Daily newspapers across the country are losing circulation at an alarming rate as readers increasingly turn to online sources for their news. The decline of daily newspapers is attributed to the internet with its endless sources of information, some of it accurate and much of it less able to stand up to the same stringent scrutiny as newspapers at their best.
Online advertising has cut into the ad revenues that are the foundation of daily periodicals but the ad revenue cannot be replaced with online advertising. Many consumers are reluctant to pay for online newspaper content.
According to The Audit Bureau of Circulation, newspaper circulation among the top 400 daily papers declined 10.6 percent. Small market newspapers have not lost as much circulation because they emphasize local news more than metropolitan dailies, which is not found as much on the internet. Many daily papers have reacted to the loss of circulation with cutbacks in size and layoffs of news staff members. Offering less news for higher prices is a disastrous policy that drives away even more readers.
Daily papers play a crucial role in keeping municipal governments honest when they are doing their duty. Municipal corruption and malfeasance are rarely uncovered by the electronic media. Newspapers have background resources that television, radio and even the internet may not have. Newspapers, even in their shrunken form have more people available to work on stories than electronic media outlets. Daily newspapers have even in these times of declining circulation more impact when they break news stories compared to internet sources. Newspapers have a presence on the street that is highly effective and headlines can draw even non-readers to purchase a copy.
Smaller newspapers such as weeklies and niche market publications are vulnerable to the downturn in print advertising, but their overhead is much lower than large metropolitan dailies— the flagships of print journalism. The decline of newspapers means that citizens have fewer restraints on government misconduct and corruption. Democracy demands a free and effective press.
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