©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Newspapers

©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved  Some of the general features of newspapers in early America include the following:  few newspapers existed  most publishers were printers and postmasters  news was not very timely  The concept of the “free press” was not yet supported

 The number of newspapers grew during the Revolutionary War, with the partisan or political press  Political press: newspapers that openly support a particular party, faction, or cause.  Mary Katherine Goddard’s Maryland Journal was one of the leading Colonial papers during the war.  She published the Declaration of Independence in 1777 with the signers’ names, and was one of 30 women printers and publishers of colonial newspapers. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The First Amendment was ratified in 1791 and guarantees press freedom.  Papers grew rapidly; most cities had dailies and towns had weeklies.  They were read mostly by the upper socioeconomic class.  Papers cost six cents (by comparison, a pint of whiskey cost five cents).  Most news centered on business, political debates, speeches, new laws, and official messages.  Freedom’s Journal was the first of more than 40 black papers published before  Founded by the Rev. Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm in the late 1820s.  The Cherokee Phoenix and the Cherokee Advocate came out during this time  Written in both Cherokee and English.

 For a mass press to be possible, certain things were needed: ◦ Development of quick, cost-efficient printing presses  first steam-powered press in 1830 could produce 4,000 copies an hour ◦ A critical mass of literate people  First public school system was established in 1830s  Many people in the middle/lower socioeconomic groups learned to read ◦ The presence of a mass audience  Ordinary people had more political and economic power and were more responsive to a mass press ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Benjamin Day launched the penny press with the publication of the New York Sun in 1833 when he was 22.  He lowered the newspaper price from six cents to one penny.  News centered on sex, crime, and human interest.  James Gordon Bennett started the New York Herald in 1835  He introduced financial and sports pages  Horace Greeley started the New York Tribune in 1841  Appealed to reader intellect rather than emotion  News and editorials centered on crusades and causes.  He favored women's rights.  Henry Raymond started the New York Times in 1851  Introduced objective and reasoned journalism. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Penny Press was significant because it changed: ◦ The basis of a newspaper’s economic support  From affluent subscribers to advertising aimed at a mass audience ◦ The pattern of distribution  from mail subscriptions to direct street sales ◦ The definition of what constituted news  from the affairs of the commercial elite to the social life of the rising middle class ◦ The way news was collected  Anything that could get the news out faster was tried.  Fresh news was better than stale news ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Civil War and telegraphic dispatches changed how newspaper stories were written.  Sometimes telegraph lines failed during the transmission of a story from the war zones, so the “inverted pyramid” style of reporting was developed to ensure that at least the most information facts made it through  The inverted pyramid = puts the most newsworthy information at the top, and then the remaining information follows in order of importance, with the least important at the bottom.  U.S. population doubled between ; urban population tripled = the number of dailies quadrupled; circulations showed fivefold increases.  Joseph Pulitzer published the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World.  He aimed the World at the large NYC population, particularly new immigrants  Stressing simple writing and many illustrations.  He emphasized reporting accuracy and introduced investigative reporting and social advocacy. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 E.W. Scripps published newspapers in Cleveland and Cincinnati aimed at the working class.  He promoted concisely edited news, mostly for blue collar workers, and highlighted human interest stories.  He practiced editorial independence and frequently crusaded for the working class.  He pioneered the concept of chain newspapers.  William Randolph Hearst published the San Francisco Examiner and New York Journal  Hearst relied heavily on sensationalized stories dealing with death, dishonor, and disaster to boost circulation, and promoted stories that appealed to reader emotion. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Circulation battles led to increased use of sex, murder, self- promotion, and human-interest stories.  Yellow journalism = sensationalized writing relies on eye- catching headlines to sell papers.  Though not the proudest moment in American journalism, yellow journalism did have some positive results:  brought enthusiasm, energy into American journalism  Encouraged aggressive reporting and investigative journalism  Brought exposure to prominent authors  aggressive reporting, and investigative journalism  Helped popularize the use of layout and display elements that characterize modern journalism ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 From 1900 to 1920, many newspapers consolidated and the number of daily papers and number of cities with competing papers declined:  costs of equipment and supplies was too high for many newspapers  advertisers showed preference for the paper with the largest circulation in the market  consolidation had increased profits in other industries, so newspaper publishers decided it could do the same for them  Appearing with the consolidation trend during the 1920s was jazz journalism  Emphasized photography more than writing  The newspapers were tabloid size – printed on a page that was about half the size of a normal newspaper page  Best example of this trend was the New York Daily News ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Depression had a great social and economic impact on both newspapers and magazines.  