This article talks about something that we all know is happening if not already happened!!! The print medium is no longer... everything is now digital based. The print industry is in deep trouble so the vast majority of the newspaper conglomerates have gone digital while some remain to print newspapers... however from the newspaper conglomerates the newspapers that are still printed are not a paid newspaper they are given away for FREE! The most notable ones being The Evening Standard and The Metro. For printed papers the readership and sales figures have gone into a decline and are never going to rise unless those papers put everything online. However, there are also smaller regional newspapers for whom it is not as easy to just get up and put everything online as it can be very costly to set up and maintain thereafter. Despite, the changes to go digital some newspapers particularly regional ones have continued to print as believe it or not some people do not trust what they read online and would prefer to have it in a newspaper coming from someone who knows what they are talking about.
Statistical Information
- Sales are in freefall - down by an average of 13.5% on year in the first half of 2014
- The South Wales Argus, A regional newspaper had sales fall by 33.2%
- Doncaster Star, Another regional paper sold barely 1,000 copies per day
- Though, Scotland's Sunday Herald added 1% to circulation and has 10,000 online subscribers, thanks to a policy of charging for its website.
- London Evening Standard, freely distributed grew by a hefty 27.2% to 890,457 copies per day
- Trinity Mirror regional, though not officially audited claims a 17.3 million monthly audience
My Opinion
After reading this story, I think that the print industry does not have very long left in circulation however hard they try. The digital market is developing to fast for them to keep up and this is resulting in sales declining and therefore readership also declining. Even those who offer newspapers on the London Underground etc for free are soon going to find that they are not recognised because in some way, shape or form all types of news to suit everyone's tastes will be accessible online if not already. However, the only thing that I would like to see is that online newspaper websites are more friendly and welcoming to those who do not use the internet on a regular basis possibly those of the older generation. This is because at the moment I think that online sites are designed based solely on appearance and can be very confusing to someone who would not regularly visit the site.
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