The Newspaper Readership Project (1977-1983) was an unprecedented cooperative attempt by the American newspaper industry to halt the downward trend in readership and circulation. The Project had an enormous impact on American newspapers; it spurred such changes in their content as special sections and new graphics, and led to important innovations in distribution and promotion. Leo Bogart was a central figure in the conception and execution of the Project, so his account is truly an insider's view of the interplay of the Project and the people involved in it. Preserving the Press: How Daily Newspapers Mobilized to Keep Their Readers is an insider account that vividly describes the personalities, organizations, and policy debates of the American daily newspaper business at a critical moment in its history. Exciting and informative, it shows how this major American institution confronted the great social and technological changes that threatened its established position.
Bogart demonstrates the difficulties of translating research findings into actual changes in practice, reviews controversies over the Project's promotional efforts, and reports on dramatic changes that occurred in newspaper distribution methods.