From Editor and Publisher: The repudiation of the print delivery system by young people is probably the single greatest factor in the sharp decline Pew detected in newspaper readership in the last decade. Pew found that only 29 percent of the American population read a newspaper in 2012, compared with 56 percent in 1991 — the first time researchers asked the question.
Unfortunately, the digital strategy undertaken to date by most publishers is to port their newspaper-style content to the Web and then repurpose the material for mobile devices. The warmed-over digital fare offered by the typical newspaper falls well short of the expectations of two whole generations of consumers who are not only empowered by technology but also damn well sure of how to get what they want.
Further, the defining characteristic of these digital generations is that they will make their own media any time they don’t like what they are getting. This explains the explosive growth of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and a host of other user-generated media. READ MORE …