JMM 102 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Two sources of revenue for newspapers - Answer -1. Advertising
2. Circulation
Newspaper Advertising - Answer -- local classified
- local or "retail" advertising
- national advertising
Decline in revenue-newspapers:
advertising - Answer -- classifieds
- fragmenting
Classified - Answer -replaced by digital
Fragmenting - Answer -long tail programmatic advertising
Decline in revenue-newspapers:
circulation - Answer -- shifting readership trends: nobody reads hard copies
- circulation revenues have morphed into digital subscription revenues
History of Newspapers in the US (1735-1770) - Answer -- 1735 John Peter Zenger
acquitted of libel: first time American courts find truth a defense against libel claims
- Audience primarily wealthy elite as newspapers covered mostly shipping news and
political essays
- British taxes on paper 1760s and 1770s
History of Newspapers in the US
(1780-- mid-1800s) - Answer -- Published by political parties (1780s-1820s)
- Focused on opinion, not news
- Expensive (about 6 cents/copy) and had small circulation, dominated by yearly
subscriptions
- First Amendment adopted in 1791
- Steam-powered printing press (1814, The Times of London)
- Paper mills made rag paper originally using cotton rags imported form Europe, but by
mid-1800s, paper was made from wood pulp
Newspaper early "enablers" - Answer -- Industrial Revolution
- Lower price and easier production of paper
- Penny press
Industrial Revolution (newspapers) - Answer -- migration from rural communities to
urban centers
- increasing middle class, different reading tastes than elite's (shipping news and
political essays)
, - steam powered rotary press
Penny press revolution - Answer -- Benjamin Day's idea in 1883: The New York Sun -
"It shines for all"
- Sold on the street for one or two cents
- Increased popularity/circulation led to increased advertising revenues
- Supported primarily by advertising and to a lesser extent circulation revenues
- Other newspapers focused on political essays, often sponsored by political parties
- Penny press focused on news, for the average reader, not the elite
- Birth of the press as objective and independent, crucial for democracy
3 Possible business models for local news - Answer -1. The Cooperative
2. Non-profit conversion
3. Government support
The Cooperative - Answer -- members "buy in" with varying degrees of involvement in
editorial decisions
Non-profit conversion - Answer -- more about the tax status than the profit
Government support - Answer -- Public broadcast stations receive about 50% of their
funding from CPB and other governmental sources (annual federal budget
approximately $400-500 million per year)
- Different outside of the US
- New Jersey experimenting with this concept
Hard paywalls - Answer -force consumers to subscribe in order to read, listen, or watch
news
advantages of hard paywalls - Answer -targeted niche audience, premium content
disadvantages of hard paywalls - Answer -lower circulation/readership, inflexibility
Soft paywalls (many academic journals) - Answer -allows some content to be shared,
such as summaries
Meter (or metered) paywalls - Answer -allows a certain number of articles to be read,
typically per month
- about 5-10% of most engaged readers convert to subscribers
Freemiums - Answer -divide free and paid access based on type of content
(variety/variety VIP)
Leaky or porous paywall - Answer -exceptions to a hard paywalls (through Twitter,
during emergencies, delete cookies)
Two sources of revenue for newspapers - Answer -1. Advertising
2. Circulation
Newspaper Advertising - Answer -- local classified
- local or "retail" advertising
- national advertising
Decline in revenue-newspapers:
advertising - Answer -- classifieds
- fragmenting
Classified - Answer -replaced by digital
Fragmenting - Answer -long tail programmatic advertising
Decline in revenue-newspapers:
circulation - Answer -- shifting readership trends: nobody reads hard copies
- circulation revenues have morphed into digital subscription revenues
History of Newspapers in the US (1735-1770) - Answer -- 1735 John Peter Zenger
acquitted of libel: first time American courts find truth a defense against libel claims
- Audience primarily wealthy elite as newspapers covered mostly shipping news and
political essays
- British taxes on paper 1760s and 1770s
History of Newspapers in the US
(1780-- mid-1800s) - Answer -- Published by political parties (1780s-1820s)
- Focused on opinion, not news
- Expensive (about 6 cents/copy) and had small circulation, dominated by yearly
subscriptions
- First Amendment adopted in 1791
- Steam-powered printing press (1814, The Times of London)
- Paper mills made rag paper originally using cotton rags imported form Europe, but by
mid-1800s, paper was made from wood pulp
Newspaper early "enablers" - Answer -- Industrial Revolution
- Lower price and easier production of paper
- Penny press
Industrial Revolution (newspapers) - Answer -- migration from rural communities to
urban centers
- increasing middle class, different reading tastes than elite's (shipping news and
political essays)
, - steam powered rotary press
Penny press revolution - Answer -- Benjamin Day's idea in 1883: The New York Sun -
"It shines for all"
- Sold on the street for one or two cents
- Increased popularity/circulation led to increased advertising revenues
- Supported primarily by advertising and to a lesser extent circulation revenues
- Other newspapers focused on political essays, often sponsored by political parties
- Penny press focused on news, for the average reader, not the elite
- Birth of the press as objective and independent, crucial for democracy
3 Possible business models for local news - Answer -1. The Cooperative
2. Non-profit conversion
3. Government support
The Cooperative - Answer -- members "buy in" with varying degrees of involvement in
editorial decisions
Non-profit conversion - Answer -- more about the tax status than the profit
Government support - Answer -- Public broadcast stations receive about 50% of their
funding from CPB and other governmental sources (annual federal budget
approximately $400-500 million per year)
- Different outside of the US
- New Jersey experimenting with this concept
Hard paywalls - Answer -force consumers to subscribe in order to read, listen, or watch
news
advantages of hard paywalls - Answer -targeted niche audience, premium content
disadvantages of hard paywalls - Answer -lower circulation/readership, inflexibility
Soft paywalls (many academic journals) - Answer -allows some content to be shared,
such as summaries
Meter (or metered) paywalls - Answer -allows a certain number of articles to be read,
typically per month
- about 5-10% of most engaged readers convert to subscribers
Freemiums - Answer -divide free and paid access based on type of content
(variety/variety VIP)
Leaky or porous paywall - Answer -exceptions to a hard paywalls (through Twitter,
during emergencies, delete cookies)
