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 articles 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
