Print Circulation Research Articles

Tabloid Dailiesas the Market Leader of the Slovak Daily Press

The paper deals with the question of when Slovak tabloids became the market leader of Slovak daily newspapers. It analyses the results of the audit of the sold circulation of the Slovak daily newspapers Nový čas and Plus JEDEN DEŇ in the period from December 2006 to December 2023 and compares them with the sold circulation of other Slovak daily newspapers involved in the audit during that period. In total, this article monitored the development of the sold circulation of seven Slovak daily newspapers, namely two tabloid newspapers Nový čas and Plus JEDEN DEŇ and five non-tabloids, namely Hospodárske noviny, Korzár, Pravda, SME and Új Szó. The comparison presented in this post is based on data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, which is publicly available online. The aim of this study is to find out when the tabloid Plus JEDEN DEŇ ranked second as the best-selling Slovak periodical with daily periodicity, the tabloid daily Nový čas, and how this trend developed. The question of the position of the daily newspaper Plus JEDEN DEŇ as the second best-selling Slovak newspaper with daily periodicity was analyzed on two levels. In the first case, the paper focuses on the question of in which year the daily Plus JEDEN DEŇ became the second best-selling daily in terms of average monthly circulation sold. In the latter case, this article finds out in which month in which year the second highest position in the daily newspaper Plus JEDEN DEŇ sold circulation within its actual monthly circulation settled. The development of the trend of the leading position of Slovak tabloids on the Slovak daily press market is also monitored in this study on two levels, i.e. how the Plus JEDEN DEŇ ranked on the market of Slovak daily newspapers during the years 2007-2023 within the average monthly circulation sold and also how the Plus JEDEN DEŇ ranked on the market of Slovak daily newspapers during individual months in the period 2006-2023 in terms of actual monthly circulation sold. Keywords: Plus JEDEN DEŇ, print circulation, Nový čas, tabloid dailies.

From Core Business to By-product Why German Media Companies Still Invest in Journalism

The emergence of digital technologies over the past two decades has brought about changes that threaten the very existence of german media companies. The journalistic business model is losing sales, and the decline in print circulations is making it successively difficult to earn money with journalistic products. Therefore, german media companies have been investing in business models that have no relation to journalism to generate growth for years – with success. Considering this development, it is astonishing from a purely economic perspective that media groups, which are increasingly developing into technology companies, are still clinging to the ailing journalistic business model at all. To examine their motives to do so, this study poses the following research question: "Why do media companies still invest in journalistic products today?" To answer it, the researcher conducted interviews with highlevel employees from media companies as part of a qualitative study. Analysis of the data revealed that media companies continue to invest in journalism mainly because they benefit economically from the brands their journalistic products represent. Other reasons like serving as a pillar of the democratic constitution or to help shape public discourse seem to be less important.

Unraveling US Newspapers’ Digital and Print Subscriptions in the Context of Price, 2016–2022

Despite industry-wide efforts in digitally transforming news organizations, research showed that most newspapers’ legacy products still outperformed the same newspaper’s digital offerings in terms of engagement, circulation, readership, pricing, advertising, and subscription revenue—all by a wide margin. But Covid-19 created an unprecedented scenario where the need for instant, local news updates, the fear of contacting anything tangible, and financial stress may have changed consumer behavior. To assess the state of the newspaper industry, this study analyzes short-term and long-term trends in US newspapers’ digital and print circulation before and during the pandemic. The analysis considered price, an important factor often neglected in discussions about newspaper demand. Utilizing rich industry data, this study analyzed 18 US metro daily newspapers’ circulation trends during 2016–2022. The results revealed that digital circulation increased rapidly after the onset of Covid-19 but subsequently decreased after reaching the peak in Q3 2021. Print circulation continued its rapid decline since 2016, accompanied by continuous, substantial price hikes for print subscriptions—a typical print subscription now costs over $1,000 a year. Despite circulation declines, the print edition remains the core product, with more subscribers paying far more than digital subscribers. Because of the immense price gap (6 to 1), the seemingly promising increase in digital subscriptions during Covid-19 could not generate nearly as much revenue to cover the loss on the print side, resulting in a substantial loss in total subscription revenue. The state of the US newspaper industry needs immediate attention.

