---
title: "Newspaper Nightmare"
description: "Only a quarter of Americans say they read a print version of a newspaper."
date: "2009-04-07"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2009/04/07/newspaper-nightmare/"
---

# Newspaper Nightmare

The newspaper industry has been making quite a bit of news itself lately, as metro papers across the country close shop. The trend is unmistakable: fewer Americans (only 25%) are reading print newspapers. That’s down 9 percentage points from 2006, when 34% said they read a print newspaper. True, more Americans are reading newspapers online now; 14% say they read a newspaper online yesterday (including 9% who only read online), up from 9% in 2006 (5% only online). However, this increase in online readership does not make up for the total loss in readership. The percentage of Americans reading a newspaper (online or in print) fell from 43% in 2006 to 39% in 2008. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/pubs/1133/decline-print-newspapers-increased-online-news)