Research

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The Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) is conducting a multi-year study to gain a better understanding of how owners of Apple iPads and similar media tablets use these mobile devices in their daily lives and how their use of media tablets may influence the future of journalism and the news media.

Total newsroom employment at daily newspapers declined by 2.4 percent in 2011, while the loss in minority newsroom positions was 5.7 percent, according to a census released today by the American Society of News Editors and the RJI Insight and Survey Center at the Missouri School of Journalism.

Despite an unfriendly economy and changes in reader and advertiser behavior, most weekly publishers are bullish on the future of community newspapers. In a recent survey, 72 percent expressed optimism about the future of newspapers. And while they see some promise in digital revenue, they believe print will play an enduring role: Two-thirds don’t envision a time when they’ll no longer produce a print edition.

Readers in areas served by community newspapers continue to prefer the community newspaper as their primary source of local news and advertising, according to the 2011 National Newspaper Association research survey. The survey, conducted by the RJI Insight and Survey Center, shows that readers prefer the printed copy to the online version, with 48 percent saying the never read the local news online.

A mandate to preserve – a white paper (PDF) – was produced for the Newspaper Archive Summit Network by Victoria McCargar, veteran journalist, archivist and digital curation consultant.

Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news, require readers and viewers to intentionally seek out news by picking up a newspaper or turning on the television. The Internet and new technologies now are changing the way readers consume online news. New research shows that Internet users often do not make the conscious decision to read news online, but they come across news when they are searching for other information or doing non-news related activities online, such as shopping or visiting social networking sites.

In the US, cellphones already outnumber laptops and Americans without a cellphone have become the exception. News organizations are struggling to keep pace with the public’s changing media habits—and there is great pressure to deliver news via cellphones. But what news do people most want delivered to their cellphones? And in what format? And what cellphone-delivered products are consumers willing to pay for?