Reading as Media Consumption: Modern Russian Features

In recent years, the processes of media consumption have exposed a significant transformation. The place of reading in its structure also has changed. The article discusses the similarities between reading books and magazines as a process itself and sociocultural practice. The author suggests that book, magazine and news media consumption is in a relationship of mutual support and mutual influence. The author argues that the habit of such "long" reading is being influenced by crisis phenomena in the periodical segment: a sharp decline in readership, a decline in print circulation and difficulty in accessing. In recent years, the focus on electronic formats of publications has been the main direction in the transformation of reader practices. If e-books are considered as the same "long” reading practice, the similarity with media consumption practices on the Internet, especially in social networks, is doubtful. Despite the fact that in the Internet and social networks the audience also "reads", the intellectual ethic of consuming quick unrelated pieces of information from a variety of sources is changing this sociocultural practice itself. Soon, book reading, quite possibly, will depend on the accumulated practices of Internet surfing, Internet reading and the ability of people to deal with long texts.

The Reading Man in the Mirror of 21st Century Socio-Humanitarian Knowledge

The far reaching changes in reading practices associated with the explosive spread of screen culture have become a challenge both for specialists faced with the outflow of readers from libraries and the decline of in print circulation, and for researchers who need to conceptualize these changes from a theoretical perspective. The aim of the article is to identify possible points of growth for interdisciplinary research into the phenomenon of reading.The presentations at the 4th International Scholarly and Practice Conference “Homo legens in the past and present”, held on 23—25 March 2023 in Novosibirsk and Nizhny Tagil in inperson and remote formats, are reviewed. The event was attended by scholars representing various academic disciplines (cultural history, book studies, sociology, philology, library science, art studies, pedagogy, psychology) and specialists engaged in serving readers and popularizing reading.The method of thematic analysis allowed to identify five trends in studying of reading and reading practices: 1) the use of theoretical approaches inherent in various socio-humanitarian disciplines, which are applicable to the understanding of reading activity; 2) the study of historical aspects of reading; 3) studies formed by representatives of contemporary socio-humanitarian knowledge, who study the phenomenon of reading with the orientation on the use their findings in professional practices; 4) transformations produced by librarians and educators who implement various socio-cultural projects to promote reading; 5) the development of science at the intersection of art studies, literary studies, cultural studies and museum practices. Since the reading is the most important practice that provides the mass audience with socially meaningful information, the authors believe that the scholarly forum, which brought together specialists related to the study of the Reading Man, should serve not only to demonstrate the already achieved scholarly and practice-based results, but also to form the prospects for further research on reading as a complex interdisciplinary phenomenon.This review may be helpful both to scholars and practitioners to working in the field of book and library science to engage readers.

The Politics of Printing and Knowledge Production in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract In this review essay I examine how recent books about print culture and knowledge production in Latin America and the Caribbean have addressed the relationship between printing and power, and in doing so have contributed to global discussions about the hierarchies of knowledge production. The study of print culture in a broader social framework shows how printed materials matter beyond the realm of culture. I explore how these new works have understood printing as political and have unravelled its contentious politics; how they have grappled with the global circulation and mobility of printers, prints, and paper; and how they have examined the relation between printing, reading, and writing and the production of urban space.

"A Nat Turner in Every Family": Exemplarity and Exceptionality in the Print Circulation of Slave Revolt

"A Nat Turner in Every Family": Exemplarity and Exceptionality in the Print Circulation of Slave Revolt

Dealing with Unwanted Donations: A Content Analysis of Small Academic Canadian Library Webpages

While archives and special collections continue to welcome unique and valuable resources, small academic libraries can struggle with how to manage donation offers intended for their main collections. There is a need to be selective considering falling print circulation, workload pressures on library personnel, and space restrictions. Additionally, limited collections funds needed for more current and higher-demand resources can be strained by the higher processing costs of donated materials. These pressures are compounded by prospective donors seeking a home for items they no longer want, a perception that small academic libraries need all donations, and a lack of understanding about the qualifications and expertise of academic library workers. Clearly communicated and regularly reviewed guidelines can help discourage unwanted donations in ways that lessen alienating our patrons. This article provides a content analysis of donations webpages from small academic libraries in Canada to identify trends and provide support for libraries reviewing their own policies and procedures in an effort to manage donor expectations.

Annika Mann. Reading Contagion: The Hazards of Reading in the Age of Print.

Annika Mann. <i>Reading Contagion: The Hazards of Reading in the Age of Print</i>.

