“The history of the newspaper reflects human culture, political and socio-economic turbidity, and a struggle for power and influence that spans centuries. Newspapers represent far more than the latest events - To know the history of newspapers is to know the history of modern man” - Unknown
Newspapers have been an integral part of people’s lives for nearly 400 years. Their growth is a testament to their value and resilience - From the initial handwritten notes to the advent of the printing press, they are now transforming themselves into true multi-platform news media businesses despite booming competition.
And that’s why we have chosen them as the information player of the week. So let's commence our weekly dive into the infosphere. 🚀🚀
🔎 An Overview Of The Industry
The Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the newspaper market, accounting for over 30% of the market in 2018. Key Factors - India and China are significant contributors because of their developing economy, middle-class population, and education.
PWC’s Media Outlook report 2020-2024 forecasts that global newspaper advertising (print and online) will fall from $49.2bn in 2019 to $36bn in 2024, a decline of more than a quarter (27%) over five years.
From 2008 to 2019, overall newsroom employment in the U.S. dropped by 23%, according to this new analysis. For three years in a row, a CareerCast survey identified “newspaper reporter” as the worst career a young person could pursue in the U.S.
📈 Origin and Evolution
For long, the news was circulated via word-of-mouth, but sharing information became a necessity as languages evolved into writing, and as governments started to play larger roles in people’s lives.
The Industrial Revolution spawned giant presses capable of printing 10,000 papers per hour and made it possible to feature detailed illustrations, published as illustrated weeklies - contributing to massive growth in the newspaper industry.
From the last 20-25 years, newspapers are now rapidly fading away because of the advent of digital media, which offers non-linear, highly personalized news at your fingertips in extremely engaging formats that were never seen before (360 video, AR and VR).
The 400-year-old industry is undoubtedly facing its most challenging time in history. Publishers are embracing creativity, experimentation, and new initiatives in the market by-
Focusing more on analytical or contextual stories in the print edition rather than breaking news, which the Internet is much better suited to deliver.
Adopting “reverse publishing.” or a “web-centric” approach - having reporters and editors think first about reporting and producing text and multimedia stories for the web, then writing a text story for the print edition.
Setting up “continuous news desks” with dedicated staff that produce round-the-clock breaking news for the web. The New York Times and Washington Post, for example, have continuous news desks.
The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Financial Times are experimenting with the ‘stories‘ format on Instagram, which is predicted to surpass feeds as the main way people share news with friends this year.
Engaging people by giving them the option to comment on and discuss news stories on the website and postings to staff weblogs. One survey by AdAge found that 63% of readers said they were not more likely to visit a news site because it allowed posting of comments.
📉 Impact of COVID -19
The corona virus crisis has been arguably one of the most testing times in publishing history. With many publishers already on shaky financial footing ahead of the outbreak and hamstrung by the loss of advertising revenue and low sales, newsrooms across the world have announced staff layoffs, suspended or canceled their print operations and downsized significantly.
In India, one of the very few countries where print media is not only dominant but also growing, WhatsApp forwards talking about the risk of infection from newspaper surface added to people’s worry about letting newspaper vendors in. India’s top newspapers are trying to adapt in real time, dropping online paywalls and offering free PDF versions of the print publication to try to keep their audiences intact.
📰 Newspapers as a Research Tool
Newspapers also act as a powerful research tool. Academic researchers use newspapers in their scholarly publications.They serve as a primary source of information about historical and current events by enabling researchers to see how people viewed an event when it happened, examine issues in the context of their time & trace the historical development of subjects over time.
Because newspapers also contain commentaries or retrospective articles about events, they can also serve as a secondary source.
You can also use Google news archive for free access to scanned archives of newspapers and links to other newspaper archives on the web, both free and paid. Some of the news archives date back to the 18th century.
🗞️ Fake News
In the 1890s, rival newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst competed over the audience through sensationalism and reporting rumors as though they were facts, a practice that became known at the time as “yellow journalism.” Their incredulous news played a role in leading the US into the Spanish-American War of 1898.
Now in the digital age, as misinformation is spreading faster than ever before, with the intention to deliberately cause harm to a person, social group, organization or country, it is imperative that we learn to spot fake news.
The money needed to pay professional journalists who share a commitment to reducing ‘fake news’ comes from advertisements and is drying up fast. It seems unlikely to be replaced within the next decade.
🧠 Alternatives
Newsletters - A Reuters report suggests that 25% of Americans choose email as their preferred starting point for news, with the French and Danes close behind, at 21% and 24% respectively.Eg - theSkimm and Morning Brew
Føljeton, a Danish news site, realized its readers were more interested in their newsletters so they even pivoted to become a newsletter company.
Aggregators like Feedly and Google news pull together news stories produced by a wide variety of other news organizations. They do a better job of packaging and presenting the stories than the original sites and take advantage of social media to extend their reach to people and disseminate their content.
People are increasingly learning about news stories via social networks, but the percentage is still small.
🔥Top 10 Newspapers in the World in 2020
List of the top newspapers in the world in 2020 ranked by circulation, popularity, online distribution, and physical distribution.
Paul Gillin - Author, an expert in Technology Journalism, and runs the blog Newspaper Death Watch, which chronicles the decline of newspapers and the rebirth of journalism.
Michael Barthel - Senior researcher at Pew Research Center, where he focuses on U.S. public opinion of the news media, journalism, and social media.
Poynter - They specialize in ethics, fact-checking and news literacy; reporting and storytelling; developing journalism's leaders; advancing newsroom diversity; and strengthening local news companies.
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