A week before the Providence Journal editorial admitted surprise that “people still read newspapers,” (see page 4 of Agenda #21 or www.agendanation.net/021/littlebluff) the New York Times reported that low circulation figures “may not be as dire as they sound.”
“What’s Online” [11/4/06] quotes Allen Mutter from his blog Confessions of a Newsosaur (newsosaur.blogspot.com), “a significant portion of the drop results directly from the industry’s…initiative to eliminate inefficient vanity and promotional circulation.” As those numbers were being reported, “What’s Online” says the Newspaper Association of America (naa.org) released the results of a study that shows when Internet readership is counted – Great Scot! – “the newspaper audience is actually way up.”
The magic number? An eight percent increase from February 2005 to March 2006. Of course, the study mentions that newspapers haven’t figured out how to make a PROFIT from their Internet traffic because of a few simple, little details:
- “Cluttered, hard to navigate sites proliferate”
- “Many sites require readers to register, which is counter productive…when readers can go elsewhere for their news.”
The fact that the Providence Journal editorial expressed surprise that “people still read newspapers” is absolute audacity on part of the one major daily newspaper in the state. They should damn well know people still read newspapers; they are in the business.
