Lynne Brennen, reporting for INMA, wrote:
As newspaper professionals, we're constantly looking for a bellwether. We're looking for a map to the future. And, even more sought-after is a contradiction to the common belief that digital media will be the end of newspaper publishers.
I read a recent report from The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press which finds that consumer demand for news and information is healthy and strong. My interpretation of the research is that our future's bright if we follow consumer demand.
The positive message is "the average time Americans spend with the news on a given day is as high as it was in the mid-1990s, when audiences for traditional news sources were much larger." In fact, "the net impact of digital platforms supplementing traditional sources is that Americans are spending more time with the news than was the case a decade ago."
The recent explosion in tablet devices - most recently iPad, but soon Samsung and others - gives me reason to hope that all of the downloading and purchasing of news apps was an indication of involvement and enduring demand rather than a blip. The research corroborates my optimism and suggests that we are experiencing a shift in platform preference rather than a colossal decline in news demand.
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