Does the internet kill newspapers? The case of South Korea

Abstract

In South Korea, the number of households with subscriptions to print newspapers has substantially decreased in recent years. This study examines the reasons for this decline by analyzing the Korea Media Panel (KMP) data of the period 2011–2018 using a random-effects logit model. An empirical analysis indicates that a household is less likely to subscribe to print newspapers, as its family members spend less time reading newspaper articles, and as they are more likely to rely on the Internet for access to newspaper articles. In other words, print newspaper subscriptions have declined due to two reasons, namely, a decrease in the demand for newspaper articles and the emergence of online newspapers as a substitute for print newspapers. Next, this study identifies the socioeconomic factors affecting the demand for newspaper articles and the substitutability between print and online newspapers by applying a random-effects tobit model to the KMP data. One of the main results demonstrate that young and less educated individuals tend to spend less time reading newspaper articles, whether print or online. Based on the results, several policy implications are suggested.