Newspapers: The decline in print media

 Part 1: Ofcom report into news consumption 2022

Read this Ofcom 2022 report on the consumption of news in the UK and answer the following questions (bullet points/short answers are fine):

1) Look at the headlines from the report on page 6. Pick three that you think are interesting and bullet point them here. Why did you pick those three in particular?  
Social media is overtaking traditional channels for news among teens.

Attitudes towards news generally remain consistent with 2020

Different age groups consume news very differently;

They all have a common theme of news and how they are viewed and consumed by different people .

2) Look at the overall summary for adults on pages 7-8. What are the key points on newspapers? 
They talk about news and TV and how it is consumed by primarily adults.

3) Look at the statistics on page 13. What do you notice about newspapers and how has it changed in recent years?
Newspapers have had the biggest decrease in 2022 compared to the other years and other ways of consuming news media.

4) Now look at the age demographics for news consumption on page 16. What age demographic groups are most and least likely to read newspapers and what are the percentages? 
Audiences that are 75+ in age, there is a 51% in print usage by this age group.

5) Look at the newspaper-specific data on page 36. Which are the most popular newspaper titles? 
Daily mail is the most popular out of all of them as of 2022.

6) Now look at the total newspaper reach of print and online on page 39. How has this decreased over the last three years?
We can see how the use of print has decreased from 38% to 24%

Part 2: Factsheet - The death of print media

Go to our Media Factsheet archive and open Factsheet 165: The death of print media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login.

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks (bullet points/short answers are fine):

1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?
It was one of the main ways of getting news, however the digital age had taken over and now people are getting their news from their devices instead of print.

2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?
It shows how print media is dying as this one had died in 2016, it shows that print is no longer profitable as it once was as there are less people buying it, as a result printing costs have been cut down.

3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?
The Independent newspaper became known for its unorthodox campaigning front pages.

4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?
They say that "They're showing us that the future is digital"

5) How do online newspapers make money?
Through advertising that can be seen all over the website when you visit them.

6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?
He said that it is very difficult to replicate it in the form of digital. However there were already other online news companies that were already there and how they already have a big presence online.

7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?
It refers to the satire form of news and how they acknowledge this and make fun of certain things that are seen on actual news.

8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?

I think news should be free as people need to know what is going on in the world, if it is put behind a paywall then it is essentially blocking people from knowing what is going on in the world or in their area.