User:Cmcneilly17/Newspapers Changing Content to Adhere to a Broader Demographic

The internet poses several features which the traditional printed newspaper has difficulty competing with. While trying to keep up with the sprinting giant, newspaper companies have tried to embrace the changes the internet has brought with it. They have done this by running websites, opinion pieces and feature blogs, attempting to keep up with the fragmented chorus of opinions and news readily available on the internet. In an age where news runs rampant across billions of screens daily many newspapers are attempting to change their content to adhere to broader demographic audiences.

Newspapers Changing Content to Adhere to a Broader Demographic Audience

A Brief History

In order to understand where newspapers are heading we have to understand where they have come from. Long before literacy and the printing press people exchanged news through word of mouth. As writing and literacy blossomed news reports gained reliability and in developed societies like Rome and China became a means of formally sharing news to a broader audience. "Rome had a particularly sophisticated system for circulating written news, centered on the acta -- daily handwritten news sheets, which were posted by the government in the Roman Forum from the year 59 B.C. to at least A.D. 222 and which were filled with news of such subjects as political happenings, trials, scandals, military campaigns and executions. China, too, had early government-produced news sheets, called the tipao, which were first circulated among officials during the Han dynasty (202 B.C. to A.D. 221) and were printed at some point during the T'ang dynasty (618 to 906)."

The printing press was used to circulate news throughout Europe. For example, "A letter written by Christopher Columbus, reporting on his discoveries, was set in type and circulating in Barcelona before Columbus arrived there in April of 1493." The oldest circulation of what we would call a modern newspaper can be traced back to early sixtieth century Venice. As newspapers began to circulate and become more readily available throughout the seventieth and eighteenth centuries people began to rely on them as a means of not only receiving news but also sharing a sense of community with their neighbours. By the ninetieth century as newspapers like the New York Times became established newspapers were positioned at the centrefold of current events. People relied heavily on newspapers as a means of receiving succinct and recent information about events taking place in the world. Up until the late twentieth century the printed article which was the newspaper was one of the only outlets that allowed for extremely current information to be democratized, spreading it to the masses. Newspapers attracted a broad audience due to their succinct and up-to-date distribution of current events. They were unrivalled in their ability to allow people to stay connected with their community, their country and their world.

Developments in the Late 20th Century

In 1989 Tim Burners-Lee at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) proposed a project that would change the world as we know it. He proposed a plan for an "open computer network to keep track of research at the particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The project was titled "Information Management: A Proposal," and would eventually become the blueprint for the World Wide Web. After the birth of this revolution life as we knew it quickly changed. At the top of the list to feel the aftershock of the internet tsunami were newspapers. The internet began to overshadow tasks which had, prior to its invention, been strictly for the field of newspapers. Anyone was now able to log in and voice their opinion on any subject matter. The authoritative voice newspapers once held became muffled by the countless voices screaming through the Internet.

Problems the Internet Poses to Newspapers

"The central problem is that there isn’t a central problem. It’s the disappearance of the centre." Is what Clay Shirkey, New York University professor of new media said on the issue in an interview for the Daily Telegraph in October, 2009. Andrew Keen, contributing columnist for the Telegraph added, "The core reality of the Internet is its absence of a centre. The distributed Internet, all edge and no heart, has done away with the centralised structures of power of the old industrial world. And without a core, the news can’t be controlled by a central power. It can no longer be owned."

The BBC Veteran journalist and professor of Journalism at the University of British Columbia, Alfred Hermida stated in an interview with CBC in 2008, "While newspapers do much of the original reporting we rely on for our news, it is the institution of print that is in trouble, rather than the institution of journalism. The key question is whether we still need a print product, published once a day, that offers a bundle of news and information that aims to appeal to as many people as possible. Once that bundle was the most convenient way to find out about the world around us. Now the product has been unbundled and the internet provides the convenience. The real question is where a product printed daily on dead trees fits into our news habits today."

Readership and Demographics

Data shows that a large part of older generations (age 55+) still subscribe and buy newspapers, continuing to include a routine of reading the newspaper in their everyday lives. It is young people who never cemented this routine into their daily lives that do not pick up a copy of their local newspaper. The routine of reading the paper was never cemented because they grew up with the world's information at their fingertips and never saw "the point" of buying a paper which carries facts and opinions, most of which can be found online for free. In a report conducted by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard only 16 percent of the young adults surveyed aged 18 to 30 said that they read a newspaper every day and 9 percent of teenagers said that they did. That compared with 35 percent of adults over 30.

