The Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project has released its 11th
State of the News Media report. A comprehensive “document,” it covers TV, newspapers, magazines, radio and digital.
I won’t try to summarize the full sweep of this “best of times, worst of times” report. However, below I’ve excerpted a few key findings and charts that provide a snapshot into where things stand in US journalism and news consumption.
Across platforms and industries news generates just over $63 billion in annual (mostly ad) revenues. The charts above show the revenue breakdown by medium and revenue source.
The newspaper audience continues to be dominated by print-only readers. Print is also where most of the revenue is still concentrated for newspapers.
News magazine newsstand sales have plummeted for many publications but especially Time Magazine, once a powerful influence on political opinion and popular culture — now largely irrelevant to public discussion of issues.
Cable TV news audiences have declined from their 2009 highs as well. Fox continues to dominate viewership. By contrast cable news revenues are way up despite the decline in audiences.
Prominent journalists in the past year have left their traditional publications or properties for the internet. They include TV’s Katie Couric, the New York Times’ David Pogue (both now at Yahoo) and the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, now at Vox Media. Their embrace of digital platforms reflects the declining influence and prestige of traditional news sources.
Pew cites the growth of “native” digital news as an invigorating trend for the entire industry. Major sites have an average of 102 full-time staffers.
Facebook is the top social media source or referrer for news. However “news” is only an incidental part of the Facebook experience, as indicated by lower levels of engagement with news stories from Facebook referrals.
There’s a great deal more in the report. To explore any of these topics and discussions in more depth, you can access the full report here.
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