Competition has become too keen and financial risks too great for publishers to depend entirely upon any ‘sixth sense’ in arriving at sound business judgements. This is especially because publishers have, at their disposal, valuable techniques and instruments of newspaper research that enable them to minimize the risks of misinformation and guesswork.
Research in journalism is a fairly recent development and newspapers that benefit regularly from its services are in the undisputed minority. Research in journalism has merely scratched the surface of its potential.
Research is the act of probing for accurate, reliable, useful information and of organizing that information so that sound conclusions can be drawn. Its scope, its complexity, or its cost can vary according to needs and objectives.
Whether simple and inexpensive or elaborate and costly, research that is meaningful to the publisher recognizes the importance of making a genuine contribution to the intelligence of the business – either in producing a better publication for readers or in contributing to more effective use of the medium by advertisers. Research is a means, not an end in itself.
Newspaper research is generally aimed in one of the three directions: the market, the newspaper itself, or the products merchandised through newspaper advertising.
MARKET RESEARCH
Through research, a newspaper can get to know –
- A
sound basis for conducting the overall business operation – a knowledge of
the area served by the newspaper
- An understanding
of the relationship between advertising and sales in the community,
insuring better informed ad salesmen
- Something
tangible to offer prospective local or national advertiser who want to
know what they are getting for their money.
- Ample
material for good self promotional mailing pieces or advertising layouts
- Interesting local information for news or feature stories.
The chief problem in undertaking a community survey is identifying and utilizing the sources of reliable market information. Nearly all statistics dealing with business and economic conditions are collected and recorded by some governmental or professional agency.
Publishers who wish to arm themselves with facts about the market their newspapers serve must know first of all what kinds of facts are of value; then where they may be found, and finally, how they may be used to better the business operation.
Kinds of facts
Population factors such as age, sex, education, occupation, incomes are of great importance. Housing factors such as values of homes, number of houses with TV sets, and number of automobile owners provide extremely valuable data. Any information that reflects the wants and needs, the preferences and the ability to pay of the members of the market of a newspaper is of value to some or all of its advertisers.
Public institutions in the local community also furnish a wealth of information regarding the newspapers market area (e.g. libraries)
How to use the facts
The beginner in newspaper research should start with something simple. It is possible to use facts already at hand or quickly available. For maximum utilization the information should be mailed to a selected list of advertisers and agencies.
Simple statistical devices such as percentages, indexes, averages, bar charts, line charts and pie graphs add to the effectiveness of the research
Research on the newspaper
Editors get letters from readers expressing approval or disapproval of policies advocated by the news paper, occasional comments on content or format, or other observations of extreme interest to those who produce the newspaper and are naturally concerned about the reader acceptance of their product. But what about the 90 or 95 percent of readers who never write letters to the editor? Can an editor of publisher be sure they fell the way 5 or 10 percent who write letters to the editor do?
Since no two newspapers are identical in format, policies, competitive factor or need for media research, no standardized patterns for research on the newspaper itself can be set.
However, newspaper research does divide itself into several
areas:
- The
newspaper as a publication. Here the information deals with its contents,
policies, reader service and community service records.
- Circulation,
how many buy the newspaper, who they are, and where they live.
- Acceptance
of the newspaper by the public.
- Technical data such as advertising rates, mechanical specifications, type of printing available, management standards, operating costs, and any auxiliary services offered by the newspaper.
THE NEWSPAPER AS A PUBLICATION
This kind of information is most frequently used to show the content of the newspaper and the extent of the service it renders to its readers and to its community. Content may include description of news coverage, wire services, local coverage, feature writers, picture services, columnists, comics and specialized sections.
Political policies of the newspaper, the manner of handling news, the type and presentation of ‘art’ rewrite of news stories, editorial policy and the way local news is player are a vital part of the policy data.
Reader service includes special events for the amusement, information or education fo readers, above and beyond the mere publication of an informative and instructive newspaper. A survey of such services provides the publisher with promotional material of striking interest and significance.
As in all research, great care must be taken that material is presented without bias and preferably without boasting. The data developed within this area are chiefly of value as a means of picturing the personality of the newspaper, thus pointing out truthfully the type of readers who have been attracted through its behaviour patterns.
THE NEWSPAPERS CIRCULATION
By means of surveys, publishers and circulation managers learn what is being done to improve newspaper distribution by agents, which papers have increased subscription prices and to what extent. Procedure, transportation and methods of distribution can be studied.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE NEWSPAPER
The readership survey is the most common research technique for determining the reactions of readers to new features, news presentation methods, advertising copy and display, factors of format and typography, and page position. This type of study is ordinarily conducted by means of a questionnaire or a checklist on which reader’s preferences are recorded.
The most extensive readership survey among newspaper is ‘the
continuing study of newspaper reading’ conducted by the Advertising Research
Foundation in cooperation with the Bureau of Advertising of the American
Newspaper Publishers Association. They came up with some important
conclusions:-
- Editorials
get higher readership during wartime, while comics and society and sports
items undergo varying degrees of readership loss. The pattern changes
during post war years.
- Front
pages command the highest readership, pictures rank second, sports pages
place third among men and society pages are third among women.
- Men
show greatest interest in pictures related to events, while women prefer
photos of people
- Picture pages and outstanding news photos attract greatest attention, even outranking top scoring news stories.
The values of such studies to management and editorial
executives of a newspaper is quite obvious. These readership studies have a
financial value for the advertising department in testing the power of copy,
color or position in advertising. Such surveys make their greatest contribution
when the reports are studied for trends and principles rather than for specified
details.
TECHNICAL DATA
The purpose of assembling technical data concerning the newspaper itself is manifold: to calculate expenditure, to evaluate the newspaper on the basis of costs, to determine mechanical efficiency, to compare business methods, to prepare a list of specifications for advertisements, or any number of similar investigations of the newspapers services and facilities.
Some newspaper publishers have considered it advisable to
have their newspaper operations studied from the broad standpoint of management
efficiency. In the case of the
The audit revealed that some changes in operation would be helpful, including sharper coverage of late local news and promptness in meeting deadlines, overhaul of the accounting department particularly in its relationship to classified advertising, closing the gap between policymaking and execution and rearranging work schedule.
An extensive survey of this kind, done by capable analysis and accepted by management, could be of immeasurable value to any newspaper organization. It is not often, however, that newspaper owners feel the need for so general an analysis of their operation. They prefer to analyze their departments separately and to follow each study with definite steps to correct weaknesses.
Before changing from an 8 column to a 9 column format, the Sidney, Ohio ‘News’ on its own account made a newsprint conservation survey and discovered that it would save nearly $6000 a year by changing its format for its 12,000 daily circulation. Newspapers could also conduct cost studies based on money spent for salaries, depreciation, equipment, etc.
PRODUCT RESEARCH
Its value lies in providing the manufacturer (of a product) with information on the acceptance or sale of a specific brand in a newspaper’s specific market. It is more complicated and frequently more costly than newspaper research.
Consumer records are tabulated to show factors such as brands purchased, points of purchase, shopping habits, etc.
WHAT PUBLISHERS WANT
An analysis of publishers views on newspaper research
conducted at
-
research can be useful in solving operational problems
-
to solve long range industry wide problems rather than
day to day problems or those peculiar to individual newspapers etc
research must be used with great skill and with appropriate
restraint. Properly handled, it can provide the newspaper with invaluable data
for decision making, for profit control and for enhancement of the newspaper
product and its promotion.
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