It
isn't the money. It's just that nobody reads anymore
. . . and that is cause for national concern
David Lazarus in a Los Angeles Times column describes an interview with the staff of a student newspaper at a private school in Santa Monica on their reading habits.
Here’s a revealing quote from one young female student:
"My grandparents subscribe to a lot of newspapers. If I want to read a newspaper, I go online, but I wouldn't pay for it. Our generation doesn't pay for things on the Internet."
And here’s his conclusion:
Newspapers, including this one, give away the store online, all the while wringing their hands about declining revenue and circulation. Everyone says the Net represents the future of journalism, and that's probably true. But at this point, no one knows how to make much money at it.
I'm scratching my head trying to come up with another financially challenged industry that found salvation by charging people nothing for its output.
Here's our conclusion:
The column is interesting, but Lazarus may be missing a point:: Newspapers also have given away almost free. The price of the newspaper does not come near the cost of producing and delivering it. Television also is almost free. It’s the advertising on TV, in newspapers and online that we must look at if we want to read the news.
The real problem is that nobody is reading and that is cause for national concern.
National Endowment for the Arts in November published a startling 100-page report titled "To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence."
This report is a new and comprehensive analysis of reading patterns of children, teenagers, and adults in the United States. To Read or Not To Read assembled data on reading trends from more than 40 sources, including federal agencies, universities, foundations, and associations. The compendium expands the investigation of the NEA's landmark 2004 report, Reading at Risk, and reveals recent declines in voluntary reading and test scores alike, exposing trends that have severe consequences for American society.
NEA Chairman Dana Gioia summarizes the findings:
The story the
data tell is simple, consistent, and alarming. Although there has been
measurable progress in recent years in reading
ability
at the elementary school level, all progress appears to halt as children enter
their teenage years. There is a general decline in reading among teenage and
adult Americans. Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular
reading have greatly declined among college graduates. These negative trends
have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines
have demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications.
How does one summarize this disturbing story? As Americans, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (The shameful fact that nearly one_third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.) With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.
Strictly understood, the data in this report do not necessarily show cause and effect. The statistics merely indicate correlations. The habit of daily reading, for instance, overwhelmingly correlates with better reading skills and higher academic achievement. On the other hand, poor reading skills correlate with lower levels of financial and job success. At the risk of being criticized by social scientists, I suggest that since all the data demonstrate consistent and mostly linear relationships between reading and these positive results -- and between poor reading and negative results -- reading has played a decisive factor. Whether or not people read, and indeed how much and how often they read, affects their lives in crucial ways.
You can download a 20-page summary at http://www.nea.gov/research/ToRead_ExecSum.pdf