Nearly half (42%) of Americans say they would not miss reading their local newspaper if it were to shut down, according to research from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
The research found that those in the youngest age groups are least likely to miss newspapers, while those who get local news regularly from newspapers are much more likely than those don’t to see the potential shutdown of a local paper as a significant loss.
Among regular newspaper readers, 56% say that if the local newspaper they read most often no longer published – either in print or online – it would hurt the civic life of the community a lot; an almost identical percentage (55%) says they would personally miss reading the paper a lot if it were no longer available.
About two-thirds (68%) of people say they regularly get local news from TV reports or television station websites, 48% say they regularly get news from local newspapers in print or online, 34% say they get local news regularly from radio and 31% say they get their local news, more generally, from the internet.
Less than a quarter of those younger than age 40 (23%) say they would miss the local newspaper they read most often a lot if it were to go out of business or shut down. That compares with 33% of those ages 40 to 64 and 55% of those ages 65+.
Earlier this month, the results of a survey carried out by the Rosen group showed that the vast majority of US adult consumers still consider the print editions of newspapers and magazines indispensable sources of news and entertainment.
Nearly 80% of respondents still subscribe to magazines and the vast majority (83%) find that daily newspapers are still relevant (see US adults still consider print media valuable entertainment source).
At the start of the year, meanwhile, eMarketer forecast that US newspaper ad revenues would fall to $28.4 billion by 2012, down from an estimated $37.9 billion in 2008 (see US newspaper ad revenues on downward slide).
