Newspapers in the United States

Newspapers in the United States

Newspapers have declined in their influence and penetration into American households over the years.[citation needed] The closest thing to a national paper the U.S. has is USA Today,[citation needed] which along with the influential dailies the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal are sold in most U.S. cities. Although the New York Times' primary audience has always been the people of New York City,[citation needed] the Times has gradually become the dominant national "newspaper of record."[citation needed] Apart from its daily nationwide distribution, the term means that back issues are archived on microfilm by every decent-sized public library in the nation, and the Times' articles are often cited by both historians and judges as evidence that a major historical event occurred on a certain date.[citation needed] The Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal are also newspapers of record to a lesser extent.[citation needed] Although USA Today has tried to establish itself as a national paper, it has been widely derided by the academic world[citation needed] as the "McPaper" and is not subscribed to (let alone archived) by most libraries.[citation needed]

Apart from the newspapers just mentioned, all major metropolitan areas have their own local newspapers.[citation needed] Typically, a metropolitan area will support at most one or two major newspapers, with many smaller publications targeted towards particular audiences.[citation needed] Although the cost of publishing has increased over the years, the price of newspapers has generally remained low, forcing newspapers to rely more on advertising revenue and on articles provided by a major wire service, such as the Associated Press or Reuters, for their national and world coverage.[citation needed]

With a very few exceptions, all the newspapers in the U.S. are privately owned,[citation needed] either by large chains such as Gannett or McClatchy, which own dozens or even hundreds of newspapers; by small chains that own a handful of papers; or in a situation that is increasingly rare, by individuals or families.

Most general-purpose newspapers are either being printed one time a week, usually on Thursday or Friday, or are printed daily. Weekly newspapers tend to have much smaller circulation and are more prevalent in rural communities or small towns.[citation needed] Major cities often have "alternative weeklies" to complement the mainstream daily paper(s), for example, New York City's Village Voice or Los Angeles' L.A. Weekly, to name two of the most well-known.[citation needed] Major cities may also support a local business journal, trade papers relating to local industries and papers for local ethnic and social groups.

Probably due to competition from other media,[citation needed] the number of daily newspapers in the U.S. has declined over the past half-century, according to Editor & Publisher, the trade journal of American newspapers. In particular, the number of evening newspapers has fallen by almost one-half since 1970, while the number of morning editions and Sunday editions has grown (Editor & Publisher International Yearbook as cited on naa.org, Newspaper Assn. of America website).

For comparison, in 1950, there were 1,772 daily papers (and 1,450 — or about 70 percent — of them were evening papers) while in 2000, there were 1,480 daily papers (and 766—or about half—of them were evening papers (Editor & Publisher International Yearbook as cited on naa.org, Newspaper Assn. of America website).

Daily newspaper circulation is also slowly declining in America, partly due to the near-demise of two-newspaper towns,[citation needed] as the weaker newspapers in most cities have folded:

1960 58.8 million
1970 62.1 million
1980 62.2 million
1990 62.3 million
2000 55.8 million

Between 1960 and 2000 the population of the United States increased from 179.3 million to 281.4 million, so daily circulation per 100 people declined from 32.8 to 19.8.[citation needed]

The primary source of newspaper income is advertising[citation needed] — in the form of "classifieds" or inserted advertising circulars[citation needed] — rather than circulation income. However, since the late 1990s, this revenue source has been directly challenged by Web sites like eBay (for sales of secondhand items), Monster.com (jobs), and Craigslist (everything).

The largest newspapers (by circulation) in the United States are USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.[citation needed]

See also

  • List of newspapers in the United States

External links


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