State of the News Media 2014

A year ago, the State of the News Media report struck a somber note, citing evidence of continued declines in the mainstream media that were impacting both content and audience satisfaction. Many of these issues still exist; some have deepened and new ones have emerged. Still, the level of new activity this past year is creating a perception that something important, perhaps even game-changing, is going on.

If the developments in 2013 are at this point only a drop in the bucket, it feels like a heavier drop than most. The momentum behind them is real, if the full impact on citizens and our news system remains unclear. This year’s Annual Report set out to examine these shifts -- in revenue, in jobs, in technology, in content, in consumer behavior. It is structured a bit differently than in the past -- to account for the widening of the industry, the growing influence of technology and new ways of sharing of our data.

This year’s report includes four original research reports and two graphical presentations, along with key findings and a searchable database of all the statistics gathered in past years. From these reports, six major trends emerge:

1. Thirty of the largest digital-only news organizations account for about 3,000 jobs and one area of investment is global coverage.
2. So far, the impact of new money flowing into the industry may be more about fostering new ways of reporting and reaching audience than about building a new, sustainable revenue structure.
3. Social and mobile developments are doing more than bringing consumers into the process -- they are also are changing the dynamics of the process itself.
4. New ways of storytelling bring both promise and challenge.
5. Local television, which reaches about nine in ten U.S. adults, experienced massive change in 2013, change that stayed under the radar of most. Nearly 300 full-power local TV stations changed hands in 2013 at a price of roughly $8 billion.
6. Dramatic changes under way in the makeup of the American population will undoubtedly have an impact on news in the US, and in one of the fastest growing demographic groups -- Hispanics -- we are already seeing shifts.