25 anos de imprensa diária nos EUA Faz este mês 25 anos que começou a publicar-se a revista Presstime, da Newspaper Association of America (NAA), então designada American Newspaper Publishers Association. O presidente da altura era Al Neubarth, o qual dirigia a Gannett Co. que viria a lançar, três anos depois, o USA Today. Em número de aniversário, a Presstime convidou Al Neubarth a reflectir sobre o período de tempo entretanto transcorrido, e que foi também um tempo de decréscimo da circulação de jornais diários. São de destacar três tempos no seu texto: 1. dados da evolução da imprensa; 2.reflexão sobre as causas dessa evolução; 3. linhas para a acção futura: 1. Dados da evolução da imprensa: Then, there were 1,763 daily newspapers in the United States. Now, there are 1,456. Then, the combined circulation of daily newspapers was 62.2 million. Now, it is 55.1 million. Then, the country?s population was 220 million. Now, it is 294 million. Then, most daily newspapers sold for 25 cents. Now, most cost 50 cents. But 42 dailies sell for 75 cents, and 21 cost a dollar. 2. Reflexão sobre esta evolução Why has daily newspaper circulation decreased by more than 7 million while population has increased by 74 million? Consolidation of evening papers with morning where both were under the same ownership. Generally, that resulted in a better bottom line for owners and a better single newspaper for readers, rather than two that were so-so. But circulation took a big hit. Many newspapers, especially in major cities, simply weren?t considered as good by readers as their editors and publishers thought. So they died. Many newspaper owners have spent too much time, energy and money hedging their bets and dividing their attention on radio, TV, the Internet. Some have wasted time on ownership of sports teams and other unrelated diversions. Many newspaper owners and editors still want to be kingmakers, trying to determine who should be elected to city hall, the governor?s office or the White House. No matter their choice, most readers resent being told how to vote, and those who think we are politically biased often cancel subscriptions. 3. Linhas para o futuro: We must make regular newspaper readers out of minorities?Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans. They are the most rapidly growing segment of our society. We must attract kids of all races to newspapers from the time they start to read or are being read to.