Are newspapers heading towards post-print obscurity? A case study of The Independent’s transition to online-only

With print circulations in decline and the print advertising market shrinking, newspapers in many countries are under pressure. Some—like Finland’s Taloussanomat and Canada’s La Presse—have decided to stop printing and go online-only. Others, like the Sydney Morning Herald, are debating whether to follow. Those newspapers that have made the switch often paint a rosy picture of a sustainable and profitable digital future. This study examines the reality behind the spin via a case study of The Independent, a general-interest UK national newspaper that went digital-only in March 2016. We estimate that, although its net British readership did not decline in the year after it stopped printing, the total time spent with The Independent by its British audiences fell 81%, a disparity caused by huge differences in the habits of online and print readers. This suggests that when newspapers go online-only they may move back into the black, but they also forfeit much of the attention they formerly enjoyed. Furthermore, although The Independent is serving at least 50% more overseas browsers since going online-only, the relative influence on that growth of internal organizational change and external factors—such as the “Trump Bump” in news consumption—is difficult to determine

Polls and the political process: the use of opinion polls by political parties and mass media organizations in European post‐communist societies (1990–95)

Opinion polling occupies a significant role within the political process of most liberal-capitalist societies, where it is used by governments, parties and the mass media alike. This paper examines the extent to which polls are used for the same purposes in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular, for bringing political elites and citizens together. It argues that these political elites are more concerned with using opinion polls for gaining competitive advantage over their rivals and for reaffirming their political power, than for devolving political power to citizens and improving the general processes of democratization

Introduction to special issue:New Times Revisited: Britain in the 1980s

The authors in this volume are collectively engaged with a historical puzzle: What happens if we examine the decade once we step out of the shadows cast by Thatcher? That is, does the decade of the 1980s as a significant and meaningful periodisation (equivalent to that of the 1960s) still work if Thatcher becomes but one part of the story rather than the story itself? The essays in this collection suggest that the 1980s only makes sense as a political period. They situate the 1980s within various longer term trajectories that show the events of the decade to be as much the consequence as the cause of bigger, long-term historical processes. This introduction contextualises the collection within the wider literature, before explaining the collective and individual contributions made

Pourquoi les travaillistes ont-ils (à nouveau) perdu ?

distrust in the Labour party's general economic competence and to long-term decline in the Labour party's electoral base. The 1992 election apears to confirm a Conservative hegemony in a dominant-party system.Aux élections législatives britanniques de 1992, les conservateurs l'ont emporté pour la quatrième fois consécutive, avec leur troisième plus forte majorité électorale depuis 1945. Ce résultat a surpris tout le monde, étant donné l'échec de la poil fax, la grave récession économique, les traits nouveaux de modération, d'unité et de professionnalisme du Parti travailliste. Plusieurs explications sont avancées : les images des dirigeants des partis, le parti pris droitier de la presse populaire et le problème de la fiscalité. L'analyse montre que la victoire des conservateurs est due moins à un facteur spécifique qu'à la persistante méfiance des Britanniques envers la compétence économique du Parti travailliste, ainsi qu'au déclin déjà ancien de sa base électorale. Les élections de 1992 semblent confirmer l'hégémonie conservatrice dans un système de parti dominant.Crewe Ivor. Pourquoi les travaillistes ont-ils (à nouveau) perdu ?. In: Revue française de science politique, 43ᵉ année, n°2, 1993. pp. 257-281