英文材料

The E-Reader as Replacement for the Print NewspaperBarry A. Hollander •Dean M. Krugman •Tom Reichert •J. Adam AvantAbstract This study examines the effects of a major metropolitan newspaper’s withdrawal from a city and whether an e-reader pre-loaded with a digital subscription to the newspaper would act as a replacement.In-depth interviews with 20 former readers of the newspaper found the device, the Kindle DX, to be generally liked for its readability but a poor substitute for the published version of the newspaper.Keywords Circulation _ Demographics _ E-readers _ Kindle _ Mobile technology _ Newspapers _ Smart phones _ SubscribersThe remarkable growth of various digital technologies has disrupted a broad range of traditional print publishing industries, including books, magazines, and newspapers.Not only did readership of U.S. newspapers decline overall, but many major metropolitan newspapers added to their print circulation woes by withdrawing from geographic areas deemed too expensive to reach. This ‘‘trimming of the fringe’’ left many readers without access to the print edition of their state’s major source of news coverage. Former readers had a number of options: to learn to live without the newspaper, to read its web site, or to turn to the growing number of mobile media such as e-readers, smartphones, and tablets for their news and information. Here we examine just such a real-world scenario after a major metropolitan newspaper withdrew from a nearby city. We providede-readers to former readers of the newspaper to explore whether they missed the traditional print publication, whether the web site was viewed as an alternative, and whether the e-reader version of the newspaper served as a viable substitute for print or the web.Declining Print ReadershipIt is difficult to overstate the decline in printed newspaper circulation observed over the last decade. Daily newspapers, for example, shed 9% of weekly print publication sales from April 2009 to April 2010 alone [1]. The decline in readership of the print product over the past several years isagnostic as it pertains to socio-demographic factors, with losses visible across all age groups, education levels, and ethnicities. Decreasing generational replacement of the print publication habit, among other factors, has been identified as key to understanding the decline in newspaper readership [3, 4]. Traditionally, as younger people came into adulthood, they adopted the local or nearby metropolitan newspapers into their home and into their print readership routine. However, with each new generation, fewer and fewer young adults have made this transition, which in turn placed significant economic pressures on the printed newspaper. Indeed, a cottage industry of books and blogs have emerged to both document the decline of U.S. newspapers, particularly the published print product, and to predict the future of news.1 Clearly the emergence of the Internet as a commercial force in the mid-1990s negatively affected the print newspaper business model while, at the same time, allowed news organizations to cut costs and make production more efficient [5, 6].The loss of readers is nothing new. A study from 1986, for example, opened with the concern that print newspaper readership was either in decline or not keeping pace with U.S. population growth [7]. A more recent analysis of 101 newspapers identified similar demographic factors as being associated with newspaper reading, such as age, income, and length of residence, but noted that these factors explained relatively little variance.‘‘We hypothesize that the consumer experience—what consumers think and feel when they read a newspaper—will be more predictive of readership and more actionable to the practitioner than demographics.’’ [8]As the reduction in print readership crippled both American newspaper balance sheets and newsroom staffing, major metropolitan newspapers engaged in a seemingly contradictory strategy of reducing their geographic circulation areas. By culling readers in far-flung geographic regions of little interest to their base city advertisers, the so-called ‘‘trimming of the fringe,’’ newspapers saved circulation costs and improved, to some degree, their bottom line [9].2 While this shedding of readers may make good financial sense, the sudden disappearance can negatively impact those who live in locales that suddenly without a major print newspaper. This is not a new phenomenon. In 1945, a New York newspaper delivery strike left the city’s residents without their daily newspapers and raised the question of dependence on a source of print news [10]. ‘‘Missing the newspaper’’ was found to be more of a psychological than demographic issue.3 Some 50 years later, an update found similar results, with people saying they missed the newspaper when it was suddenly unavailable, but these same respondents were generally incapable of articulating exactly what it was theymissed in the reading experience [11]. Bentley identified social integration as an important reason for reading the newspaper, offeeling a part of the community, but he added that ‘‘one cannot understate the hardto- quantify ‘comfort’ value of newspaper reading.’’4 Indeed, readers typically do not change their media consumption habits unless some dramatic event forces that change [12].And yet, the sudden unavailability of a newspaper, given today’s crowded media market, may be perceived as more of an inconvenience for readers than cause for the kind of psychological ‘‘trauma’’ suggested in earlier studies. Consumers now enjoy access to alternative