Younger readers dropping newspapers (Norway)

Aftenposten ^ | April 11, 2005 | not specified

[franksolich]

Younger readers dropping newspapers

The 17 largest newspapers in Norway lost nearly 90,000 readers between the ages 20-39 last year. The younger generation appears to be losing the national passion for newsprint.

The top papers lost 88,000 readers in this commercially attractive age group in the course of 2004, a development likely to have an impact on advertising revenues, financial daily Dagens Næringsliv reports.

The main decline was in the 20-29 age group, where 52,000 stopped reading newspapers.

Regional papers Stavanger Aftenblad and Trondheim's Adresseavisen are the big losers in this age segment, while Bergens Tidende is the newspaper with the greatest share of young readers.

[franksolich]

Norway, one of the smallest countries in Europe, has 4.8 million people; one wonders if the proportional decline in the United States, with 290 million people, is similar.

In one way, one regrets the decline of newspapers; there is hardly anything more comfortable, more relaxing, than a Sunday morning in bed with a cup of coffee at hand, and the damp weight of the Sunday newspapers on top of the blankets.

But on the other hand, perhaps it is not so much the "new media"--such as the internet--that is replacing the newspapers, but more so that whatever the newspapers report, is not relevant to many, or so biased that one shrugs his shoulders, thinking, "okay, I'll read something else instead....."

[franksolich]

Ping for the Norway ping list.



Despite its nonappearance last week, the Norway ping list is still here; it is just that it is getting close to April 15--a date familiar with many Americans--and it seems most people, as usual, waited for the "last minute" to get their income-taxes done.....even if getting a large refund.

One sighs, oh well, but it does make one extraordinarily busy.

[keats5]

I dropped my newspapers, too. By the time I got it, it was literally yesterday's news. The only other thing the papers offered was liberal propaganda.

[franksolich]

That is probably the real problem.

Not that the newspapers are full of "yesterday's news," but more so that the newspapers, which used to inform, are now vehicles for persuasion (rather than the dissemination of facts and information).

One suspects that if the newspaper industry had stuck with its fundamental mission--that of informing, and letting the readers form their own opinions from the facts--the newspaper industry would still be booming.

But if reading the New York Times becomes the same as reading the Daily Worker, well.....one can hardly blame people for seeking facts and information from other sources.

[Podkayne]

The Kansas City Star takes its marching orders from the New York Times. But it spends more to report the local news and has earned pulitzers for local stories. They must see the writing on the wall. OTOH most of the editorial writers and columnists need a few years in a decompression chamber to relieve the pressure of MSM liberal bias.

[LauraleeBraswell]

If their papers are anything like the New York Times, I'd say Good Riddance.

[franksolich]

Well, that is exactly the problem.

People gravitate towards what they believe are credible sources of information--and they used to believe in the newspapers.

But the newspapers dug their own grave, caused their own imminent demise, by becoming "advocates" rather than "informers."

If the newspaper industry had just stuck with the basic essential service of delivering the straightforward facts, despite the advent and popularity of the internet, the newspapers would be thriving and flourishing today, because the public would consider them credible.

[Malesherbes]

<p< They are pulp dinosaurs in an electronic age. And under the "irony bites" category, left-wing government schools turn out illiterates who are unable to read the left-wing MSM.

[wizr]

The last time I read a Sunday paper, it seemed that 75% of it was advertising. I do miss some of it, but don't miss recycling all that paper, for so little real information or entertainment.

Thanx.

[Somewhat Centrist]

I don't think that's it, we still have a varied selection of newspapers, and if anything they were more biased before. (they used to be affiliates of political parties)

I wonder how many newspapers are sold these days, a couple of years back we were the most newspaper reading people on the planet. (measured in papers per capita)

Well, I'm doing my part subscribing to Aftenposten, Sunnmørsposten and Dagens Næringsliv, and I'm in my twenties. Some people still read newspapers, lets just hope there are enough of them to make the business profitable.

[ozzymandus]

Newspapers everywhere are losing readers, and I imagine a Norwegian paper is especially boring. I've seen Danish newspapers, and they're mostly TV schedules and sex ads.

[cherry]

so right.....our paper starting on the front page had a long story about a couple of poor people with kids living in the shelter,etc, and how "awful" it was .....

typical story....kids before marriage, kid afterwards, and the guy had long, messy hair but what really got to me was they "had "to sell their digital camera to get by....LOL......

we still use our Cannon from 29 yrs ago........

[MaxMax]

Sometimes I buy a newspaper out of pity.

Actually,
I used to read the paper every day to keep up on business when I was
a bartender way back when.

If only I could just get the business section for 0.10¢ without all the other BS Stuff.