Newspapers in the 21st Century

With the democratization of information through the internet the desire for print newspapers in their traditional form has declined. The circulation of paid newspapers has declined by 2% to 4% annually for more than a decade in most developed markets. Newspaper companies began to seek different and innovative ways to appeal to a public who was already being fed a variety of news through the multiple facets of the internet. They introduced daily blogs, twitter feeds, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry and Android applications, free subscription trials and comments sections on websites among other things. In order to catch the publics eye they continue to re-work the traditional newspaper into new forms of media. Also among the changes are the changes in content. Many newspapers traditionally covered news such as political events and problems regarding the world and community, depending on the scale of the newspaper. Now with the push to attempt to catch the interest of younger audiences newspapers have branched out of their traditional coverage and are pushing towards more lifestyle, celebrity, fashion and music sections. The coverage itself has changed and so has the layout. Newspaper's are trying to incorporate more colour into their designs. Colour is believed to catch people's eyes, thereby raising interest in the newspaper. Another layout change is the transition from the traditional broadsheet form to the new tablet form. Broadsheet refers to the common, traditional newspaper layout. It is typically six columns across, between 11 to 12 inches wide and over 20 inches long. Many long standing, successful newspapers such as The Wall St. Journal and The New York Times are broadsheet newspapers. Tablet newspapers are narrower in size, their measurements fall into the 11 x 17 size. They are smaller, more concise and less formal documentations typically using more relaxed diction and covering issues such as celebrity gossip as well as political, social and economic events. The smaller nature of the tablet newspaper allows its readers to read it on their daily commute to work. Its smaller size also typically allows for concise writing, bold headlines and a lively editorial voice, all appealing to the youth market more so than its archaic sister, the broadsheet newspaper.

The New Newspaper

Rupert Murdoch, founder, chairman and CEO of News Corporation, the worlds second largest media conglomerate said, 'Newspapers will change, not die'. We do not have to look further than today's modern newspaper to see the truth to this statement. He also added, "Societies or companies that expect a glorious past to shield them from the forces of change driven by advancing technology will fail and fall. That applies as much to my own, the media industry, as to every other business on the planet. Power is moving away from the old elite in our industry - the editors, the chief executives and, let's face it, the proprietors. A new generation of media consumers has risen demanding content delivered when they want it, how they want it, and very much as they want it. The new newspaper, the ones we are seeing stand afloat today are those which have adapted to the growing needs of the modern consumer. Any large newspaper in broadsheet or tablet form runs its own website and many have adapted new ways for their articles to be viewed, for example the New York Times application for iPad and iPhone. The new newspaper is not so much a paper as it is an authoritative voice, being broadcasted through a multitude of mediums. They still carry their initial purpose, to inform and bring communities together, however, the method which they conduct that task in has changed.

The Big Three

The three newspapers with the highest number of circulating papers since January 2011 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom are Canada's Toronto star with 2,044,024 circulating copies , America's Wall Street Journal with 2,117,796 copies in circulation and the United Kingdom's The Sun with 3,001, 822 circulating copies. These three newspaper heavy weights, while all responsible for the circulation of millions of papers worldwide, are each taking different steps to ensure their stability and importance in an era of uncertainty for the traditional, printed newspaper. We will now examine the steps some of the largest newspapers in the english speaking world are taking to ensure their presence in the face of an aging readership and an accelerated delivery of news caused by the world wide web. Below you will find how these three highly influential newspapers are changing or not changing their content in order to appeal to broader demographic audiences.

The Toronto Star

While the Toronto Star ensures it remains faithful to its Atkinson principles, laid our by the papers founder Joseph E. Atkinson, it has taken several actions to reach readers outside of the traditional, educated, older reader group that populates so much of the readership of many other newspapers. The Star states that it practices an inclusive, "big tent" approach, not wanting to attract one group of readers at the expense of others. Some examples of the Star branching out to otherwise unconventional readers is its annual coverage of Chinese New Year along with its sections on Gay Pride Week.

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has partnered up with Google Inc's "YouTube" to create a new channel on the video-sharing site. The budget for this new YouTube channel is up to five-million dollars, with the launching of the channel The Wall Street Journal hopes to tap into the large market of online video sharing, gaining the ability to access a larger and possibly younger audience which is found to use video-sharing more frequently than older generations. The channel is set to be launched in early 2012. In 2008, with The Wall Street Journal's website re-design, the site launched a new "community" section. While the section is privatized, only allowing access to subscribers, the community page boasts three engaging features community members have access to, they are listed on the website stating: "Connect with other Journal Community members to share, learn and stay in touch.", "Participate in engaging dialogue on topics that matter to you and other members of your group." and "Ask the Journal Community anything from the most vexing concern to the simplest of queries." With this new content feature The Wall Street Journal has opened up its once strictly professional content and given it a more personalized atmosphere; users are encouraged to engage in the content of the newspaper.

