Amid the present crisis of pandemic, several studies found that the industry of newspaper is on the verge of collapse. But the fact is, people still rely on newspapers to get authentic information.
More than two thirds or 66.5 per cent of respondents said that the newspaper is still the most important source of information, according to the IANS C Voter Media Tracker. 29.2 per cent respondents disagreed with the construct at an all India level while 66.5 per cent agreed.
To emphasise the importance in Covid times, 63.1 per cent said reading newspapers has become more important to the readers after Corona while 31.2 per cent disagreed.
75.5 per cent said they prefer newspapers for a holistic coverage of all news and current affairs while only 12.5 disagreed with the notion.
In comparison with TV news channel debates, as many as 72.9 per cent respondents said that a newspaper report gives more information than a shouting TV channel debate while 21.5 per cent disagreed.
The survey found that news is shared actively over the phone as 68.1 per cent said that, “When I read something important, I forward to others on phone”.
However, given the reach of TV, 40 per cent identified TV news channels as the most trustworthy source of information, 29.2 per cent said it was newspapers, 14.9 per cent said it was social media, 4.5 per cent said radio and FM and 2.5 per cent said it was websites.
On advertising trends, 76.5 per cent disagreed that “I buy things just because of advertisement in TV channels” while 19.3 per cent agreed.
74.5 per cent said that advertisements in TV channels are more for entertainment value while 18.5 per cent disagreed.
67.5 per cent said there are way too many ad breaks during IPL matches while 12.7 disagreed and 65.2 per cent said given a chance they would like to watch cricket matches without ad breaks.
52.2 per cent respondents said even after watching a match live they like to read about it in the newspaper while 30.2 per cent disagreed. 65 per cent said advertisements in newspapers are more useful while 24.6 per cent disagreed.
The survey had a sample size of of 5,000 plus respondents across India covering all districts in all the states, representing the demographic profile according to latest census figures.
The interviews were conducted in last week of September and first week of October 2020.
The margin of error is +/- 3% at National level and +/- 5% at regional levels. Data is weighted to the known Demographic profile.
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