According to a survey conducted by NEMS Market Research for Keynote (2010) 54.3 % of adults cited TV as their main source of news information, 16.5 % cited newspapers, 14.5 % cited the Internet, and 12 % cited radio.1 Respondents in their late 20s and early 30s used the Internet the most for news gathering and showed lower penetration rates than other age groups for radio and newspapers. The survey found age to be a big factor in newspaper readership, with the young becoming less interested in newspapers and showing a higher propensity to access the Internet for news and entertainment. The survey noted an accelerating decline in newspaper circulation.
A worrying trend was that the market for ‘quality’ newspapers was dropping much faster than the market for ‘popular’ papers (Keynote 2010). A House of Lords Select Committee on Communication report (2008a: 24-25) identified the reasons for the decline in news viewing and reading as: lifestyle changes, proliferation of television channels, growth of the Internet, and increasing technological opportunities for personal scheduling or non-linear viewing. In order to retain audiences and readerships, newspapers and television news providers are developing a multiplatform presence. The BBC website, the centre-piece of which is news, is the third most used website in the country and the Guardian newspaper’s website has been recognized as the ‘Best Newspaper’ online by the international Webby Awards.