Textual Authority in the Vita Nova’s Nineteenth-Century Editions

Abstract This article focuses on the nineteenth-century print circulation of Dante’s Vita Nova (1292–94) and especially on the response in print media to the tension between new critical approaches to text editing, on the one hand, and editors’ dependence on the text’s complex history on the other. At the center of this discussion is one of the thorniest aspects of the Vita Nova’s text: the divisions (technical prose of a scholastic nature in which Dante explains the formal structure of his poems). Over the centuries, Dante’s authority over his own text was brought into question on account of the inclusion in the literary text of what readers and editors considered to be commentary. Even though in the second half of the nineteenth century the editors began recognizing the divisions’ rightful place within the libello’s text, they continued—operating within the centuries-long tradition that did not consider them “text” but rather “gloss”—to engage in efforts to differentiate them from the rest of the text in order to point out their different textual nature.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MOST CIRCULATED PRINT NEWSPAPERS IN INDIA WITH REGARDS TO ORAL HEALTH. AN OVERVIEW

Back ground: News media are an important and influential part of the social environment, calling attention to certain issues by the amount and nature of their coverage.Among them newspaper is certainly the oldest and is still the largest of the major advertising mediums and it still plays an integral role in the Indian decision making regarding products buying preferences. Objective and Methodology: Top six newspapers that have the highest print circulation in India were analysed over a span of three weeks. This included a week of festivity and the two weeks that succeeded it in November 2020 to accommodate the changing trend in advertisements during festivities.A total of 2098 advertisements were analysed based on the advertisements of any products, which were further classified into food based, non-food based, general health and oral hygiene aids. The food based ads were further classified based on their cariogenic potential. Further the articles that were published with regards to health awareness were analysed and classified into those that included oral health awareness.Results: Of all the advertisements that were analysed,39.2% of the ads were food related and 56.32% were food with cariogenic potential.Just 3.6% of the total advertisements were regarding oral hygiene aids. Also just a mere 6 per cent of the total health related coverage was given to the contents on oral health awareness. Conclusion: Across all newspapers, readers were exposed to high volumes of advertising for unhealthy foods,with high caries index.This study thus shows both the constraints and public education opportunities provided by this genre.

Das revistas ilustradas ao fotojornalismo independente: itinerários da prática fotográfica no Brasil do século XX

No Brasil, ao longo do século XX, as fotografias publicadas nas páginas de revistas e jornais modelaram um espaço público visual, em que fatos e fotos se conjugavam na narrativa dos acontecimentos. A cidade do Rio de Janeiro, capital brasileira até 1960, foi o espaço privilegiado para a institucionalização da prática fotográfica, pois nela se concentravam, desde o século XIX, os principais estúdios fotográficos, bem como as casas editoriais responsáveis pela circulação e comercialização de impressos.&#x0D; Neste artigo abordamos os itinerários da fotografia pública no Brasil contemporâneo. Volta-se para a avaliação da produção de um espaço público visual, valorizando três momentos em que a prática fotográfica se consolida em espaços da imprensa semanal, diária e independente: as revistas ilustradas cariocas da primeira metade do século XX, com destaque para quatro magazines: “Careta”, “Revista da Semana”, “Fon-Fon” e “O Cruzeiro"; o fotojornalismo de jornais diários, “Jornal do Brasil” e "Última Hora”, nos anos 1950 e 1960; e as agências de fotógrafos independentes das décadas de 1970 e 1980, como: Central, Angular, F4, AGIL Fotojornalismo, Fotocontexto, entre outras, atuando como importantes instrumentos de documentação dos movimentos sociais, e promovendo a consolidação produção independente, a prática de arquivo dos originais o controle sobre a publicação e difusão de fotografias. Compreende-se que em tais espaços forjou-se a fotografia pública como uma das dimensões da experiência histórica contemporânea que se apoiou na imagem técnica para plasmar seus acontecimentos. Com vistas a indagar sobre como em cada um desses domínios a história foi visualizada, propõe-se um roteiro que se inicia com uma breve consideração sobre fotografia pública e espaço público visual, seguida de uma reflexão sobre produção de notícias nos semanários ilustrados, passando pela inscrição dos acontecimentos no regime dos foto ícones e chegando à prática fotográfica independente.&#x0D; Conceitualmente, compreende-se a prática fotográfica suas formas de ver, apresentar e representar o mundo social como experiência histórica fundadora do mundo ocidental contemporâneo. Os circuitos sociais fotografía e seus usos e funções multiplicaram-se em uma economia visual sustentada na imagem técnica como dispositivo de produção de sentido social. Em termos metodológicos, utiliza-se da análise histórica da documentação primária que se encontra na base de dados da hemeroteca digital da Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil e nos arquivos do Laboratório de Historia Oral e Imagem da Universidade Federal Fluminense. A análise histórica complementa-se com uma avaliação das formas comunicativas e do poder de significação de quatro fotografias, destacadas de cada um dos períodos históricos analisados.

