New York, Dec. 27 (BUS): The presidential election, pandemic and racist reckoning were among the stories that generated intense interest and media engagement in 2020. To a large extent, 2021 represents the inevitable hangover.
Various metrics illustrate the waning popularity of news content.
Cable news networks were the main form of evening entertainment for millions of Americans last year. In 2021 primetime weekday viewership fell 38% at CNN, 34% at Fox News, and 25% at MSNBC, according to Nielsen, as reported by The Association Press (AP).
The decline was less severe but still significant on television evening news: 12% on ABC’s “World News Tonight” and “CBS Evening News”; Nielsen said 14% is on NBC’s Nightly News.
The Trump era saw massive subscriber growth for some digital news sites like The New York Times and The Washington Post. However, readers do not spend much time there; Comscore said the number of unique visitors to the Post was down 44% in November compared to November 2020, and down 34% in the Times.
While the headline on December 23 was on the front page of the Los Angeles Times – “How Much Can We Afford?” – With reference to COVID-19, it can easily be applied to news appetite in general.
For the most part, savvy news managers knew that 2020 peaks weren’t sustainable.
“It was totally predictable,” said news media analyst Ken Doctor.
Perhaps that was most evident in the news networks. They built a prime-time model focused almost entirely on political fighting during the Trump years, said Tom Rosenstiel, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland, which made it difficult for them to switch to something different.
“You become, in a sense, a prisoner of the audience you built,” Rosenstiel said.
These networks remain focused on politics even as viewership dwindles. NewsWhip, which monitors the media, looked at 14 million political articles online last year and found that they had an average of 924 posts, or interactions, on social media. The average post count of 13.5 million articles, which NewsWhip tracks in 2021, was 321.
To some extent, these outlets have turned to other places in search of revenue opportunities, Doctor said. CNN is preparing to launch a new streaming service early next year, and it recently poached Chris Wallace of Fox News to join the effort.
Fox News, while doubling down on conservative commentary after perceived threats from outlets such as Newsmax and OANN, directed fans to streaming service Fox Nation. Arguably Fox’s most-watched program of the year was a documentary about the January 6 Capitol riots by Tucker Carlson, which he asserted was an attempt to silence Trump supporters.
CNN and MSNBC both face major programming resolutions in the new year. CNN must replace its most famous host, Chris Cuomo, who was fired after it was revealed how he helped his brother through a political scandal. MSNBC should replace Brian Williams in its lineup and will likely see its most famous character, Rachel Maddow, cut back on her hours.
Despite the decline in use of the Times digital site, the company has crossed 8 million subscriptions and is on its way to growing even more. Dr. said the Times has done an effective job of diversifying outside politics, most notably through its Wirecutter service of consumer recommendations.
Leaders in The Washington Post wrestled with how to deal with their readers’ reliance on political inclination, according to the Wall Street Journal. Doctor said the company is looking internationally for opportunities to grow, a focus that plays to the strength of its new executive editor, Sally Busby.
“People are somewhat focused inward,” Rosenstiel said. “They are getting the news they need but it’s not as much news as it was a year ago.”
Especially for the national media, Rosenstiel said, 2021 is best remembered as a transition year away from the frenetic news pace of the Trump years.
He sees the impact of those years in the intensity with which the media covered every twist and turn in legislative negotiations over President Joe Biden’s “Building Back Better” bill. Like most business in Congress, it is slow-moving and full of incremental developments.
He worries that the focus on this story has distracted from other priorities, including the focus on domestic efforts to restrict voting rights, an ultimately more important story.
Nearly 100 to 120 local newspapers closed in 2021, a number in line with declines in the past two decades, Penelope Moss Abernathy, a professor at Northwestern University, said.
However, local news outlets are also expected to drop the fewest number of jobs in 14 years, according to research firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. This comes after 2020, which saw the largest number of newsroom jobs lost since 2008.
“What we’re seeing this year is sort of a watershed moment in the pivot from a print business model waning to a digital one that’s starting to take shape,” said Timothy Franklin, Abernathy Fellow at Northwestern.
He cited the Boston Globe and Minneapolis Star Tribune as successful newspapers in the transition period.
Local news outlets have seen an increase in digital subscriptions as people sought information in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. While interest in news of the pandemic has waned, Abernathy said she believes the outlets are doing well in maintaining many of these new subscribers.
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