Newspapers: The decline in print media

The impact of Google

1) Why has Google led to the decline of the newspaper industry?

Google has taken a large sum of money (billions) from the advertising revenue of media businesses over the past decade. This means that newspaper companies do not receive the money they should and therefore struggle to remain an active business. 

2) Find a statistic from the article that illustrates the decline of traditional news media.

Google critics note how much advertising money has disappeared from the newspaper business over the past decade or so — more than $40 billion, or about 60 percent of the ad revenue the industry generated at its peak in 2000, according to figures from the Newspaper Association of America.

3) Looking at the graph featured in the article, what period has seen the steepest decline in newspaper advertising revenue? 

The steepest decline in newspaper advertising was between the years of 2002-2008.

4) Do you personally think Google is to blame for newspapers closing and journalists losing their jobs? Why?

Personally, I think Google is somewhat responsible for newspapers closing and journalists losing their jobs. This is because they are such a big platform and anyone in the world can find out what's going on in the world for free which is why there was a decline in newspapers. However, Google isn't the only one to blame, the Internet is too blame. I believe this because the Internet was something revolutionary and the Internet gave people what Newspapers couldn't. 

5) Read the comments below the article. Pick one comment you agree with and one you disagree with and explain your response to the comments in detail.

"You can’t single out Google just because it’s the largest digital company. Patch, for example, invested hundreds of millions into journalism in the US and continues to search for the model that will work going forward. There are many who are investing in the future of journalism." - I agree that Google shouldn't be to blame and I also agree that are still companies and investors who would like to see the future of journalism.

"The irony is that Google is probably more of a savior than a killer of journalism and editorial content. How many thousands of blogs, fan sites, writers, startup outlets, etc., have been discovered by Google’s search algorithms? How many talented artists and great stories have found a launching pad on YouTube and other Google outlets? How much content has been spread into new languages due to Google translate?

Google has forced journalistic outlets to innovate and search for new ways of doing things. It has made information dissemination more efficient. While at times that has been bad for the average journalist trying to make a buck, from a big picture perspective, it has been good for helping people get access to information, and that includes journalism." - I agree with this because it sees this with a different perspective. It is very true that without Google people wouldn't know about huge platforms like YouTube and wouldn't have discovered all these famous influential people in the world.

Ofcom report into news consumption 2018

Now read this Ofcom 2018 report on the consumption of news in the UK. Note down the key statistics and changes that Ofcom highlight and answer the following questions:

1) Look at the key findings from the report on page 2. How do UK adults generally get their news? 

• TV is the most-used platform for news nowadays by UK adults (79%), followed by the internet (64%), radio (44%) and newspapers (40%). However, the internet is the most popular platform among 16-24s (82%) and ethnic minority groups (EMGs) (73%).
• BBC One is the most-used news source, used by 62% of UK adults, followed by ITV (41%) and Facebook (33%). BBC One also had the highest proportion of respondents claiming it was their most important news source (27% of users).
• Social media is the most popular type of online news, used by 44% of UK adults. However, while lots of people are able to recall the social media site they consumed the news on, some struggle to remember the original source of the news story.

2) Read the overall summary on page 8. How popular are newspapers as a news source? How does this compare to other news sources?

Newspapers as a news source is not popular because TV is the most-used platform for news nowadays (79%), followed by the internet (64%), radio (44%) and newspapers (40%). However, for those aged 16-24 and for ethnic minority groups (EMG), the internet is the most-used platform. Eight in ten (82%) of those aged 16-24 use the internet for news nowadays, compared to just six in ten (57%) that use TV, while for EMGs, 73% use the internet for news and 69% use TV. Those aged 65+ are more likely than 16-24s to use all platforms for news, except for the internet, and TV news use among this age group is almost ubiquitous (94%). ABC1s are more likely than C2DEs to use the internet, radio and newspapers for news nowadays.

3) Look at the summary of platforms used on page 13. What audience demographic groups are most and least likely to read newspapers?

4) Read Section 3 on cross-platform news consumption (page 19). What newspaper brands can you find in the list of most popular news sources across platforms?

5) Now turn to Section 6 focusing on newspapers (page 38). How has the circulation of national newspapers decreased since 2003?

Circulation of national newspaper titles has decreased from almost 30 million in 2003

to 12.4 million in 2017.

6) What are the most-used newspaper titles?

Among the two fifths of adults who claim to consume news through newspapers, the

most-used titles are the Daily Mail (31%), Metro (23%), The Sun (21%) and The Mail

on Sunday (20%).

7) What newspaper are 65+ people more likely to read?

16-24s are more likely than those aged 65+ to read more of the titles. Those aged 65+

are more likely than 16-24s to read the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.

8) What are the most popular titles when print and online figures are combined (look at page 41)?

Daily Mail (8,409)
Guardian (6,740)
Metro (6,737)

9) How does the i compare to the Daily Mail?

The 'i' is much lower in terms of the most used title compared to the Daily Mail (2,166) 5% and The Daily Mail's (8,409) 31%.

10) Look at page 42. What percentage of newspaper users used free newspapers such as Metro in the UK in 2018 ('freesheets')?

23% used free newspapers for example Metro in 2018.

11) Now study the demographic details for our two CSP newspapers on page 44. What is the breakdown of the Daily Mail audience?

Daily Mail:

Total- 31%
Male- 29%
Female- 32%
16-24- 22%
65+- 37%
ABCI- 31%
C2DE- 30%
EMG- 31%
NON-EMG- 31%

12) What is the breakdown for the i audience?

The i
Total- 5%
Male- 7%
Female- 4%
16-24- 11%
65+- 5%
ABCI- 7%
C2DE- 4%
EMG- 4%
Non-EMG- 6%

13) Look at the summary on page 46: news consumption via social media. What audience groups are using social media for their news and what sites do they use?

More than two fifths (44%) of adults claim to consume news via social media. Of these, three quarters (76%) claim to use Facebook for news nowadays, followed by Twitter (32%), then WhatsApp (22%) and Instagram (21%).

16-24s are more likely than those aged 65+ to use most social media channels for news. 16-24s are also more likely to claim to mostly get their news from ‘social media posts’ rather than ‘directly from news organisations’.

14) What does this report tell us about the decline of the traditional newspaper industry in the UK?

That the decline in newspaper industry is because the younger generation access their news for free online on different social media platforms and there fore do not buy printed copies.

15) How can media institutions such as the Daily Mail and the i remain relevant and profitable in the digital media landscape?

They could be available on social media platforms in order to increase awareness and their readings. This way more people will be able to access the news and it will be much easier.