In addition, when it comes to problem-solving news/information, a subject which has the same level of stated importance as community/neighborhood coverage, newspapers' ratings drop to 55% excellent/very good. And, even when it comes to community/neighborhood news, a separate battery of questions indicate that dailies barely beat out weekly newspapers, with 39% saying they rely most on daily newspapers for local news versus 34% for weeklies. For crime news, which is mostly local, TV beats daily newspapers as the preferred news source: 57% select the former as their most relied on source vs. 27% for daily papers.

• Utility

The findings for perceived utility also present a basically positive story, but with an important qualifying clause.
When it comes to the utility of advertising content, papers swamp the competition and come very close to meeting consumer expectations.

However, when it comes to the more general rating of helpfulness - providing "service journalism" that helps you get through the day - newspapers fall short of expectations and have only a slight edge over the competition. Here are the figures:

• Used By Those You Respect Here, too, we find a strength that can be leveraged further. Newspapers generally meet expectations and win against other media, but not by much.

Secondary Strengths

The next tier of strengths includes two areas in which papers do well and better than the competition, but they are secondary strengths because the public attaches less importance to them.

Newspapers' win for specific advertising content and entertainment is resounding. These categories fall into the secondary strengths area only because they are of somewhat lower interest overall.

• Specific Ad Categories Newspapers both swamp all competitors for the topics tested and exceed expectations.

The pattern that emerges here is borne out by a more detailed battery of questions in which people were asked to identify the one source of advertising that they most rely on for different product/shopping categories. Newspapers are the across-the-board winners for every category tested.

Weak Performance of Direct Mail

The generally limited reliance on direct mail is also reflected in reported usage of direct mail when in the market to purchase a particular item or when simply browsing. In both cases, newspaper inserts are much more likely to be used than mailed circulars.

• Entertainment

Part of the utility of newspapers is the role they play in helping to shape how Americans spend their leisure time. Included here is what they watch on TV.

Sports is of lesser importance than the other topics discussed but, for sports fans - mostly men - interest tends to be intense.

Newspapers' overall rating is higher than other media but, when we look at specific areas of coverage, the picture is more of a mixed bag, with TV presenting a real challenge for non-local sports and weeklies for local high school sports. Newspapers score for local high school sports is better than TV's, radio's, and magazines'. This comes across in both the comparative rating, shown below, and in the selection for most relied on source. However, even here, local weeklies pose a real challenge. Daily newspapers are most relied on by 43% compared to 32% for weeklies.

However, newspapers fall behind TV for professional sports in the comparative rating and when we look at most relied on source (62% for TV vs. 26% for daily/Sunday papers). For college sports, TV and newspapers tie in the comparative ratings and papers fall behind TV for most relied on source (52% vs. 34%). For sports scores, the two media are about tied.