USC Annenberg Study Finds Print News Is Still Dying

Seattle Municipal Archives via Flickr

A study recently released by the Center for Digital Future at USC's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism found that internet users continue to rely less on print media as a primary source of information.

According to the results, only 56 percent of those surveyed view print news as a valuable source of information. This was down from 60 percent when the survey was conducted in 2008. More people relied on the internet (78 percent) and television (68 percent) as their main news source.

A mere 29 percent of respondents viewed the newspaper as a source of entertainment -- a number that's down from 32 percent in 2008.

The study also revealed, not surprisingly, that online content was partly to blame for print's ongoing demise. Eighteen percent of respondents admitted that they canceled their newspaper subscriptions because they could find the same or similar information online. This was down from 22 pecent in 2008.

Jeffery I. Cole, director of USC's Center for the Digital Future, said:

"The downward spiral in print newspaper circulation no doubt will be accelerated by advances in online delivery of news content through e-readers or other handheld electronic devices. After years of aborted attempts, these advances finally appear to be practical and affordable methods of providing electronic news content to readers. If so, what will that mean for the future of the traditional print newspaper?"