sources of news across multiple media platforms, from traditional venues such as radio and television available via broadcast or cable/ satellite to a host of media channels made available via the Internet, not to mention magazines, newspapers, and other print publications. The perception that a medium meets an individual’s need is most often a function of the attributes of that medium, in particular a medium’s content but also its mode of transmission [13, 14]. This dove tails nicely with a ‘‘uses and gratifications’’ approach, which focuses on what people do with media more than the effects media may have on people [15].5 Structural similarities in the mode of transmission, such as a television screen and a computer screen, suggest similar results, assuming the content is essentially the same across both media. In some ways, an e-reader resembles the newspaper or magazine, at least in its tactile relationship with the individual; the reader is held in the hands and has heft, much like a print publication, while at the same time it presents information on a screen, similar to that of a computer and, to a lesser extent, the television. Thus the e-reader offers an interesting combination of attributes not found in existing media, particularly as compared to traditional print publications.E-ReadersWhile ebooks can be traced to the early 1970s and hand-held e-readers to the late 1990s, many point to the 2007 premier of the Kindle as the milestone in development and popularity. The device soon came to dominate the market through the popular Internet-based bookseller, Amazon, which released the Kindle 2 in 2008 and the larger Kindle DX, with a 9.7-inch diagonal screen, in 2010, although challenges by other companies have cut into the Kindle’s dominance. Most e-readers provide access to books, magazines and newspapers, either through wi-fi or G3 phone connections. Along with a growing number of smartphones and ‘‘tablets’’ like Apple’s iPad, released in 2010, the market appears poised to provide news in anumber of ways through mobile technology.Previous research focused largely on the reading of books via e-readers and rarely examined news consumption, particularly of newspapers [17],6 although industry speculation noted that e-readers may provide an important revenue source for news organizations. Others have examined the potential environmental qualities of an e-reader versus print media [18]. In a recent study of the Kindle for reading books, respondents praised the Kindle for its portability and readability but they also were frustrated by the device’s lack of a touch screen compared to other modern mobile devices, particularly the iPhone, Blackberry, or phones using the Android operating system.7 In addition, a youth gap may exist in the preference for e-books over traditional books [19].For e-readers to compete with paper, the devices need a number of qualities, among them portability, simplicity, and readability [20]. Although subscriptions to newspapers and magazines have been available on the Kindle and other e-readers for some time, little is known about their potential as a substitute for print publications, particularly in the case of acting as a substitute when a major metropolitan newspaper has left a geographic market.The research below takes advantage of a real-world situation in which a major metropolitan city newspaper withdrew a city from its circulation area, thus leaving readers with no access to the printed paper. The following research questions were derived from the discussion above:RQ1: Do former readers miss the printed version of metropolitan daily newspaperno longer delivered to their geographic area?RQ2: Is the newspaper’s web site viewed as an alternative to the print publication?RQ3: Is the Kindle e-reader viewed as a potential substitute for the print publication?MethodThe major metropolitan newspaper of interest here, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, lost approximately one-third of its combined average circulation over a threeyear period. This loss came in part due to the same circulation decreases seen by most U.S. papers during this time period and in part due to the newspaper’s withdrawal from outlying geographic areas to focus on its core 10-county metropolitan market. On April 26, 2009, this withdrawal included Athens and Clarke County, Ga., which has a combined population of approximately 100,000.The withdrawal from the Athens market provided a timely opportunity to examinethe research questions above. The market includes a local daily newspaper, a free weekly newsmagazine that focuses on local politics and music, and a free 5-days-aweek independent student newspaper aimed primarily at the university community. None of these publications provides intensive state coverage, although the local daily newspaper often includes brief Associated Press versions of major issues.Data for the analyses reported here came from structured, in-depth interviews with 20 former readers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who were provided use of a Kindle DX preloaded with an e-reader subscription to the newspaper.8 To reach this point in the study, the authors engaged in a series of stages as part of a broader study of perceptions of e-readers. The first stage involved the use of university students to generate responses about e-readers as compared to other means of acquiring news, followed by interviews with 10 local adults who spent time using the Kindle. Based on these results, four student teams conducted focus groups with college students and a small number