Since the advent of internet, it was predicted that the fate of newspapers would be perilous. Today, 15 years later the majority of national newspapers are declining; readerships have dropped all over the country. With the internet providing a better and easier access, it is believed by many that the industry is on a severe decline and will not likely recover.
Average daily circulation of all US newspapers have dropped over the past 20 years as papers face increasing competition for readers and advertising. On average close to 30 million Americans buy a daily newspaper and about 40 million do so on the weekends. The few newspapers which have survived the recession may have readership but are not profitable. Today, ads on internet newspaper sites sell for a few dollars compared with the exorbitant fees for ads on paper.
The top newspaper on cyberspace is the New York Times with an average readership of 21.5 million unique visitors a month but even this trend in readership is not constant. Most online newspapers have seen a drop in earnings. The Times has seen a 27 percent drop in ad revenues. The Washington Post which is also available online lost $143 million through the first 6 months of 2009 and its online readership is down by 29 percent to 9.2 million.
Some of the reasons why newspapers have lost their appeal is that many publishers no longer deliver to rural areas to save on gas and publication costs
Says Alan D Mutter, a former journalist and cable TV executive,
“Newspapers have ceased to be a mass medium by any stretch of the imagination,”
Across the board, the major beneficiaries of readerships are the small daily newspapers that serve local boroughs and counties. These newspapers with limited resources dish out local news that is not covered by the large media or TV. Such newspapers continue to thrive in all parts of America.
While the local small newspapers do well, the losses for the leaders in media continue to mount. In the last 6 months of this year, USA Today lost 15 percent of its circulation. Other top papers which have seen a continual decline in readership are the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and the Newark Star Ledger.
Experts think that the influence of internet has become too strong and most news is available online for free. Moreover, internet online news service produce updates on news every few hours, something a daily newspaper simply cannot do. Some newspaper readers in the North East mentioned that a primary reason why their communities stopped buying the daily paper was because of the large amount of paper collected in just one week- and when you have to pay for your garbage removal, reading a newspaper becomes even more costly.