Community newspapers continue to connect

A recent survey conducted by the National Newspaper Association found that readers of community newspapers — local daily or non-daily newspapers with a circulation of 15,000 or less — prefer these publications for getting their news and advertising information. These results are consistent with those from previous studies.

Forty-nine percent of community newspaper readers with Internet access said they never read local news online, indicating that small-town residents still rely on printed newspapers for this information, and 47 percent of online users said they would choose a newspaper’s Web site as their favorite source of local news information.

Other key findings include:

• 71 percent of respondents read a community newspaper at least once a week.

• 84 percent say they look forward to reading newspapers.

• 75 percent read all or most of their community newspaper.

• 75 percent of readers are entertained by newspapers.

• 89 percent of readers say community newspapers carry stories about their particular interests.

• Community newspaper readers spend nearly 40 minutes a day reading the local paper — an increase of 2.5 percent from the previous year.

• The pass-along readership rate of community newspapers is 2.18 readers per copy.

• 92 percent of community newspaper readers think local newspapers are informative.

• 83 percent of readers said they and their families rely on the newspaper for local news and information.

• 69 percent believe that newspapers provide valuable local shopping and advertising information.

• 84 percent of local newspaper readers read grocery ads and inserts.

• More than half of community newspaper readers clipped a print story or shared a Web site story link in the past year.

• 78 percent believe governments should be required to publish public notices in newspapers.

• 85 percent of community newspaper readers read public notices.

• More than half of community newspaper readers prefer their local newspaper over television and radio for information about their community.

• Seven of 10 local newspaper readers believe the coverage and accuracy of their paper is either “good” or “excellent,” demonstrating their trust in the product over other media sources.

• 96 percent of readers pay for their community newspaper.

• 84 percent of readers find local newspapers easy to use.