History of Applied Print Media Research

the print media are no longer simply print
media—they are both print and online
media. In fact, the online part of many operations
has become more important than
the traditional print version. The Christian
Science Monitor, published for more than
100 years, ended its print edition in 2009
and shifted to the Internet, as did the Seattle
Post- Intelligencer. The Detroit News and
the Detroit Free Press cut back their home
delivery to three days a week and urged subscribers
to visit their websites on the other
days. Several magazines have dropped or
suspended their print versions and exist only
online.
The reason for this shift is primarily economic.
Newspaper advertising revenue has
declined significantly as websites such as
Craigslist and Monster.com have siphoned
off classified ad business. The recession that
started at the beginning of the 21st century
caused advertisers to cut back their budgets.
Many young people are getting their news
and entertainment from online sites and
reading the newspaper less and less. As a result,
much of today’s research in the publishing
business entails finding ways to stay in
business.
Methodologies used to study the print
and online media are similar to those used in
most areas of research; academic and commercial
research organizations often use content
analysis, experiments, focus groups, and
surveys, among other procedures, to study
newspapers and magazines. Now more than
ever, print media research tends to be narrowly
focused and oriented toward practical
application. This chapter provides a brief
overview of the most common types of studies
in newspaper and magazine research, both
print and online, with a special emphasis on
the research most likely to be conducted by
advertiser-supported publications.