New York (AFP)

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post had a good year in 2020, while the rest of America's dailies saw readership contract again despite an acceleration in digital subscribers, according to a study released Tuesday by the independent institute Pew Research Center.

Faced with the decline in advertising revenues and print editions, the three daily newspapers with national, and even international audiences, have been successful thanks to online subscriptions.

In 2020, the New York Times saw the number of its online subscribers increase by 52%, and by 43% in total when integrating the print editions.

The Washington Post, on the other hand, saw an increase of about 50% of its digital subscriber portfolio, while the Wall Street Journal ended the calendar year up 29% (+ 21% in total).

At the same time, the rest of the press, mainly local or regional dailies, experienced a 6% decline in its subscriber portfolio.

The 27% jump in digital subscribers was not enough to offset the 19% drop in print editions alone.

The Pew Research Center nevertheless notes that the drop of 6% in the total number of subscribers is the least marked for 6 years, which would testify to a possible slowdown in the decline, or even to a stabilization.

If the three giants of the American press have undoubtedly benefited from an exceptional year 2020 in terms of topicality, between the coronavirus crisis, the movement against racial discrimination and the presidential election, the effect was less marked for other regional and local dailies.

At the end of 2020, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post accounted for about a third of total subscribers to daily newspapers in the United States.

Another noteworthy fact is that for the first time in 65 years, American dailies, excluding Times, Post and Journal, drew more revenue from their subscriptions and number sales than from advertising.

Advertising revenue has been divided by three in ten years.

On the workforce side, the American daily press (excluding the three national dailies) has lost more than 4,000 jobs in 2020. Since 2008, newsrooms have cut more than 40,000 jobs, and today there are only 30,820. , according to the study published Tuesday.

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