of non-student adults to explore initial responses to the Kindle. After completion of these stages, we integrated the responses into a conceptual framework and created a structured interview protocol before approaching former adult subscribers of the print edition of the AJC.Approximately one year after the AJC pulled out of the Athens-area market, we approached former readers or subscribers through a combination of convenience sampling and contacts based on the newspaper’s list of former subscribers. The respondents were trained in how to use the Kindle. In order to ensure respondents were comfortable and understood the Kindle’s navigational properties, they were asked to keep the device for at least a week in their homes or at work to use as they wished, which allowed for a more realistic scenario rather than access only in a laboratory setting. Afterward, we interviewed respondents about their experience with the newspaper via the e-reader.9ResultsRespondents spent between 7 and 18 days with a Kindle DX before participating in an in-depth interview in their respective homes.10 Each interview session lasted approximately 30 min. On average, respondents reported spending between one and three sessions a day with the device (M = 1.6 sessions), for about 36 min daily. No respondent reported using the Kindle for less than 15 min in a given day, and one said she used thee-reader for approximately two hours a day. The first research question asked whether people missed the printed version ofthe metropolitan city newspaper after it withdrew from their area. Of the 20 former subscribers or readers, 13 reported a sense of loss and of feeling cut off from the newspaper.11 A retired university professor, for example, said he initially h oped ‘‘a black market’’ would emerge for acquiring print copies of the newspaper. Another respondent said simply ‘‘it was a big deal’’ when the newspaper withdrew. However, among those who reported missing the paper, some said alternative sources of information, such as the local daily paper or online resources, had eased their transition into a life without the printed version of the larger metropolitan newspaper. Asked if she missed the paper still, one respondent said ‘‘absolutely’’ and then added tellingly: ‘‘But you know what? I don’t miss it any more, so much.I’m not sure I would re-subscribe to it.’’12 In all, the responses above suggest the answer to the first research question is that while many respondents missed the newspaper once it had gone, after time this sense of loss had dissipated.While many respondents reported feeling cut off by the newspaper’s sudden withdrawal from the market, only three said they sought the web version as a substitute, thus answering the second research question.13 Indeed, when it came to the newspaper’s web site, some not only found it a poor substitute, they plainly disliked it. ‘‘I don’t want to be entertained,’’ said one respondent, a pastor of a local church who bluntly criticized the web site for having ‘‘so much crap’’ about entertainers. ‘‘I want the news.’’ A lawyer, who reported missing the print edition of the AJC for its comprehensive statewide coverage, described the web site as ‘‘too clunky.’’ Dissatisfaction with the newspaper’s web site appeared gre atest among those with a heavier appetite for news. Among those who did not feel cut off by the newspaper’s withdrawal of print circulation from their area, nearly all reported reading the newspaper online, and all of these respondents reported reading othernews online as well.In evaluating the Kindle as a replacement to the print edition, the third research question, respondents offered nearly unanimous praise of the device’s portability and readability, but they offered mixed assessments of the e-re ader’s navigation and as a viable replacement for the print or even the web version of the newspaper. Perhaps the most interesting criticism of the Kindle was one laden with concerns about the order and manner in how the device presented the news, particularly as these concerns arise from a group of respondents not associated with professional journalism. Unlike thenewspaper print edition in which a story’s significance is signaled by its size and placement on a page, stories on the Kindle equal in size andas a list with no obvious priority as to their significance. Several respondents volunteered complaints about this lack of editorial organization. ‘‘I couldn’t get the big picture of anything,’’ said one. Another complained the presentation of stories wa s ‘‘all kind of chronological. I don’t know who decides what article is most important,’’ while a third said the Kindle ‘‘gives you no way to kind of see how the newspaper evaluated the importance of the story.’’ Still another respondent compared the Kindle version to a fire hydrant. ‘‘There’s just so much coming at me,’’ he said, ‘‘but it seemed rather random in the way it was presented. What’s on the front is on the front because that’s the most important or most newsworthy, and whatever’s above the fol d …there’s a prioritization that is built into a print version of the newspaper. If it’s on A2, it’s more important than A22.’’ In all, respondents seemed to miss the editorial judgment found in the print newspaper, at least in how the Kindle presented the news.14Many respondents also missed other traditional aspects found in the publication of a print newspaper, such as photographs with their captions, comics, crossword puzzles, and even advertisements. ‘‘Most people would say, ‘Thank God for that,’ said a landscape contractor in discussing the lack of advertisements available on the Kindle. ‘‘But, you know, that’s sort of the whole experience. When you see the paper like that (Kindle), you realize how much there is in a paper you’re not seeing.’’ One respondent likened the Kindle’s version of the AJC to a digest rather than a newspaper.Respondents more enamored with the Kindle tended to also be those who do not read news online. ‘‘Everything is right there,’’ an administrative assistant said of the Kindle. ‘‘Everything is accessible. And you don’t get that black newsprint all over your hands.’’ However, like many others, she missed the Sunday coupons and crossword puzzles. Related to the layout of a broadsheet newspaper, respondents gave mixed reviews of how the Kindle ‘‘read’’ compared to the newspaper. Some noted a loss of serendipity, of discovery, given how the Kindle presented stories in a linear fashion. A marketing professional said: ‘‘I really like being surprised by—when I’m looking at the hard copy—finding an article that I wouldn’t normally gravitate to, but because of the picture or something, you read it, and you kind of feel enriched because it’s something that you wouldn’t ordinarily read.’’ However, many said they absorbed a story more completely on the Kindle because of the focus on a single item and a lack of competing ads, photographs, and other aspects of thetraditional newspaper.Navigation of the newspaper’s Kindle content was easy for some respondents, more difficult for others, particularly the group’s onlyleft-handed individual because, on the version used here, the controls are on the right side of the device. Some liked how the Kindle allowed them to move story to story. ‘‘It’s pretty intuitive,’’ said a veterinarian, who said he ‘‘read the Kindle pretty much the way I’d read the hard copy.’’ A physician said the Kindle was less bulky than a traditional print product. ‘‘It’s easy, you don’t have to fold and refold. Actually I think it’s easier than with the actual prin t version.’’ However, most respondents preferred a broader look at the news, something the Kindle did not provide. ‘‘The way it was setup it was hard to just sort of skim around to see the titles of the articles,’’ said one woman, an attorney and head of religious education. In general, most found the Kindle easy to use but unsatisfying in its overall approach, at least compared to a broadsheet newspaper.While many respondents were impressed by the Kindle, the majority did not view it as a viable alte rnative for news. The device is ‘‘a workable machine that doesn’t have a lot of zip to it,’’ said one. While stories themselves were highly readable due to the E-ink technology, the overall experience left many respondents unsatisfied. ‘‘It’s not visually very interesting,’’ said one. ‘‘Less appealing,’’ said another.ConclusionsThere is little doubt that the proliferation of mobile media, from smartphones to e-readers to tablets, represents both new challenges and new opportunities for print publishers. The purpose of this study was to discover whether former readers of a metropolitan daily newspaper that withdrew the print product from their geographic area still missed the paper, whether they viewed its web site as a viable alternative, and whether an e-reader—in this case, the Kindle DX—served as a substitute for the print edition. While the majority of in-depth interview respondents said they missed having an available print edition of the newspaper, few found the web site a useful replacement. And while the overall response to the Kindle was positive in terms of readability and portability, many remained unsatisfied with thee-reader as a substitute for the look and feel of the print publication. Perhaps the most surprising in these indepth interviews was how many respondents said they missed the journalistic editorial judgment that results in what is presented on the front and inside pages of a traditional print newspaper. The Kindle provides a list of stories in no obvious order of importance, something several respondents found disconcerting. Respondents also missed other traditional aspects of the newspaper, from comics andcrossword puzzles, to even advertisements, particularly the fat Sunday paper with coupons and inserts. This suggests that, for many, an e-reader version of the newspaper needs to somehow reflect that ‘‘look and feel’’ of both editorial judgment and content while, at the same time, offering new media aspects available in such technology.These results, while suggestive, are clearly limited by the small number of participants. The advantage, however, is the amount of time respondents were able to spend reading the newspaper on the Kindle in their own homes or at work, a more generalizable and real-world scenario, and the subsequent in-depth interviews to gauge their responses to the e-reader. Whether present or future devices offer publishers a substantive revenue stream to support their operations is unclear, and some question whether the concept ofe-readers and e-books make sense in a blended media environment [21].Future research will need to address the growing number of new devices, from the iPad to a host of other tablets, in order to fully understand the effect such mobile media will have on print publishing expectations. From a theoretical perspective, it is vital to place such mobile devices in a continuum of audience expectations from the media and whether tablets are viewed as an enhanced print product. This decision, however, may be made not by publishers but by the audience. 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