Survey: Old Media, Glossy Fluff Both Lose Ground

You know that newspapers, newsweeklies and network newscasts are losing their audiences at an alarming rate. But did you know fluffy entertainment shows and glossy tabloids are slipping, too?

That's one of the surprises contained in the newly-released biennial study on news consumption from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Pew's pollsters asked some 3,600 Americans about their media consumption habits, including whether they "regularly," "sometimes," "hardly ever" or "never" watch, read or listen to a slew of networks, shows and publications.

If you follow the trends in magazine publishing -- or, hell, if you've visited a newsstand in the past five years -- you probably think readership of celebrity weeklies such as People, Us Weekly and In Touch is way up. In fact, 53 percent of respondents said they never read such publications, up from 45 percent a decade ago. Meanwhile, the proportion of regular readers merely held steady at 8 percent.

Likewise, in 1998, 41 percent of respondents said they never watch Access Hollywood and its ilk. By this year, that number had climbed to 50 percent, against only a 1 percent increase (to 9 percent) in those who say they're regular viewers.

Elsewhere in the survey's findings, it was a more familiar story, with Americans deserting once-trusted news institutions in favor of cable news and the internet. The percentage of respondents who never watch nightly network newscasts rose 13 points, to 31 percent, over the past decade, while regular viewers fell to 29 percent of the sample, a 9 point drop. Network newsmagazines -- 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Dateline -- showed similar erosion; 29 percent never watch, versus 10 percent in 1998.

Only 12 percent of respondents read newsweeklies regularly, down from 15 percent a decade ago, while 39 percent never read them, up 7 percent. And for newspapers, the numbers are predictably ugly: Regular readers made up 46 percent of the sample, down from 54 percent just four years ago, while those who said they never read dailies went from 13 percent to 19 percent.

Add Your Comment

Report Abuse

Archive

Categories

Links