Media and Newspaper Industry Bits of History and Interesting Stuff

starting to worry editors everywhere: why were readers pulling away from their newspapers? Clark, working with Yankelovich, Skelly and White, ran focus groups with more than 120 regular readers, occasional readers, and non-readers across 12 U.S. and Canadian markets —

The Society for Newspaper Design’s magazine, Design, was published in March, 1980.  The first issue included a story about my job as Chicago Tribune’s graphics editor.

For as long as I was in the newspaper industry, I’ve heard the refrain “we need to attract new and retain our current readers.” Mostly, in the “olden days” that meant a new promotion or some kind of circulation push

In the past, journalism conventions serving management and editors, such as the Associated Press Managing Editors conference, were major events.  Hundreds of participants, dozens of panels and speeches.  So important that the APME published what the called the “Red Book.” 

It is striking how far circulation numbers have fallen.  I found a page from Editor & Publisher from 1988 that reported on the top 25 newspapers in the U.S. in terms of circulation. The decline is striking. Here’s the start

The Interactive Services Association, a trade organization for companies that marketed online services [think AOL or CompuServe] to consumers, issued several reports about consumer behavior online.  The 1993 report was done just before the wide-spread use of the World Wide

Stress in the Newsroom: A Snapshot from 1995 In July 1995, the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) conducted a survey to assess the levels of stress experienced by editors in American newsrooms. This was a follow-up to their 1983 study.

Where to start? That was the question many newspaper publishers were asking in 1995. At least when it came to creating a digital / electronic version of the print newspaper.   The Newspaper Association of America’s [NAA] New Media Department

In the spring of 1994 the Interactive Services Association conducted its third annual survey of online users. The report was released in spring 1995. The survey goal was to better understand how online [and early Internet / Web] users went

The PAFET group [see item about its founding] commissioned the technology consulting group, the Yankee Group, to look at competitors in local markets. In other words, look at who could compete against newspapers for viewers and advertisers. Here’s a touch

A 2001 report by the research company The Yankee Group has some very interesting observations about the future of the print media in the online world.  From the summary: Our Interactive Consumer (IAC) Survey 2000 reveals that online consumers are

In a 2003 commentary published in the Newspaper Association of Amereica‘s Presstime magazine, demographics expert Peter Francese offers a sobering but forward-thinking look at the structural challenges facing newspapers. Delivered at the NAA Future of Newspapers Conference, the piece outlines

As the new millennium approached, the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) published a broad industry forecast in Presstime magazine, capturing the hopes, hesitations, and strategic questions facing U.S. newspapers in the year 2000. The article synthesizes insights from executives, editors,

In 1994, the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) and The Freedom Forum released a wide-ranging, thoughtful report titled “The 21st Century Journalist.” This was not a position paper or a brief memo—it was a substantial, internally distributed document designed to

In cleaning our storage unit, I came across a series of books titled “Building America” that belong to Kate Finberg’s family in Michigan. They were published in the late 1930s and early 1940s by the National Education Association (NEA), through

In 1994, the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) in partnership with the Freedom Forum  provided a report on journalism’s evolution into the 21st century. The document contains insights regarding the anticipated transformations within the industry, particularly in response to

Michael Bloomberg, president and founder of Bloomberg Financial Markets gave a keynote speech at the International Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 1997.  His speech was about the future of electronic devices and he spent a lot of

In 1999, the Society for News Design published a handbook for editors about dealing with pagination and technology. I was asked to write a chapter about “the future” and embracing the changes new technology would bring. Some of the things

In 1999 the Society for News Design and the American Society of Newspaper Editors published a book about how managers could more successfully integrate new technologies into their newsrooms.  This project include a number of chapters from the leading technologists

How consumers use media has always been an interesting topic. However, it never really got the attention of those at the top of newspaper organizations.  One of the better studies was this one: The Center for Media Design at Ball