Papers are far from extinct

TONY DODERO

Readers of this column may recall a piece I did some weeks ago about

the declining readership of newspapers and the concerns that many in

the newspaper industry have about readers turning to other sources

for news, such as radio, TV or the Internet.

But the past couple weeks highlighted just how relevant newspapers

remain on the media landscape when you consider the governor recall

race.

As many of you know, our sister paper, the Los Angeles Times, was

criticized mightily for stories it did about now-Gov.-elect Arnold

Schwarzenegger that chronicled some of his alleged conduct toward

women.

Many accused the Times of trying to skew the election results,

something the Times’ editor vehemently denied.

Nonetheless, the stories prompted several readers to cancel

subscriptions to the Times, which also affects Daily Pilot

readership, since we are delivered as one.

But in the middle of all the squabble over the Times and its

stories on the new governor came a survey on newspaper readership

that left me a little more confident in the future of this medium.

The study released two weeks ago by the Audit Bureau of

Circulations, the organization that regularly monitors and regulates

newspaper readership, came up with the following findings:

* Current calculations often underestimate the actual

readers-per-copy figure of most newspapers;

* Newspapers do an effective job of reaching full-time working

women, the most time-pressured segment of society;

* Young adults aged 18-34 actually do read newspapers, albeit on

an occasional basis;

* Newspapers deliver to an upscale audience that wields

considerable spending power; and

* The number of adult readers per copy is actually increasing,

particularly on Sunday.

According to the audit bureau these findings were gleaned from 160

newspaper markets in North America, coming from 180,000 interviews

and the findings represent more than 60-million readers who answered

the same readership and demographic questions.

Dr. David S. Neft, a newspaper industry research consultant and

co-author of the study had this to say in a prepared statement:

“What the responses tell us, collectively, is that there are a

great many loyal newspaper readers who routinely pass the publication

on to friends, family and colleagues, and who represent a great deal

of spending power. Advertisers who understand these key usage

patterns can use newspapers to their greatest advantage.”

The survey showed newspaper readers tended to be four-year college

graduates who have family incomes in excess of $75,000 annually. For

more specifics on the survey, go to this Web site at: at

https://www.accessabc.com/ reader

Upscale audience, loyal readers who pass along the news? Man, that

sounds like Daily Pilot readers to me.

Maybe we aren’t ready for dinosaur-land after all.

*

Some of you may recall that we lost our city editor James Meier

about a month ago as he went off to be the assistant metro editor of

the San Bernardino Sun.

But as of this week we are back in good hands as Danette Goulet,

the Daily Pilot’s former education reporter has returned to take over

the city editorship.

I interviewed and hired Goulet just about four years ago exactly

from the Boca Raton News in Florida.

I distinctly remember her telling me that she wanted to come to

California and learn to surf.

She did exactly that. In fact, every once in a while we have a

newsroom surf session with me, Goulet, Managing Editor S.J. Cahn and

former Daily Pilot editor Bill Lobdell.

But I digress.

Goulet has spent the last two years as the city editor of another

sister paper, the Huntington Beach Independent. She has done a great

job there as the paper has brought home eight California Newspaper

Publisher Assn. awards with her at the helm.

Goulet will oversee the reporting staff for both the Independent

and the Pilot and I’m looking forward to great things to come.

*

Speaking of Bill Lobdell, I’d like to extend my congratulations to

him and I know many Daily Pilot readers will be pleased to hear that

he was recently awarded second place for the Templeton Award given by

the Religion Newswriters Assn., a group with members from media

outlets across the nation.

Lobdell is now working at the Los Angeles Times as one of two

religion writers for the paper.

According to the association the award is given for: “excellence

in enterprise reporting and versatility in the field of religion in

the secular press. Named for Philanthropist Sir John Templeton and

funded by the Templeton Foundation.”

The award was based on five stories written by Lobdell.

*

Finally, get ready this Wednesday for our annual Daily Pilot list

of the 103 most influential people in Newport-Mesa.

We often get complaints from those who believe they belong on the

list, and right about summer we start getting names of nominees from

readers.

We can’t put everyone on the list I know, and this is just a

reminder to take the list in the spirit of fun that it was originally

created.

And for another reminder, for obvious reasons we don’t put media

people on the list. Imagine the fight that would cause in the

newsroom. So if you’ve nominated a media person, you’ll now know why

he or she doesn’t appear on the list.