Originally published November 17 2015
Mainstream media newspapers in total collapse: readership plunges 80%
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) The mainstream media, especially the print media, continues to implode, but rather than attempt to change its focus (most dailies are run by liberal editorial teams) they continue to double down on their progressive ideology – which, in turn, leads to additional declines in readership.
According to a new study from the liberal Brookings Institute, a think tank, hard news in particular is facing the same kind of looming extinction as newspapers and magazines, "the result of a dramatic death spiral of reporting jobs and ads and the rise of the type of opinion journalism popular two and three centuries ago," the Washington Examiner reported, citing the study.
"Hard news is in danger," the study noted, which also sought to explain in detail the dramatic loss of ad revenues and employment, while raising the concern that, if no editorial employees are filtering news, then credibility will be undermined (actually, it already is – but more on that in a moment).
"These trends have left many people wondering who will collect hard news for the general public. While the Internet world has made it possible for everyone to express their opinion widely — whether they know anything or not — it has also confused readers. In the absence of supposedly neutral intermediaries such as reporters, fact-checkers, and editors, readers are having a hard time judging the credibility of what they read," said the report.
In the absence of hard news, there appears to be more opinion journalism, said Brookings.
Mainstream media death watch has begun
During a conference to discuss the study, for instance, Emma Green, managing editor of TheAtlantic.com, itself quite liberal, said that media is more and more shifting to opinion news.
In the age of new media, which is exploding, she said, "there's a slide that is going on where we're in a golden age of opinion journalism, and there's greater analysis, and sort of more interesting analytical gray zone that's happening in the way that news is presented."
The numbers regarding print's decline are staggering:
-- There are only half as many people reporting on the news as there were 40 years ago, at just 32,000.
-- The number of daily newspapers has gone from a crest of about 1,800 per 100 million people in 1945 to about 400 now.
-- Circulation per capita has also tanked, dropping below 15 percent.
-- And while radio and television remain important, listeners and viewers have also declined precipitously.
In list-like fashion, the study also offered up the following conclusion regarding today's media:
-- Print newspapers are dinosaurs
-- Hard news is in danger
-- Television is still important
-- And so is radio
-- News is now digital
-- Social media allows news (and "news") to go viral
-- For the younger generation, news is delivered through comedy [think The Daily Show on Comedy Central]
Our network of sites, meanwhile, is exploding
As Natural News readers and readers of its rapidly expanding network of independently operated partner content sites, the alternative media has completely taken over today's media landscape, offering readers niche content for a range of subjects such as prepping (Bugout.news); spirituality and end times (Prophecy.news); chaos and anarchy (Collapse.news); defense and security (NationalSecurity.news); and cyberattacks (CyberWar.news).
It's because of choices like these that news consumers are essentially voting with a click of their computer mouse while tuning out the corporate-owned liberal echo chambers at today's legacy media outlets.
Many of the cable news channels that are currently airing wouldn't even be around were it not for the money-sharing distribution schemes associated with cable and satellite TV. Little-watched networks like CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and others only remain viable because they get a share of your cable or satellite bill. But even these networks are in danger as more Americans – especially younger Americans – cancel cable and satellite in lieu of streaming services such as Hulu, Amazon and Netflix that, like the newly launched TalkNetwork.com, provide consumers with the content they crave without bombarding them with endless advertisements.
The "old media" will still be around for a while, but it is constantly hemorrhaging audiences – and revenues – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Sources:
WashingtonExaminer.com
NaturalNews.com
Breitbart.com
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