Part 1: Ofcom report into news consumption 2019
Read this Ofcom 2019 report on the consumption of news in the UK. Note down the key statistics and changes that Ofcom highlight and answer the following questions:
1) Look at the key findings from the report on pages 2-3. How do UK adults generally get their news?
Most adults in the UK are beginning to get their information from social media, while TV is still the dominant source of information for most adults; the percentage of social media and TV users is changing relatively drastically (4% in a single year).
2) Read the overall summary for adults on pages 7-8. What do you notice about the changing way adults are getting their news?
The way adults are receiving their news is changing, while TV and the BBC are still core parts of news culture for most adults; the influence of social media is growing and becoming far more apparent. Although not massive shifts, the shifts are big enough to suggest major changes in the future for entertainment and news consumption .
3) Look at the summary of platforms used on page 13. What do you notice about newspapers and how has it changed since 2018?
further decrease in usage (2%)
4) Now look at the demographic summary for news platforms on page 15. What audience demographic groups (e.g. age, social class) are most and least likely to read newspapers?
Most likely to read newspapers - Old, male, white, abc1
Least likely to read newspapers - Female, young, ethnic minority, C2DE
5) Read Section 3 on cross-platform news consumption (page 20). What newspaper brands can you find in the list of most popular news sources across platforms?
- Daily mail, mail on Sunday
- The guardian, the observer
- The sun, Sun on Sunday
- Metro
6) Now turn to Section 6 focusing on newspapers (page 33). How has the circulation of national newspapers decreased between 2010 and 2018?
The overall total circulation of newspapers have gone down overtime. In 2010 the circulation was 21.9 million, in 2018 that figure has gone down to 10.4 million.
7) What are the most-used newspaper titles?
the most popular newspapers are the Daily Mail, The Sun and Metro.
8) What are the most popular titles when print and online figures are combined (look at page 38)?
The most popular titles overall are, The Daily Mail, The Guardian and Metro.
9) How does the i compare to the Daily Mail?
Daily Mail has an overall readership of 9,623 while i has a readership of 2,615. Making a difference of 7,008. (000)
10) Now study the demographic details for our two CSP newspapers on page 39. What is the breakdown of the Daily Mail audience and the i audience? What differences do you notice?
Daily Mail:
Majority of the Daily Mails readership are old (65+) of the ABC1 category and white.
i:
Significantly less readership than the Daily Mail
Most old (65+) men who belong to the ABC1 category, but the ethic majority of the readership seems to be fairly split down the middle with there being 5% ethnic minorities and 5% white.
11) Read section 7 of the report: news consumption via social media (pages 40-52). Pick out three statistics from this section that you think are interesting and explain why.
Facebook having a total of 73%, their dominance in the market is expected but still surprising at times.
WhatsApp having a high total percentage than instagram.
Most twitter users are male.
12) Look at the summary of readers' attitudes for newspapers on page 76. What statements for Daily Mail readers tend to agree with?
That its high quality, that it helps them understand the world, that its accurate.
Part 2: Factsheet - The death of print media
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 165: The death of print media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets
Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:
1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?
Print media in the last 30 years have lost significant amounts of popularity, and the shifting of consumer wants is the main culprit for this.
2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?
The Independent is a newspaper that has "died", established in the 80's, the independent remained on outskirts of popularity, retaining a relatively low readership in comparison to their competition. In 2016 although, the Independent went entirely online showing the death of print newspaper.
3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?
It was famous for providing unorthodox front pages and stories.
4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?
“The newspaper industry is changing, and that change is being driven by readers. They’re showing us that the future is
digital. This decision preserves the Independent brand and allows us to continue to invest in the high quality editorial content that is attracting
more and more readers to our online platforms.”
5) How do online newspapers make money?
Online newspapers make money in a few ways, one way would be advertisements, another would be paid posts and a third would be views on YouTube and other platforms.
6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?
Simon Kelner suggests that "For me, the power of the Independent came from
the variety of voices, the originality in its design and the iconoclastic
feel of the paper. It is very difficult to replicate that in digital form. And
it is even more difficult to do that with a paper like the Independent.”
7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?
Social media and the ease of producing your own news has led to the creation and distribution of "fake news", news that is as the name suggests, fake; this combined with the lack of regulation over social media and the internet as whole means that people can be manipulated, something that could be incredibly dangerous.
8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?
I feel its nothing more than the gradual change of consumer needs, if business cant keep up with it its their fault.
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