Newspapers can secure their futures by remembering their pasts /

Abstract

For several decades, newspapers have been lurching from one idea to the next in an effort to keep readers. Few of the many readership initiatives have succeeded. In fact, many have cost newspapers readers they could hardly afford to lose. One of the biggest pushes to hold readers began in the 1980s and involved a series of steps that put news and information behind graphics and other devices intended to replicate television. Patterning themselves after USA Today, many American newspapers lost sight of their historic franchise as the gatherers and communicators of society's most important information. This study raises questions about the commonly cited theories to explain readership declines and the efforts to stem those losses. The solution suggested is that newspapers must evaluate readership studies before launching any action intended to correct problems. Newspapers have realized readership success by practicing narrative, enterprise and investigative journalism. The appendix to this study is intended to offer teachers and students ofjournalism practical help for the fields of narrative, enterprise and investigative reporting.