Certainly something for newspaper publishers and editors to worry about: Newspapers are a distant third in informing people, according to a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted last week, with just 11 percent saying they are the best source for news and information, notes Grumpy Editor.
The Rasmussen poll finds 44 percent of adults say the Internet is the best way to get news and information. Television comes in second with 36 percent. Nine percent rely on radio.
This should indicate it is time for large and small newspapers to conduct vital all-day newspaper editorial board meetings to kick around ideas in efforts to improve the products, suggests Grumpy Editor who recommends these items to consider:
Fewer boring long stories, better selection of news items (with preference given to topics of interest to readers in newspapers’ circulation areas) rather than using random stories merely to plug editorial holes, an attractive and newsy front page with more than four or five stories, expanded local coverage, dramatic layouts on inside pages, dynamic --- and cropped --- in-focus photos and clever headlines. And tap ideas from a cross-section of readers, too.
With the Internet age, the Rasmussen poll uncovers “two-out-of-three Americans (67 percent) feel they are more informed today than they were 10 years ago.”
The poll also finds 22 percent believe their level of knowledge is about the same, while just eight percent consider themselves less informed these days.
The results also show women are more confident than men that they are better informed now, the majority of Americans under 50 regard online sources as the best for news and information, and older Americans trust television more.
Sixty one percent of those surveyed are confident that if newspapers go out of business, online and other news sources will be able to make up the difference and report things people want to know about, according to the poll.
The Rasmussen Reports survey is based on 1,000 adults contacted Sept. 15 and 16.
Read the full report here.
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