A Utopia of Circulation: The International Society of Pictorial Photographers

This article, examining the circulation of prints, letters and ideas in the context of Pictorialism, deals with an ambitious but long-forgotten federation, the International Society of Pictorial Photographers. Founded in 1905 but almost immediately abandoned, this utopian project to simplify the organisation of international exhibitions did not alter the future of pictorial photography as it was intended to do. Studying its origins, creation and rules, and revealing the causes of its failure, this article sheds light on the politics of Pictorialism and examines one of its most ambivalent characteristics, namely the defence of national interests within a movement relying mostly on international collaboration. It also shows the central role played by Robert Demachy (1859–1936) and Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) in the matter. Despite its disappointing outcome, this story is that of a remarkable exchange of opinions, through sustained correspondence and texts, dealing mainly with the circulation of prints, among members of a global photographic network.

Physical Collections and the 21st-century Theological Library

Collection management in libraries has changed over the past generation in libraries and will undoubtedly continue to do so. In a world of e-books, physical space pressure, consortial reciprocal borrowing, blossoming journal prices, shrinking monograph budgets, and declining print circulation, what is the role of the physical collection in a religious studies or theological library? In this panel discussion, three librarians from various types of religious libraries explore this question through their respective institutional contexts.

Monumental German Faust Editions in International Circulation and Multimedia Modernity

Abstract The article (developing a paper presented at 2010 SHARP international conference) investigates the ways grand Faust editions from the 1850s and 1870s make sense as equivocal cultural objects migrating within and beyond Germany. Scholars have focused on these imposing tomes to herald the play as expression of a nation-centred claim, with Faust as heroic myth. This interpretation relied on costly plates and external characteristics for principal evidence. This article instead draws attention to circulation, transformations and fuller readings of these items, combining first-hand research in many collections. On the one hand, it looks into the editorial versions as adjustable to different audiences and cultures, using editorial data, reception evidence, and image analysis. On the other, it shows how fuller readings of a tome, based on material, symbolic and archival evidence, tell two different stories. This study of a text’s print apparel and circulation, at odds with its significance as a national myth, has implications well beyond this singular work.

Reading Contagion: The Hazards of Reading in the Age of Print

Reading Contagion: The Hazards of Reading in the Age of Print

New Media as an Increasingly Adopted News Dissemination Avenue amid Declining Print Newspaper in Kenya

This study examined the decline of print newspaper subject to new media and its attributes as outlined in the Push Theory of Media Effects in order to inform the debate surrounding the existence of print newspaper. Much has been said about the place of the print newspaper as it faces competition from new media. Pundits, scholars and researchers see this competition as having consequences on print circulation, advertising and jobs. The qualitative research approach was used. This study reviewed literature as secondary sources, and through unstructured interview schedule, insights were sought from two editors from two leading print newspaper firms in Kenya and an accountant from one of the newspaper firms. Additionally, ten journalists from different print newspaper firms, eight newspaper vendors and ten newspaper readers were also interviewed. Purposive sampling was adopted for selecting the respondents. Findings were triangulated and analysed. The study found that indeed print media in Kenya is facing a decline in terms of circulation and advertising revenue, and this can be attributed to competition from new media. Media attributes as provided by the Push Theory of Media Effects that afford new media several advantages over print are accessibility, fidelity, volume, velocity, range, persistence and searchability. Other attributes are interactivity and multimediality. However, print media is and will still be in existence in Kenya because of its survival strategies and credibility.

Nikkei as a complete cross-media system

The scientific paper is devoted to the cross-media system which is built around Japanese economic newspaper Nikkei. The work considers the phenomenon of cross-media, the preconditions of its establishment in Japan, and its functioning with complete Nikkei cross-media platform as an example. Research shows how traditional Japanese daily press evolves into cross-media. The academic work considers the peculiarities of the most influential economic newspaper Nikkei, its history, topics and different channels through which the audience consumes information within the cross-media system. In addition, the author analyzes the circulation of various editions of the newspaper, tracing its changes from 2012 to 2019. The article analyzes how the newspaper builds a cross-media platform around print media, online publications, television, radio, information networks, participation in educational projects and exhibitions, and the introduction of augmented reality elements. The research compares cross-media categories by Gary Hayes with Nikkei cross-media elements, illustrating each category. The author also considers how Nikkei enters the global market, analyzes the processes of globalization and digitization of Japanese media model. The author defines the relationship between the development of online cross-media elements and the steady decline of the print circulations. The results of the work can be used for the further studies of Japanese media theory in domestic and foreign scientific discourses.

