Newspapers Come In Last

A survey conducted by Iran’s Communications and Information Technology News Agency (CITNA) on how people in November/December 2016 source their news content in Iran marks a worrying era for the age-old newspaper.

However, what the survey found does not fit well with groups of social pundits and journalists in and outside Iran who insist that the internet and all forms of social media have not (yet) posed a serious threat to the newspaper per se.

Had that been the case, they say, most if not all the major newspapers and journals across the world would long back have become “a thing of the past and consigned to history.”

CITNA asked respondents: What is your primary source of news?

Of the nearly 400 respondents to the online poll, 46%  said they get their latest news from news websites.

Another 34% said they rely entirely on social networks to find out what’s happening around the world. These methods can include social messaging programs like Telegram Messenger and Instagram.

Another 19% of respondents said they get their daily quota of news/information via the evening news on IRIB. Television and radio is useful for many as it gives local news bulletins related to cities and traffic conditions.  

However, the worst performer in the poll was newspapers with a measly 1% of people saying they still use this method to find out what is going on.

This poll shows the drift from traditional forms of media, i.e. print and television media to smaller screens like mobile phones and tablets.

Financial Tribune’s sister publication Donya-e-Eqtesad notes that “Iranians hardly read an average of 32 minutes of newspapers annually,” according to the National Library Center.

However, one of the key areas of dissemination of news these days by the newspapers is via social media apps like Telegram where sub-groups follow ‘channels’ of news subject.