Tuesday, January 17, 2012 newspapers are not dead
by Mark Allen
As a local government press officer I am in the privileged position to interact with and read a wide range of social media, traditional media and new media sources on a daily basis.
Social and new media has enriched our knowledge of what people think and how they come to conclusions and is a very good thing on the whole.
I've have blogged since 2003, Tweet and use Facebook and Linked In and so am hardly a Luddite.
At a recent conference I was struck by how many people – mostly local bloggers – seemed to write off the newspaper and local radio industries.
This surprised me and is something I believe is done at our cost.
44% of households still buy a daily newspaper.
Of the 2.940 articles from releases and enquiries mentioning Halton Borough Council in the past year 57% appeared in local papers and more if you count their websites.
Out of more than 833 enquires more than 72% came from the local press – and the resulting stories appeared in the papers or their websites.
Look through the news threads on Twitter – see how many link to stories originating from newspapers. I have yet to have one media enquiry from a blogger – although I would welcome them.
The main weekly paper in Widnes and Runcorn - The Weekly News - has seen a circulation increase of 3% in the last year - after several increases in a row.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the newspaper circulation body, 40% of print readership is under 34-years-old and the 15 to 24-year-old PREFERING the print version to the online copy.
The number of daily visitors to regional news websites increased by more than 25% in the first half of the year, according to ABC.
Trinity Mirror which owns our local Runcorn and Widnes network of websites saw the biggest increase in traffic – daily visitors were up 53.6% to 468,426 and monthly visitors were up 54.7% to 9m year-on-year.
Newsquest saw the number of monthly users rise by 31.7% to 8.5m and Northcliffe was up 29% to 5.2m
Express & Star owners the Midland News Association saw a year-on-year increase in monthly users of 40.9% to 976,980 – with daily visitors up 35.8% to 54,859.
Most people I know still rely on the newspaper or a website with stuff used in it for their primary source of news, especially in traditional working class places like Halton - or those with an ageing population.
In our eagerness to embrace new media sources we shouldn't lose sight of the value of traditional ones - particularly in traditional working class areas like Halton where a lot of people still buy local and regional papers. The Liverpool Echo and The Liverpool Post still do well and free weekly The World is still popular.
And as a small snapshot everyone in a friend’s office (who is not connected with the press) 75% either have a national paper or look at one online – even if it is The Daily Mail…
Of course lets not forget The Stephen Lawrence case would not have been re-opened without The Mail.
In the mad anti-journo crush of THAT enquiry it must be remembered that the newspaper industry is likely to be more truthful and find more ground breaking stories than Facebook or Twitter - that is often a libellous free-for-all.
The 10 London-based national titles sell an average of 9,540,993 a day. This is a HUGE amount...
The 68 English regional dailies (mornings and evenings) together sell 2,085,116. The nine Scottish dailies sell 735,002; the six Welsh sell 183,131; and the three Northern Ireland titles sell 137,230.
UK has a population of around 61 million. Since the average number of people living in a household is 2.36, the number of households is therefore approximately 26 million
Ergo 44% of households buy a daily paper.
We may read papers a different way through iPads, laptops and phones - but they will be with us for some time to come - and their spirit will outlive them.
STATS: 7% of paid-for weekly newspapers increased their circulation in the first six months of 2011 while 14% saw a double-digit drop in circulation, figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation show.
The best performing title was the Wanstead & Woodford Guardian which saw a 27.1% boost in circulation to 4,354. This was followed by the Bracknell News, up 13.7% to 3,683, and the Lowestoft Journal, which rose 6.5% to 16,606.
While 24 paid-for weeklies increased their circulation in the first half of the year, 45 titles saw a double-digit drop in sales. So half as many showed an increase than a double digit fall... hardly the disaster forecast!
Mark Allen is a former journalist and is a press officer for Halton Borough Council in Cheshire.
Reader Comments (4)
I created a response to my friend Mark's blog on here directly to him in an email but then found that I suddenly was beginning to write more passionately and thus created my own blog page as a result...this was my rather long winded response that i hope you will take the time to read -small beginnings create bigger pictures...
http://allartedandbloggedout.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/paperback-versus-the-techy-world/
Hi Sarah
I loved your blog and the passion behind it.
It would be hard for anyone to disagree with your with your love of 'hard copies'. I still love to pick up a Sunday paper to read as a treat with a coffee (kids allowing) and I agree, it's absolutely right to want to step out of the digital world now and again.
I'm really pleased that Mark, via comms2point0, inspired to write and blog.
Hope you'll share more with us in the future
Darren
Two great blog posts with loads of food for thought. In our area it's certainly not a case of either, or. We should strive to be brilliant at both digital and print media.
Absolutely agree, Ross.
It's always been a case of horses for courses, hasn't it - there are now just so many more horses for us to choose from and use.
cheers
Darren