The Sun

The Sun has launched its "Biz App", an application intended for iPad and iPhone users which allow users to stay up to date with everything from films and music to politics, football, television shows and fashion. While many newspapers have launched similar applications for their readers The Sun has launched theirs with the incentive that reads "Now try the Biz App for FREE". This incentive allows users to test drive the app for a free 30 day trial period, after which they must decide if they would like to continue paying for the app or discard it from their respective device. This marketing strategy is beneficial in branching out to younger audiences who typically resort to the endless, free databank of information that is the internet. The initially free app allows users to see for themselves how convenient and wonderful it is, with the goal of enticing them to eventually pay for the application. The tabloid also reports on unconventional topics such as Pippa Middleton's bottom and boasts freebees inside the paper such as a "Free Giant T-Rex Poster inside. The Sun's free incentives along with unconventional coverage aids in allotting the paper with 4,293,000 young readers (ages 15-44) double the Telegraph, Guardian, Indy, Financial Times and Times combined.

The Relationship of Changes in Content to Demographics

The Repercussions of Change

As newspapers change their content to adhere to broader audiences, they run the risk of alienating loyal readers who have been subscribers for years. It is about finding the fine balance between maintaining a signature voice, while satisfying the tastes of many different views and age groups. The top three newspapers with the highest circulation in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have each managed to sustain their individual voices, while encouraging millions of various readers to pick up a copy of either The Toronto Star, The Wall Street Journal or The Sun. However, as less-heavily-circulating newspapers attempt to duplicate the changes which the newspaper giants have successfully undergone, they are sometimes met with less luck. For example, The Times (UK) lost four million readers to its "Paywall Experiment". The experiment, like The Wall Street Journal, required online users to pay a fee in order to gain access to much of the site, along with several special features. Page views fell off an even steeper cliff, dropping ninety percent from an estimated fourty-one million in May, 2010 to just four million in September, 2010. The Times' experimental failure illustrates how fragile making any changes to content or the way the content is accessed and viewed can be as the paper lost almost 90% of online readership.

In the Face of Adversity

In an article published by the New Yorker entitled "Out of Print, The death and life of the American Newspaper" by Eric Alterman, Alterman speaks of the reluctancy young people have with reading traditional printed newspapers today. He mentions several reasons for this including the redundancy of classified advertisements due to Craigslist, along with how the daily newspaper looks slow and unresponsive in comparison to the internet. He mentions the average time an American person, regardless of age, spends with a printed newspaper is down to less than fifteen hours a month. Only nineteen per cent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four claim even to look at a daily newspaper. With the decline of print, regardless of the content in it and the rise of the internet, newspaper companies are struggling to stay afloat, as online advertisements account for only a fraction of the revenue the circulation of printed papers once brought in. It is evident that in 2004 newspapers had already become the least preferred source for news among younger people. With the rise of tablets such as the Blackberry Playbook, the iPad, smartphones, iPhones and increasingly lighter and thinner laptops it is apparent that newspapers in their traditional form, for many of the tasks they used to fulfill, are facing extinction. While newspapers may change their content to adhere to a larger audience, it is naive to say this change has been wildly successful. With their changes, many papers such as The Times have seen a decline in readership from all parties. Others, like The Sun, have been greeted by success in appealing to young people from tactics such as free give-aways and coverage of raunchy topics. However, independent, publicly traded American newspapers have lost forty-two per cent of their market value in the past three years, according to the media entrepreneur Alan Mutter. Since 1990, a quarter of all American newspaper jobs have disappeared. After seeing these numbers, it is impossible to say the changes newspapers have undergone have had a large influence on any demographic other than a declining one. With the research I have done for this article I have been confronted with nothing but closed doors and dusty, out-of-date books. It is possible, perhaps, that while newspapers may change their content, restructure their websites and offer incentives for readers to pick up their paper instead of the leading competitor, that the newspaper as it has been for hundreds of years is becoming something of the past; in Alterman's words the printed newspaper is "starting to feel like an artifact ready for display under glass". I have relied so heavily on his article for this last section because perhaps it spells out what the other twenty-seven sources I have cited dance around, that while newspapers have changed their content in several ways, this change has not resurrected them from the cultural landmark that they once were. Their demographics, although sometimes improve to stretch to a younger audience, do not stretch further than the nineteen per cent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four which claim to at least look at a daily newspaper. When we look at these numbers in comparison to the over five-hundred-million active Facebook users (roughly the same as the combined population of the European Union) the imbalance between the newspaper as a form of transmitting news and social media as a form of transmitting it, the amount of people reached along with how quickly those people can be reached is incomparable. Therefore, while the changes newspapers have undergone have had some influence on their respected target audiences, it appears the spotlight no longer shines on the authoritative voice of the newspaper as it was once known, instead the light has shifted to an amalgam of voices, all speaking at once, better know as the internet. Until an authoritative voice large enough to silence the mayhem, much like a kindergarten teacher silencing her screaming four-year-olds, comes along, it appears the changes newspapers undergo to adhere to broader demographic audiences will not have as much resonance as the companies would hope, or as they once had, one day long ago.