NEWSPLAN has undertaken surveys of local newspaper use to
capture a picture of how newspapers are read and consulted in
libraries and record offices in the UK. There will be further
surveys at intervals in the future.
Use of local newspapers in London & the South East
The survey of February 2004 of readers in London and the South
East found that:
- 39% were reading about political news, 34% about local events,
29% business & financial affairs, 28% sport, 23% cultural
topics
- 21% were consulting obituaries, a range within 15%-20% reading
about legal affairs & crime, advertisements, births marriages
& deaths, and looking for pictures (specific or general) while
a range within 10%-15% looked at house & buildings histories
and ?other? information (such as job & property
seeking)
- 43% said their purpose was to research family & local
history while 42% stated 'private interest' as the purpose of their
search (many of those who cited this would be looking for more
specific subjects like family & local history, as in the 1999
survey)
- 36% were reading local newspaper titles 20-100 years old, 35%
reading newspapers 20 or less years old and nearly 14% reading
newspapers 100 or more years old; the equivalent figures for
reading national newspaper titles were 11%, nearly 37% and almost
6%
- as previously many readers were studying more than one of the
subjects listed and reading newspapers in more than one age group:
75% said they found what they were seeking and 75% also said they
found, unplanned, items of interest to them
- the more extensive reading of such subjects as political news,
business & financial affairs and sport is due in part to the
much greater incidence of use of national newspaper titles during
the 2004 survey than the previous one of 1999
Survey findings in the UK
Follow the link for a full set of the
regional survey results of the 10 NEWSPLAN
regions of the UK