According to the Edison-Arbitron study, 20% of the population rates the Internet as the “most essential” medium in their lives, and only 11% say that about newspapers. Among people with a college education, the percentage soars to 30%, but for newspapers it rises only slightly to 13%.
The numbers are probably even more dismal for newspapers if you look at younger people.
We’ve been chasing penetration at the expense of quality for decades, and it shows in the editorial product and readers’ response to it.
The Internet will almost certainly take both advertising and content from newspapers: classifieds, stock price listings, syndicated news, features, and columnists. As newspapers begin the inevitable process of shrinking themselves, they will have to choose whether to become focused products for the most educated consumers in their communities; or dumb the product down to keep it in circulation and satisfy the de mands of their current advertisers and keep their presses humming.