The decline in print media

 Part 1: Ofcom report into news consumption


Read this Ofcom report on the consumption of news in the UK and answer the following questions (bullet points/short answers are fine):

1) Look at the headlines from the report on page 5 & 6. Pick three that you think are interesting and bullet point them here. Why did you pick those three in particular?  

Six in ten UK adults use news, psbs continue to have high rated news, almost all adults watch or read news. These are the most shocking headlines as print can be seen as still used by a lot of adults

2) Now look at the motivations for following news which differs by age on pages 7 & 8. What are the main reasons people gave for following news? What are the percentages? 

47% to know what was going on in the UK, 45% in their region and 45% for around the world

3) Look at the platforms used, by age on page 9. What trends do you notice based on the platforms used and by the different age groups?

For those aged 16-24 at 56%, Meta has the largest cross-platform reach, followed by the BBC, at 52%. While among those aged 75+, the BBC reaches 83% and Meta only reaches 11%.

4) Look at how online news continues to be a key platform for receiving news on page 14. How does the internet enable audiences to access the news in different ways? Can you provide any examples of news organisations with percentages? 

Looking at those who directly access websites and apps of news organisations for their news, BBC Online (59%) has the highest claimed use, while Sky News (21%), The Guardian (20%) and The Daily Mail (14%) take the next three positions. While The Daily Mail remains in fourth, it saw a decline from 19% in 2024 to 14% in 2025.

5) Look at the news brands (print newspapers and digital offerings) on page 20. Can you provide percentages of readership of print vs. online?

Print and online newspaper use for news remained steady this year, with 34% of the total population using these for news, though only 19% read print newspapers for news. People who read print or online newspapers are split roughly equally into those who only read print versions (42%) and those who only read the online versions (43%), the remaining 15% read both print and online

6) Looking again at page 20 for news brands - how are print newspapers rated by their metrics - can you offer the different metrics with percentages? 
 
Print newspapers, as with the other traditional news media platforms of TV and radio, are rated highly by their regular readers when evaluating them on metrics such as accuracy; 74% of regular users rate newspapers highly (7-10), 70% for impartiality and 73% for trustworthiness. However younger readers rate newspapers highly on these metrics more commonly than older readers, with 84% of 16–24-year-old regular newspaper readers rating them highly for accuracy, compared to 69% of those aged 75+.

Part 2: Factsheet - The death of print media

Go to our Media Factsheet archive and open Factsheet 165: The death of print media. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login.

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks (bullet points/short answers are fine):

1) What has happened to print media in the last 30 years?

Until relatively recently, say in the last 30 years, print media was
one of the main sources of information for audiences.

2) Why is the Independent newspaper such a good case study for the decline in print media?

The newspaper’s selling line was, until 2011, “free from political bias,free from proprietorial influence”, and the reporting somewhat reflected
this; in the last decade of its publication the Independent became known
for its unorthodox and campaigning front pages.

3) What was the Independent newspaper famous for?

In an age where Rupert Murdoch has reduced printing costs,
and his papers reigned supreme, the Independent offered a fresh and
non-aligned perspective.

4) What did the then-owner of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev, say about the newspaper's digital-only future?

The newspaper industry is changing, and that change is being driven by readers. They’re showing us that the future is digital

5) How do online newspapers make money?

This the company claimed, validated their decision to go online-only as it was
the first time the Independent had turned a profit in 20 years, with
advertising revenues growing 45% year on year.

6) What did the Independent's longest-serving editor Simon Kelner warn regarding the switch to digital?

For me, the power of the Independent came from
the variety of voices, the originality in its design and the iconoclastic
feel of the paper.

7) What is the concern with fake news? What does 'post-truth' refer to?

The concern over the impact of the Internet news reporting is not
new and post truth refers to giving news before the truth 

8) What is your view on the decline in print media? Should news be free? Is it a concern that established media brands such as the Independent can no longer afford to exist as a printed newspaper?

An increase in the development of technology has led to a decline in print however older audiences still use this, it is a concern they cant afford it as it means the market may no longer exist in the future but it depends on if they make revenue from producing online content which can enable them to produce both online and print news

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