Newspapers Lose Relevance as a News Source

This chart shows the results of a survey among U.S. smartphone and tablet owners regarding their primary news source.

As new technologies emerge, the roles of established technologies often change. Before television reached broad adoption in the 1950s, people had to rely on radios and newspapers to get the latest news from around the world. The role of television was challenged by the internet and the way we consume online news is about to be changed by mobile devices.

Last week, mobile ad network Mojiva published the results of a survey regarding news consumption of smartphone and tablet owners in the United States. The results of the survey among 2,000 mobile device owners show that computers and television are the primary news source for most respondents. Meanwhile only one percent of smartphone and tablet owners consider newspapers their primary news source.

Now that online sources deliver news 24/7, newspapers appear to have lost relevance as a news medium. To avoid obsolescence, newspaper publishers should embrace their new role and focus on in-depth analysis rather than news delivery.