In an unsurprising, but undeniably sad, reflection on the state of the US newspaper industry, a major survey shows that newsroom jobs have fallen to their lowest level since 1978, the year of the first such survey.
The latest annual decline to the 37-year low totalled 10.4%, according to the research by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE). It shows that newsroom employment dropped to 32,900 in 2014 compared to 36,700 the year before.
Readers are, of course, preferring to go online for news information. Unfortunately, participation in the survey by online-only news outlets was relatively small. A bigger sample might have painted a somewhat different editorial employment picture.
One interesting feature of the survey’s results was that employment at large-circulation newspapers - those with daily sales between 250,000 and 500,000 - increased by 13.98%, while those with circulations under 5,000 registered a 15.9% increase.
But the bulk of papers sell between 100,000 and 250,000, and their drop was an eye-popping 21.58%, which was the reason for the overall decline in numbers.
ASNE’s histortic figures show that newspaper employment peaked in 2011 at 56,400.
Source and full report: ASNE
