They gave local news away for free. Virtually nobody wanted it.
When 2,529 people were offered a free subscription to their local
newspapers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Philadelphia Inquirer,
only forty-four accepted--less than 2 percent--according to an
academic study set to be published this year in the American Journal
of Political Science.
Dan Hopkins, a political science professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, conducted the study, titled "Unsubscribed and
Undemanding," in 2021. The purpose of the research, Hopkins said, was
to assess practical ways to increase interest in local or regional
news for an audience that seems more interested in national, partisan
media outlets. (The pool of those offered subscriptions was made up of
locals who had previously responded to political surveys.) Hopkins
said that he was "surprised and dismayed" when he realized that only
1.7 percent had accepted the free subscription.
https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/they-gave-local-news-away-for-free-virtually-nobody-wanted-it.php
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