2004 Annual Report on the State of the News Media

Newspaper Topline

 
Sample Dates: Circulation Groups:
January - 8, 16 Circ. Group 1 = Over 750,000
February - 10, 16, 19, 21, 25 Circ. Group 2 = 300,001 - 750,000
March - 12, 30 Circ. Group 3 = 100,000 = 300,000
April - 15, 19, 25 Circ. Group 4 = Less than 100,000
May - 5, 6, 17, 29, 30    
June - 7, 16, 18    
July - 8, 20, 24    
August - 9, 31    
September - 4, 26    
October - 6    
   
BY STORY            
TOTAL N = 5,867 STORIES            
  All All All All All
  Newspaper Sections Sections Sections Sections
  Total Front Pages Circ 1 Circ 2 Circ 3 Circ 4
  N=5,867 N=2,082 N=1,615 N=1,461 N=1,349 N=1,442
 
TIMEFRAME % % % % % %
Pre-Iraq Combat Operations (January 1 to February 15) 11 11 11 11 12 11
Lead-Up to Iraq Combat (February 16 to March 16) 18 18 19 17 18 19
Iraq Combat Operations (March 17 to May 1) 14 14 14 14 15 13
Post-Combat Operations (May 2 October 6) 57 57 57 58 55 57
             
PLACEMENT % % % % % %
Front Page 35 100 41 37 37 26
Style Front 25 0 28 24 22 27
Metro Front 39 0 31 39 41 47
             
STORY LENGTH % % % % % %
100 Word or Less 3 2 3 * 1 9
101-500 Words 19 8 6 18 22 34
501-1000 Words 43 37 28 50 52 44
Above 1000 Words 34 54 64 32 25 13
             
STORY ORIGINATION % % % % % %
Staff Reported 85 76 97 88 78 77
Wire 10 21 * 8 18 17
Combo Staff/Wire 2 2 * 2 2 2
No Source/Can't Tell 2 1 2 1 2 5
             
BIG STORY/RECURRING LEAD % % % % % %
All Big Stories 23 47 31 22 23 16
All Iraq-Related Big Stories 10 23 14 10 10 7
All Other Intl. Big Stories 2 6 3 2 3 2
All U.S. Based Big Stories 10 18 13 10 10 8
Not a Big Story 77 53 69 78 77 84
             
TOP SPECIFIC BIG STORIES            
Pre-War Activities 2 5 3 3 2 1
Combat Ops. (Not Jessica Lynch) 3 5 3 2 3 1
Post-War Military Activities 2 3 1 2 2 2
Struggle to Rebuild Iraq 2 5 3 2 1 1
States Face Budget Crises 2 3 2 2 3 2
             
PROTAGONIST % % % % % %
All Single Protagonist 32 28 31 36 33 29
All Institutional Protagonist 17 21 20 16 17 14
No Protagonist 51 51 49 48 50 56
             
STORY TOPIC % % % % % %
ALL GOVERNMENT 21 26 24 20 23 17
Exec. Branch/Admin 3 5 4 4 2 2
Nat'l/State/Local (Legislation or Institution) 8 8 8 7 9 7
Government Agencies 2 2 3 2 3 2
Law/Courts 5 7 5 5 6 4
Campaigns/Elections 3 5 5 3 3 2
DEFENSE 1 3 2 1 1 1
ALL DOMESTIC AFFAIRS 19 22 19 22 20 19
Disease/Public Health 2 2 1 2 2 1
Education 5 4 3 6 6 7
Environment 3 2 2 4 2 4
Health Care System 1 2 1 1 2 1
Transportation 2 1 2 2 2 2
Terrorist Acts 1 2 1 1 1 *
Terrorism – Prevention Efforts 1 2 2 1 2 1
Domestic Affairs Other 4 6 6 5 3 3
BUSINESS / COMMERCE 4 6 4 5 4 3
CRIME 7 7 5 7 7 6
ALL FOREIGN AFFAIRS 7 18 9 7 8 4
Foreign Affairs-Diplomacy 3 9 5 3 3 2
Foreign Affairs-Military Activities 4 10 4 4 5 3
ALL ACCIDENTS / DISASTERS 3 4 2 3 4 3
Accidents (no intent) 2 2 1 2 2 2
Unusual Weather 1 1 1 1 1 1
Catastrophes/Disasters (no intent) 1 1 * * 1 *
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY 2 3 3 2 2 2
Science 1 1 1 * 1 *
Medical Research 1 1 1 1 1 1
Technology * 1 1 * * 1
CELEBRITY/ENTERTAINMENT 8 1 10 9 7 7
Entertainment/Celeb 8 1 10 8 7 6
Celeb. Crime/Scandal * * * * 0 *
LIFESTYLE 23 8 19 20 20 32
Human Interest/Popular Behavior 6 2 5 4 5 10
Pop Culture 3 1 3 4 2 3
Health Trends 1 1 1 1 1 2
Religion 2 1 1 2 1 2
Travel 1 0 1 * * 1
Cooking/Food 2 * 1 1 2 2
Family/Parenting 2 * 1 2 1 3
Civilization/Culture/High Arts 4 1 5 3 3 5
Sports 2 2 1 2 1 2
Other 2 * 1 2 2 2
OTHER 4 2 3 4 4 7
Consumer News 1 * * 2 1 3
News Media 1 * 1 1 1 *
Oddball News 1 * * 1 * 3
Weather (non-disaster) * * * * * *
Other 1 1 * 1 1 1
             