Bleak economic conditions forced many dailies out of business, and radio emerged as a serious competitor for national advertising dollars. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 After WWII, economic forces continued to shape the American newspaper:  growth of chain newspapers continued  Newspapers were becoming more expensive to print, and the large chains could share expenses among their papers and use their presses and labor more efficiently  By 1970 only about 2% of cities had competing newspapers  consolidation continued as media conglomerates controlled newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations.  television emerged as yet another serious competitor for advertising revenue ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The biggest development of the 1980s was the birth of USA Today, which influenced other papers, especially in terms of:  splashy graphics and colors  short, easy-to-read stories  lots of graphs, charts, and tables ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Problems in the newspaper industry became apparent in the 1990s and continue today. Problems include:  decreasing readership  increasing competition from the Web  rapid shifts in social and market conditions  increasing debt  bad management decisions cutting into the bottom line  Although the newspaper industry is still losing readers and revenue, it’s not losing them as badly as before. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Newspapers are cutting costs and trying to increase revenue in order to survive. Techniques include: - sharing stories with former competitors - laying off employees - reducing delivery areas or frequency - moving completely online - exploring new ways to charge online readers ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Online newspapers have some advantages over traditional newspapers:  they are not limited by the size of the newshole (the amount of news that can be printed in one edition – determined by the # of ads in an issue. More ads = more pages)  they can be updated continuously  they are interactive and searchable  they can provide video and audio  they can feature user-generated content ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Mobile media allow newspapers to be delivered to a person, via a cell phone or laptop, rather than to a place, like a home or newsstand.  The newspaper industry believes that by charging for subscriptions for content on e-readers, iPad etc., it can recoup some of the financial losses caused by offering free online content  Many newspapers have developed apps for mobile media that may eventually be a significant stream of revenue. However, these apps can be expensive for newspapers to develop. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Newspapers are incorporating user- generated material into the print and digital editions cautiously, since it carries risks:  The competence, credibility, and objectivity of the average citizen reporter may be questionable  Therefore, newspapers are relying on user-generated content mainly for news tips, eyewitness accounts, photos and videos of certain news events. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Newspapers now realize it is an economic advantage to promote themselves and/or offer content on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  The New York Times has 3 million Twitter followers  USA Today has about 53,000 Facebook fans  More than 200 newspapers post videos on YouTube, including the Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, and the Boston Globe ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Both online and print newspapers share some defining features:  They contain a diverse array of content (news, editorials, features, sports, comics, columns, ads, etc.)  They are conveniently organized by content type  They cover local and neighborhood news  They serve as a historical record, in that the typical newspaper contains a record of daily events that influence our lives… a snap shot of what life is like in any given year or decade  They perform a watchdog role for society, monitor the workings of government and private industry, and alert the public to possible threats and trends  They are timely and current ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Newspapers can be grouped by frequency of publication, market size and appeal to specialized groups:  Print Dailies  Dailies are newspapers that appear at least five times a week.  National circulation has been declining since the 1960s. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 National Newspapers  Aimed at national audiences  Only three are operating in the United States: USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.  Circulation for this group has not declined quite as much as in other segments.  Large Metropolitan Dailies  Based in communities with a population 500,000 or more  Circulation declines continue because of competition from the Internet and a loss of advertising revenue. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Medium-Sized Dailies  Have a circulation between 100,000 – 500,000  In most cases, circulation is declining.  Small Town Dailies  Have a circulation of 100,000 or less  This category is generally not losing audiences as quickly as the medium and large metropolitan dailies because they have less competition from other media outlets.  In fact, some have gained modest circulation. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Print Weeklies  The number of weeklies in the U.S. has remained relatively stable (about 6,500) for the last 10 years.  Still, rising production costs have made weekly publishers more cost-conscious.  Special-Service and Minority Newspapers: Special-service newspapers are those aimed at well-defined audience segments, such as ethnic groups, foreign languages and college students.  African-American press reached a circulation peak in 1960 and has since seen a significant decline  Spanish press has been growing over the last 20 years, but has seen some decline over the last few years, although not as much as English-language papers  There are about 1,800 college newspapers at 4-year institutions, with a total circulation of more than 6 million ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

