Good news, Bad news Report Offers Insight into Changing Media Landscape
Working life at a small-market newspaper, digital transformations, audience engagement, and journalistic ethics and standards are just some of the topics covered in the report: Good News, Bad News: A snapshot of conditions at small-market newspapers in Canada.
The collaborative project between Ryerson University’s Local News Research Project (external link) (LNRP) and the National NewsMedia Council of Canada (external link) (NNC), which launched April 29, provides insight into newsrooms of print publications with a daily/weekly circulation below 50,000.
According to the report, almost 60 percent of small market newspapers in the country have newsrooms that are reduced in size compared to 2016. (Courtesy Getty Images/iStockphoto)
“Research on news media tends to focus on national news media and major news outlets, but the reality is that the vast majority of newspapers are small publications with a combined print and digital circulation of lower than 50,000,” said April Lindgren, a professor at Ryerson’s School of Journalism and lead investigator for the LNRP.
“Given the disruption in this sector, we thought it was important to get a better sense of what is happening to those newspapers.”
The report ties in with the LNRP’s Local News Map (external link) , which tracks changes to the local news landscape across Canada and the local news map data reports (external link) . It shows that 199 of the 275 local news outlet that have closed since 2008 have been community newspapers.
“Smaller newspapers face major challenges, but the survey also reveals that publications know they are making a unique contribution to communities by focusing on local stories that nobody else is telling,” Lindgren said.
Screenshot of the report.
“Research on news media tends to focus on national news media and major news outlets, but the reality is that the vast majority of newspapers are small publications with a combined print and digital circulation of lower than 50,000,” said April Lindgren, a professor at Ryerson’s School of Journalism and lead investigator for the LNRP.
“Given the disruption in this sector, we thought it was important to get a better sense of what is happening to those newspapers.”
The report ties in with the LNRP’s Local News Map (external link) , which tracks changes to the local news landscape across Canada and the local news map data reports (external link) . It shows that 199 of the 275 local news outlet that have closed since 2008 have been community newspapers.
“Smaller newspapers face major challenges, but the survey also reveals that publications know they are making a unique contribution to communities by focusing on local stories that nobody else is telling,” Lindgren said.
