| Public’s use of media - Study: Papers should focus on local news, solutions
Author: Charles M. Dunagin
Published: July 01, 1997
Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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Public’s use of media
Study: Papers should focus on local news, solutions
Joint NAA/ASNE media usage study finds that people
look to newspapers for local news and shopping information and wish solutions,
not just problems, would be reported
By Charles M. Dunagin
Newspapers should do a better job of what they do best: being the primary
source of vital information about their communities.
This was the overriding theme of a session on newspapers’ competitive
strategy.
The discussion centered around preliminary results of a joint NAA/ASNE
study of media usage called "Leveraging Newspaper Assets." The complete
survey will be available this summer, according to Sharon Warden, research
development manager of The Washington Post.
However, preliminary results, released at the convention, show newspapers’
primary strengths are in providing news and advertising information on
local news, prices of products and services, where to find products and
services, how to save money, comparison shopping, news and information
that helps the community deal with problems, and how to save time.
John Bartolomeo of Clark, Martire and Bartolomeo, the firm that conducted
the national survey, said that while newspapers remain a strong and vibrant
medium, especially on Sundays, Americans are more likely to say they would
miss radio, television or the Sunday newspaper than the daily newspaper,
if they were no longer available.
The survey showed television is more widely used for a variety of news
and information, including weather, professional sports, world and national
news, crime news and college sports.
Jennie Rae Buckner, editor of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and chair
of the ASNE Readership Committee, listed what she considers as seven implications
of the study:
-
Newspapers should cover their communities better and more intensely.
"Local news is the name of the game," she said, "and we’re not as far ahead
as we ought to be."
-
Newspapers should be more relentlessly useful to readers with hard news
connected back to them.
-
Solutions, as well as problems, should be reported.
-
More depth and understanding is needed. "Many stories can and should be
told shorter, but many need to be more in-depth," Buckner said.
More investment may be needed in training staffs in the subjects they are
covering, she noted. "If we can’t beat TV in understanding, then woe is
us."
-
Newspapers should create a more emotional response. "I think we start by
not boring readers."
-
Newspapers should understand their advantages and then sell them.
-
Credibility is still a big problem. "We’re falling short of expectations,"
Buckner said, adding that accuracy is more than getting the facts right.
"It’s about getting the right facts."
Dunagin is editor and publisher of the Enterprise-Journal, McComb, Miss.
ASNE members will receive the report issued by ASNE and NAA this
summer.
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