It is not possible to draw young people back to reading newspapers in this electronic age of Internet and TV. Internet technology has made young people shift to online social media sites where they can access almost everything found in a newspaper. The majority of young audience use online social media sites. Through online social networking sites like Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Intagram, young people can access almost all the information they require. Therefore, there is no need to buy a newspaper yet the information provided there can be accessed cheaply on social media and TV.

If newspaper firms and other stakeholders do not take necessary action, the newspapers will fade out as young people shift to online digital platforms and TV. The newspaper revenue, workforce, and readership have declined significantly in the past two decades. A research study found that the weekly newspaper circulation fell by 7% in 2015 while advertising revenue dropped by 8% between 2014 and 2015. From the year 2004 to 2015, the newspaper circulation and readership declined by 6.6%. There was a decline of 3.1% in 2005, 10.6% in 2009, and 6.7% in 2015. Additionally, the newspaper workforce declined by 20,000 positions (39%) in the last two decades. The total revenue of the newspaper industry declined by 2.6% in 2013. Large newspaper firms like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times recorded losses during this period. With low revenue and losses, some newspaper firms have closed down. Newspaper firms such as E.W. Scripps, Gannett With, and Journal Communications have ceased their independent operations and merged.

More so, only 36% of the U.S. adults have learned something about the current U.S. election from newspaper while 65% learned from digital source and, 78% learned from television sources. Currently, only 20% of American adults receive information from print newspaper, 25% of them receive information from radio while 28% receive news from news websites and apps. However, 20 years ago, newspapers outranked the internet and radio as the main news source. From these trends, it is evident that young people are shifting to digital platforms or TV sources for information. If newspapers continue with the status quo, they will fade out.

Therefore, the newspaper industry must develop strategies to draw the young audience back to reading print media. The above evidence clearly shows that the majority of the young audience use digital sources to read news including newspaper websites, social media sites, and apps. The young audience wants news delivered in the bite-sized packages with limited contents. This means that newspaper firms should shift to digital platform and make their contents brief to appeal to the young audience. Newspaper firms should develop apps software and mobile websites and then market them to young people. Additionally, these firms should rigorously use online social media platforms to post their news providing links to the online news articles they post on the mobile website. Mobile website is preferred because the majority of young audience own internet-enabled cellphones.

Additionally, newspaper firms should review their contents and write short contents that does not consume much time to read. Short newspaper contents are likely to appeal to young audience. More so, since young people receive almost all the news on digital platforms (online), the newspaper firms should focus on unique contents that are not available online. Their reporting should also be unique. For instance, they should focus on celebrity and fashion issues because this will appeal to young audience who like reading about celebrities. A newspaper firm can develop a policy that a third of its contents is basically about celebrities and fashion.

Danielle Watson is a talented writer at https://mid-terms.com/reviews. She likes to depict her thoughts on the paper.