Do intelectual exilado

Neste texto propõe-se uma perspetiva inédita sobre o exílio de Jaime Cortesão, verificando como o seu prestígio intelectual, aliado à apetência humanista e de intervenção em coletivos, lhe possibilitaram aceder a redes sociais que, por seu turno, o ampararam e lhe permitiram aprofundar uma obra multímoda. Essas redes, iniciadas no seu país natal, assumiram logo aí uma forte dimensão luso-brasileira e cosmopolita, além de demo-republicana, o que facilitaria a sua integração nos países de acolhimento, França, Espanha e Brasil. Para dar conta deste percurso singular que mescla exílios político e intelectual optou-se por uma análise cruzada da sua faceta de estudioso, ensaísta e ativista político e cívico com uma faceta subvalorizada da sua atividade, a de promotor da edição, do livro e da leitura. Este estudo articula pesquisas sobre a circulação do impresso no século XX, o lugar das ideias e redes de exilados e o exemplo de Jaime Cortesão.

The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture, Volume 5: US Popular Print Culture to 1860 ed. by Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray

Reviewed by: The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture, Volume 5: US Popular Print Culture to 1860 ed. by Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray Amy Sopcak-Joseph (bio) Keywords (Lang: English) Print culture, Print production, Book history, Cultural history The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture, Volume 5: US Popular Print Culture to 1860. Edited by Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. 712. Cloth, $135.00). [End Page 763] A volume with the name “Oxford History” imprinted on it often evokes a specific vision: a weighty tome with hundreds of pages between its boards and a title embossed in neat gold lettering on the wide spine. The book likely sits on the shelf of a personal or university library. This staid vision is the opposite of the kinds of reading matter, and implied readers, that US Popular Print Culture to 1860 takes as its subject in its forty chapters. The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture is a nine-volume series; Volume 5 is the third to see publication. In it, editors Ronald J. Zboray and Mary Saracino Zboray offer up an interdisciplinary set of forty-one contributors from history and literature departments as well as schools of communication and library and information sciences. The result is a collection that not only contextualizes a diverse array of popular texts but also expands the boundaries of what forms constituted “popular print” to begin with. The entire Oxford series centers on the question, “What kind of reading was ‘popular reading’?” (61). The editors of Volume 5 intend to upend any quick and easy answer that their own readers might have in mind. Zboray and Zboray charge that the field of book history in the United States, with which these essays are in conversation, is “too top-down, value-laden, object-centered, supply-sided, processual, and restrictive for a history of popular print culture” (5). While Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin might have sold more copies than any book except the Bible, the Zborays’s volume moves away from privileging bestsellers and even the book form itself. US Popular Print Culture to 1860 strives instead to take cues from early American readers and embraces a capacious definition of “popular print.” In this telling, any kind of text that readers often engaged with falls under the scope. This includes imprints that were produced cheaply and inexpensively for wide distribution. These chapters, however, are attentive to how “alternative literacies” contributed to popular reading (61). Early Americans read letters and wampum belts, copied lines into commonplace books that they circulated among friends, attended lyceum lectures by well-known authors, and viewed commercialized pictures. The editorial decision to focus on the intersection of “popular” print with these oral and manuscript cultures distinguishes this volume from another epic undertaking on the subject, the multi-volume A History of the Book in America series produced in the 2000s by the American Antiquarian Society and published by the University of North Carolina Press. This volume is divided into four parts that are carefully crafted to avoid conveying a progressive narrative or imbuing certain genres with [End Page 764] significance over others. The editors stress that the four parts emphasize “stratification” and that much of the content introduced in early chapters “remains valid throughout ensuing chapters” (10). Within Parts II through IV, chapters appear in alphabetical order to avoid the appearance of ranking each subject’s importance. Such organization drives home two primary goals of the volume. First, Zboray and Zboray take issue with the argument that the history of print in the British North American colonies and the early republic could be characterized by a shift from “scarcity to abundance” (7).1 Second, they demonstrate significant continuities in the production, distribution, and usage of popular print amid technological, economic, and cultural changes. Parts I and II provide a baseline understanding of the production and distribution of texts as well as the genres familiar to early Americans. Part I, “Foundations,” includes synthetic overviews of staple topics of book history: print and book production, authorship, literacy and education, and the circulation of print from the colonial period through 1860...