STORY TOPIC BY REGION % % % % % %
All Local/Metro 66 44 43 71 74 81
All Regional 6 7 11 5 2 3
All National 16 20 26 14 13 10
All U.S.-Related International 9 23 13 8 9 5
All Non-U.S. Related International 3 7 7 2 1 1
             
SOURCING: NAME/TITLE WITH RELATIONSHIP % % % % % %
None 13 2 8 9 9 25
One to Three 36 27 25 37 43 37
Four or More 52 71 67 54 48 38
             
SOURCING: UNNAMED/UNTITLED            
WITH RELATIONSHIP EXPLAINED % % % % % %
None 72 55 55 77 76 82
One to Three 22 32 34 18 18 16
Four or More 6 13 10 4 5 2
             
SOURCING: UNNAMED/NO EXPLANATION            
OF RELATIONSHIP % % % % % %
None 98 96 97 99 98 97
One to Three 2 4 2 * 2 2
Four or More * * * 0 * *
             
             
BY VOLUME            
TOTAL N =5,161,941 words            
  All All All All All
  Newspaper Sections Sections Sections Sections
  Total Front Pages Circ 1 Circ 2 Circ 3 Circ 4
  N = 5,161,941 N = 2,312,239 N = 1,940,301 N = 1,291,507 N = 1,083,202 N = 846,931
             
STORY ORIGINATION % % % % % %
Staff Reported 87 81 98 90 75 73
Wire 10 17 * 7 22 23
Combo Staff/Wire 2 2 * 2 2 2
No Source/Can't Tell 1 * 1 1 1 2
             
BIG STORY/RECURRING LEAD % % % % % %
All Big Stories 28 49 34 23 28 21
All Iraq-Related Big Stories 13 24 16 11 13 8
All Other Intl. Big Stories 3 6 4 1 3 2
All U.S. Based Big Stories 12 19 14 11 12 10
Not a Big Story 72 51 66 77 72 79
             
STORY TOPIC % % % % % %
ALL GOVERNMENT 22 26 25 20 23 19
Exec. Branch/Admin 3 5 4 3 2 2
Nat'l/State/Local (Legislation or Institution) 8 7 8 7 9 8
Government Agencies 2 3 3 2 3 2
Law/Courts 5 7 5 6 6 5
Campaigns/Elections 4 5 6 3 3 3
DEFENSE 2 3 2 1 1 2
ALL DOMESTIC AFFAIRS 20 21 18 23 19 20
Disease/Public Health 2 2 1 2 2 2
Education 5 4 3 6 6 7
Environment 3 2 2 4 2 4
Health Care System 1 2 1 2 2 1
Transportation 2 1 1 2 1 2
Terrorist Acts 1 2 1 1 1 *
Terrorism – Prevention Efforts 2 2 2 1 2 1
Domestic Affairs Other 5 7 7 6 3 3
BUSINESS / COMMERCE 5 6 5 5 5 4
CRIME 6 8 5 8 6 6
ALL FOREIGN AFFAIRS 9 19 10 8 11 5
Foreign Affairs-Diplomacy 4 8 5 3 4 2
Foreign Affairs-Military Activities 5 11 5 5 7 3
ALL SPONTANEOUS EVENTS 3 3 2 2 4 3
Accidents (no intent) 1 2 1 2 1 2
Unusual Weather 1 1 1 1 1 1
Catastrophes/Disasters (no intent) 1 1 * * 1 *
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY 2 3 3 2 2 2
Science 1 1 1 * 1 *
Medical Research 1 2 2 1 1 1
Technology * * 1 * * 1
CELEBRITY/ENTERTAINMENT 7 1 8 8 6 4
Entertainment/Celeb 7 1 8 7 6 4
Celeb. Crime/Scandal * * * * 0 *
LIFESTYLE 21 8 19 20 20 28
Human Interest/Popular Behavior 5 2 4 4 5 8
Pop Culture 3 1 3 3 2 2
Health Trends 1 * * 1 1 2
Religion 1 1 1 2 1 2
Travel 1 0 1 * * 1
Cooking/Food 1 * 1 1 2 2
Family/Parenting 1 1 1 2 2 3
Civilization/Culture/High Arts 4 1 5 3 3 3
Sports 2 2 1 2 1 2
Other 1 * 1 2 2 2
OTHER 3 1 2 3 3 6
Consumer News 1 * * 1 1 3
News Media 1 * 1 1 1 *
Oddball News * * * * * 1
Weather (non-disaster) * * * * * *
Other 1 1 * 1 1 1
             
STORY TOPIC BY REGION % % % % % %
All Local/Metro 59 41 40 69 69 75
All Regional 7 8 13 5 3 5
All National 18 20 25 14 14 12
All U.S.-Related International 12 24 14 10 13 8
All Non-U.S. Related International 4 7 8 2 2 1
             
*NOTE: Due to rounding, totals may not equal 100%