Over the course of the past decade, the mass media industry has ushered into a new era of technology. As technological advancement is quickly progressing, increasing amounts of people now have easy access to the digital world. Media outlets across the world have quickly made a shift, diving into the world of digital media in order for their company to survive and stay relevant.
Every major magazine and newspaper company from the New York Times, The Star to Vogue and Sin Chew Daily now have their own websites to post their articles to. When the articles are posted online, they can easily be shared virtually through other social platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter etc.
Without a doubt, the demands for physical media outlets like magazines and newspapers have drastically declined. Nevertheless, they are still a reliant news source for a large number of the population.
Do people still read newspapers and magazines?
Despite of the fact that they are not as popular as they used to be, the answer is still yes, people who read from a physical medium still exist in the world. There are a handful of comprehendible reasons why these, some may say, outdated forms of media are still popular today.
Here are 5 main reasons why people still read newspapers and magazines:
1. Portability
For people who enjoy reading as a leisure activity, having a physical portable copy of something is quite desirable. Just like a book, people could take newspapers and magazines wherever they go and read at their own pace. Many people enjoy the idea of carrying around something to read, there are also lots of people who store magazines in their cars or work desks.
2. Disliking digital screens
People living in today’s society are obligated to spend hours and hours a day in front of a computer screen or with their face planted on their phones all the time. It is almost a slight getaway relief from technology when a person reads from magazines or newspapers.
Besides that, there is also a psychological factor that your eyes may get damaged if you spend too much time in front of a screen, that is why some people will opt to read newspaper and magazines over online articles.
3. Age Factor
Studies have shown that people who are over the age of 55 are the targeted demographic of newspaper companies. A lot of senior citizens find it rather difficult to adapt to modern digital media. For many of them, newspapers are the only reliable news source because they are sceptical about digital media. Besides that, older people have also developed an
unescapable habit over decades of reading newspapers, it’ll be unnatural for them to make that sudden change.
4. Information Reliability
Many people believe that published newspapers and magazine articles have more credibility and reliability behind them compared to online articles. In recent years, there have been many unreliable news sources and ‘fake news’ circulating digital news outlets. We no longer know how accurate online information is, even credible and well-established news outlets have lost their credibility due to some inaccurate and biased articles. That makes many consumers want to circle back to newspapers because it has a long history of trustable journalism.
5. Local Papers
A lot of areas have their own established news outlets that reports local news of the area. Many colleges or high schools also have their own school papers to report their daily occurrences. People are subscribed to their local newspapers to be aware of the latest news within their community. The newspapers may be giving out free coupons, advertising a local
event that is happening or maybe a new restaurant that is opening up. With their local news being displayed on the paper, people would likely want to get their hands on a copy.
Newspapers and magazines have long been a part of journalism history, they are the pillars that build the modern mass media industry into the empire that it is today. Although it has declined throughout the past couple of years, I believe that newspapers and magazines will continue to live on throughout the foreseeable future.
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