The Journal Sentinel reported in November:
Study says most adults read newspapers
About three-quarters of U.S. adults, or nearly 171 million people, read a newspaper - print or online - in a given week, according to a new study by Scarborough Research.
In a given week that's probably true, but if I were publishing a daily newspaper I don't think I'd be happy about once-a-week perusers.
Here's a different take, from recent study:
Some 46% of Americans say they get news from four to six media platforms on a typical day. Just 7% get their news from a single media platform on a typical day.
Here's what they say they do on that "typical day":
-- 78% of Americans say they get news from a local TV station
-- 73% say they get news from a national network such as CBS or cable TV station such as CNN or FoxNews
-- 61% say they get some kind of news online
-- 54% say they listen to a radio news program at home or in the car
-- 50% say they read news in a local newspaper
-- 17% say they read news in a national newspaper such as the New York Times or USA Today
When you consider that the three-quarters of the adults in the Journal Sentinel who say they read a newspaper once a week includes those who read it online, it's even worse news. You can't blame the paper for trying to put its best face forward -- it is trying to sell advertising, after all -- but it's more than a little disingenuous to say that "Most adults read newspapers," as though they were regular readers, let alone subscribers.