Pulitzer Prestige Doesn't Increase Readership

By: Lauren Wiener When it comes to newspaper readership, how much does quality affect quantity? During the 1990s, daily newspaper readership in metro markets declined across the board, even for Pulitzer Prize-winning papers, according to a recent study by The Media Audit, a Houston-based audience measurement service.

The percentage of adults who said they read a daily newspaper on an average weekday fell from 60.7% in 1997 to 54.7% in 2001 in the 85 metropolitan markets surveyed by The Media Audit each year. Of the 18 cities with daily newspapers that won at least four Pulitzers during the 1990s, Media Audit noted only two -- Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa -- had increases in average adult daily readership between 1997 and 2001.

"There are a lot of factors that impact daily newspaper readership, and obviously quality journalism is just one of those factors," said Robert Jordan, co-chairman of International Demographics Inc., publisher of The Media Audit.

Jordan doubts the average newspaper reader is even aware of the Pulitzer or its impact. "I don't look at that as, 'This paper got a Pulitzer; I should start reading this paper.' We read to get the information we need on an ongoing basis."

A higher quality paper has a better ability to compete, Jordan said, but overall even papers like The New York Times and The Washington Post are still struggling for readers because of the splintering of media outlets and fewer disposable hours. In New York, a city that is home to multiple Pulitzer-winning papers (the Times and The Wall Street Journal, plus nearby Newsday), the percentage of adult daily newspaper readers decreased from 64.8% in 1997 to 58.7% in 2001.

However in New Orleans, the study found a significant Pulitzer effect on readership of its daily Times-Picayune in 1997, when the paper won the prize for public service reporting about conditions that threaten the world's fish supply. That year, readership jumped 6%, to 71.3%, only to drop 2% in 1998.

But how well do readership levels reflect a paper's success? Jordan said when looking at readership information, it is important to keep in mind that it is a historical measure. "It doesn't say what to do to improve readership into the future," he said, noting that when papers use consultants to get information about servicing their readers, it seldom works. "It has not been effective in retarding the readership decline."