3 types of online newspaper Web sites are:  News Aggregators  These sites take information from many sources and meld it into a new presentation.  One type (e.g. Google News) uses an automatic formula to scan publications.  The other type (e.g., Huffington Post) uses humans to select the stories. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Online Web sites associated with a print newspaper  Most online papers fit in this model  the most visited newspaper Web sites have a print counterpart.  Organizational structures vary: some have a stand-alone online operation while others combine print and online operations.  Online-only sites  These have proliferated in the last couple of years  Many were started by journalists who were laid off from their print newspaper jobs  Others are remnants of a print publication that went out of business, such as Seattlepi.com, the online site of the defunct Seattle Post- Intelligencer.  Most online-only sites focus on local community news.  Finding a profitable business model is a challenge for this category. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The industry is still dominated by several large groups owning newspapers  However, since newspapers are no longer as profitable as they were before the Internet, the current trend for some of the large companies is to sell off papers that are losing money, and thus the large companies are becoming smaller.  Who Owns the Media: ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The three main departments at a newspaper are business, production, and news-editorial.  The business department sells ads and generates revenue  The production department gets the news printed on paper  The news-editorial department is most complex: editorial pages contain opinion, news pages contain objective reporting ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

The current business model of the newspaper industry is falling apart. Print newspapers derive 85% of their income from advertising and 15% from circulation, both which are declining.  Revenue: For the print version, advertising revenue comes from four separate sources:  local advertising  classified advertising  national advertising  preprinted inserts. The most important = local retail and classified advertising, and these revenue streams have dropped by more than 50 percent over a four-year period. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Expenses: the costs of running a newspaper can be separated by function.  News and editorial costs: reporters and editors who cover and report the news  Printing costs: such as newsprint and ink, and the costs of running the press  Mechanical costs: including composition and plate production  Circulation and distribution costs: gas, trucks, and delivery people  General administrative costs: clerical, secretarial, accounting, etc.  ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The bright spots for newspapers in the last few years has been the increasing of popularity of newspaper Web sites and mobile apps.  However, they are not translating into enough advertising dollars to make up for the print version’s losses.  It is yet to be seen whether online subscriptions will be profitable, as there may be competition offering similar news for free.  Will readers pay to read the news? ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Experts predict that some will and some won’t.  Newspapers that can find innovative ways to market their mobile products will have an advantage.  The newspaper of the future may be a hybrid that appears in print only a few days a week, but with a Web site that is constantly updated and delivered to a number of platforms including cell phones, iPods, iPads and e-book readers. ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC)  The ABC was created in response to inflated circulation rates claimed by papers in early 1900s.  It evaluates three-fourths of all U.S. and Canadian print media (about 2600 publications)  The ABC has implemented several methods to confirm that newspapers are providing accurate reports of the # of copies they are selling  Newspaper Audiences  In the U.S., total national newspaper circulation runs about 45 million copies daily.  Circulation totals have been sliding since 1990, even though the population continues to grow.  The biggest decline in readers is in the age group, in urban audiences, and among people who have not attended college.  Reasons given for the decline include competition for other media (especially the Internet), increases in prices, declines in literacy of younger people, increased mobility, and increases in single person households.  ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Why don’t young people read newspapers?  What, if anything, could newspapers do to recapture this audience segment?  How often do you read the newspaper? Which one(s)? Which section(s)? ©2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved