Do community newspapers need clear identities? Amy Lindquist December 15, 2005 MBC Program University of St. Thomas

Community Newspapers Serve as a central resource for city, school and local business news Are an instrument for local communications

Possible Reasons for Reader Confusion Similar in size, news content and advertising content Weekly community newspapers delivered free to homes Newspapers serving the same area

Literature Review Readers will form a relationship with a newspaper that offers what they want to read. By becoming active participants – writing letters to the editor, placing ads and announcements -- that relationship is reinforced. Loyalty is the result. They know their favorite newspaper and focus on it.

Research Question Does Thisweek Newspapers have the relationship with its readers described by John Lavine?

Information I Needed The level of confusion among our readers The kind of content readers wanted The degree of current interaction between readers and Thisweek Newspapers The current preference between the Sun and Thisweek newspapers

Methodology 972 readers were surveyed using Surveymonkey.Com 26 questions were asked First 10 respondents received a free classified ad Response rate: 13%

Current Awareness When do you normally receive Thisweek? —68% answered Friday and Saturday How often do you read Thisweek? — 86% read Thisweek every week or almost every week.

Content Satisfaction Please rank from 1 to 5 your opinion of the content of local news, sports and human interest stories.

Content Satisfaction News Human interest/opinion Sports Liked or Strongly Liked Content Number of People

Reader Interactions Have you submitted a news item in the past 6 months; if so, to which newspaper? — 17% had submitted news to Thisweek. Have you submitted an ad in the past 6 months; if so, to which newspaper? — 18% had submitted an ad to Thisweek.

Reader Interactions Have you responded to a news item in the past 6 months; if so, in which newspaper? — 27% had responded to a news item in Thisweek. Have you responded to an ad in the past 6 months; if so, in which newspaper? — 37% had responded to an ad in Thisweek.

Current Loyalty to Thisweek If someone at your house were to choose a newspaper to post student information, which would be chosen? — 66% chose Thisweek Newspapers.

Does Thisweek Newspapers have the relationship with readers described by John Lavine? Yes

Approval of News Content 86% of respondents read Thisweek every week/almost every week. 57% of respondents strongly liked/liked local news content in Thisweek. 54% of respondents strongly liked/liked human interest/opinion in Thisweek. 39% of respondents strongly liked/liked sports in Thisweek.

Degree of Interaction Within in the past 6 months 27% had responded to a news item in Thisweek. 37% had responded to an ad in Thisweek. 17% had submitted news to Thisweek. 18% had submitted an ad to Thisweek.

Loyalty to Thisweek Newspapers 66% chose Thisweek as the community newspaper for school announcements and information.

Recommendations Offer additional ways for readers to communicate about news content. Encourage readers to submit content as well as letters to the editor. Create loyalty by regularly asking readers what they want to read.