International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Known as the chroniclers of daily life, newspapers assemble large amounts of information in the form of words, pictures, and graphics printed on lightweight, inexpensive paper stock for the purpose of informing and entertaining the public. Newspapers are portable, inexpensive, and printed either daily or weekly in tabloid or broadsheet format. Estimates indicate that there are approximately 60,000 newspapers in the world and about one in eight are dailies. The daily operation of a newspaper varies with the size of the paper, but most papers consist of five departments: advertising, editorial, production, circulation, and business. Newspaper revenue comes from sales and advertising. According to the International Journal of Newspaper Technology ( Chisholm 2004 ), over 80 percent of revenue in the United States comes from advertising, while in the United Kingdom the figure is over 60 percent, and in Germany over 55 percent. However, both the Internet and changes in the economy have led to a decline in advertising revenue for newspapers worldwide (→  Advertising ; Cost and Revenue Structures in the Media ). Because revenue is linked to circulation, the commercial potential of newspapers is constrained by the size and economic prosperity of their markets. Newspapers account for the biggest segments of the publishing world, with 40 percent of the industry's revenue. Newspapers have ... log in or subscribe to read full text