A new survey by Scarborough Research has found encouraging results for the American newspaper industry. According to the study, 74% of adults read a printed or online newspaper in the past week.

These 171 million readers compose the critical mass of news consumers in the United States that is still going strong. Newspapers have and continue to attract well-off educated readers, increasing their socioeconomic symbol status as a reliable information source even in the digital domain, as the following data demonstrate.

"While our data does show that print newspaper readership is slowly declining, it also illustrates that reports about the pending death of the newspaper industry are not supported by audience data," said Gary Meo, Scarborbough's senior vice president of print and digital media services. "Given the fragmentation of media choices, printed newspapers are holding onto their audiences relatively well," he elaborated.

Furthermore, the study surveyed audience, not circulation."While Scarborough shows declines in printed newspaper readership, these have not been as severe as those reported in circulation. This is because circulation and audience do not always march in lockstep as they are two different measurements," Meo added.

The data has been broken down as follows:

79% of adults in white collar jobs read a newspaper in print or online;

82% of households with an income of $100,000 or more read newspapers in print or online;

84% of college graduates or those with advanced degrees read newspapers in print or online.

Source: Scarborough Research press release