The National Newspaper Association recently completed its second readership survey in the past three years. What it found was that 83 percent of adults read community newspapers. Of those, 32 percent read daily. Forty-five percent read their hometown newspapers, 20 percent watch TV for local news and less than four percent turn to the Internet for local information.
Understand, too, that Internet readership is up. We are seeing that at The Press Online. According to the NNA survey, 76 percent of people with Internet service visited their local newspaper's Web site within the past week. However, only seven percent reported daily viewing of the newspaper online.
The strong readership numbers are in stark contrast to various sources that say newspapers are on their way out. Large dailies certainly may be in trouble within the near future, but the small, community-based newspapers are going to be here for a long time.
Eventually, we all will be holding a piece of paper embedded with nanotechnology-supplied microprocessors that will make the page light up like the screen of your computer. Don't laugh, such ink-based processors have already been developed. While they're not ready for the consumer yet, one day you can expect your newspaper to blink and bark just like some of the Web sites you visit.
For now though, be comforted in knowing that your community newspaper has a generation or two left in it.
