Should Online Publishers Launch (or Keep) a Print Versions?

Print news readers recall significantly more than online news readers. Slate columnist Jack Shafer experienced this himself when he canceled his print subscription to

Print news readers recall significantly more than online news readers. Slate columnist Jack Shafer experienced this himself when he canceled his print subscription to The New York Times and then re-subscribed when he realized he recalled more from the print edition. Now his anecdotal experience has been backed up by a study – “Medium Matters: Newsreaders’ Recall and Engagement With Online and Print Newspapers” by Arthur D. Santana, Randall Livingstone and Yoon Cho of the University of Oregon.The authors found that print readers:

  • remember significantly more news stories than online news readers
  • remembered significantly more topics than online news readers
  • remember more main points of news stories

There may be a number of reasons for this, the authors explain,as an online news story doesn’t necessarily signify a story’s significance and may be difficult to follow to a conclusion (due to clicking through pages). Shafer thinks newspaper typography has a certain effect on the brain.Now if you readers recall more does that mean they will renew more often? Hard to say, but their reader experience may be enhanced leading to continued subscriptions.

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