2010 dropped roughly 6.3 percent, to $22.8 billion. That was relatively low compared to the 26 percent drop in 2009. With the losses of the three previous years newspaper advertising is down roughly 48 percent, nearly half of what is was five years ago. Expenses continue to climb, especially for news print, where the price is running 20 to 30 percent higher than it was a year ago. Earlier rounds of staff cuts and savings from outsourcing have cycled

Newspaper Owner 1 is a “diversified media company that generates most of its revenues through newspapers sold around the country and around the world” (pg. 122). Competition for subscribers and advertising revenues

The belief that journalism is in decline has triggered major alarms, because society needs an informational environment that is easily available to all citizens such as newspapers. There is a large body of journalist that suggests that if television has taken over from the press as our main source of news this may limit our capacity to learn about public affairs; newspapers are believed to be far more effective than television at conveying detailed information necessary to understand complex and detailed issues. There is also widespread concern that if journalism fails as a profession it will not be able to reach large sections of the community, particularly younger or less educated readers. This may reinforce a growing gap among citizens between the information that they receive.