As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community “a lot.” Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available. Full Story »
Posted by Dan Kennedy
An excellent data-driven story that fails to note how users under 40 view the word "community"--as a real or virtual place. The NewsTrust community is virtual. I'm writing this in Ames, Iowa. That's real. The issue at hand just may be that newspapers are failing because communities are failing, especially in as much as we spend less time in real and more in virtual space.
Not unexpectedly, far fewer young people than older Americans say they would miss their local newspaper a lot if it were to close. Less than a quarter of those younger than 40 (23) say they would miss the local newspaper they read most often a lot if it were to go out of business or shut down. That compares with 33 of those ages 40 to 64 and 55% of those 65 and older.
See my colleague, David Mindich’s book on this topic, Tuned Out (also from Oxford). See links for URL.
Please read Dan Kennedy's review, citing Bowling Alone. I continued that research since 1999 from a technological standpoint, culminating in my 2005 Oxford book, Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age. The prediction was that media would fail because we no longer knew where community was--on a Map or in MapQuest.