9 million people and 100,000 newspapers printed??

Mr. Lu

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Mar 26, 2007
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Hillbilly made a comment in another thread that in the DR there are 9 million people and only 100,000 newspapers printed. Is this a gross exaggeration in order to get a point across or is this a legitimate fact? I just find it hard to believe that there are only 100,000 newspapers printed in the whole country. Maybe I misunderstood. Though I understand Dominicans aren't the most literary people, i.e. an extensive culture of reading etc, but this just seems way too much. Where did you get this fact and can you substantiate this with a reference to something? Did you work in the newspaper business? Anyone have any references to this?

Much appreciated,

:pirate:
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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I don't know what the facts are, but I can tell you that I don't believe nary a house in the campo where my wife is from has a paper. I have never seen one in my families or neighbors house, but then again these people haven't had the benefit of even a decent education - and for that matter I don't think things have changed. Furthermore, after only 4 months of studying Spanish and not able to communicate effectively, I was the undisputed scrabble champion of the barrio. Papa, es que pa'tras que vamos.
 

Rocky

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Apr 4, 2002
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Consider also the expense of a newspaper, relative to their earnings.
It might be like us paying 10 bux for a newspaper in North america.
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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And the morning tv talk shows that seem to do nothing more than show and discuss that day's newspaper headlines...
 

El sabelot?

*** Sin Bin ***
Jan 7, 2008
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Furthermore, after only 4 months of studying Spanish and not able to communicate effectively, I was the undisputed scrabble champion of the barrio. Papa, es que pa'tras que vamos.

Lucky you! I gave up trying to get my DR friends to play Scrabble. With them, it's either "a jug? domino" or chit-chat centered around who has more money: "?Qui?n tiene mas cuartos, Amable or MVM?" or "Diablo! Co?o! Tu has visto el yipet?n que se compr? Felito?"

Unfortunately, reading--even if just newspapers--is not important for most Dominicans.
 

BushBaby

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Jan 1, 2002
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Unfortunately, reading--even if just newspapers--is not important for most Dominicans.
Although I hear the underlaying message here I would not necessarily agree. MANY Dominicans go to their social centre to read the newspapers - Colmados, Barbers, Bread shops, ........................... The Newspapers in our local Bread shop (a centre for the PRD too) are read by about 20/25 people in a day!! ~ Grahame.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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There are many factors that need to be taken into consideration here.

1. The average age in the DR is only 21. Reading the newspaper is not a top priority among 20-somethings anywhere in the world. Newspaper readership has been declining steadily over the years on a global scale and there are many studies that back this up, do a search if you need to "see" prior to "believe".

2. A large proportion of the population, perhaps over half, is under the age of 20. The reasoning behind this one ties with #1.

3. On average, how many people read one newspaper? Chances are that one newspaper is not exclusively read by one person, but rather by several people. All sort of things could explain this phenomenon. Either someone buys the paper and then, once he finishes, passes the paper to someone else or leaves it in a place where someone else picks it up or throws the paper in the garbage and someone takes it out and reads it. Also, in shops and other centers of socialization, a single newspaper may be read by tens of individuals.

Assuming that on average one newspaper is read by at least 5 people, that's 500,000 people who read newspapers. Once you take into consideration that half of the population may be underage (that leaves 4.5 million adult individuals), that there are about 2 million households in the entire country (hence, that leaves an average of 2.25 adults per household), then things may become a little clearer.

If each newspaper is read by at least 5 adults, that amounts to 500,000 adults reading newspapers, then that means that potentially 25%, on average, of households have at least one adult that reads a newspaper.

This is all speculative, but with an inherent lack of data available, we have to work with something. Also, there are many other factors that I ignored in such assessment, including illiteracy rates, the percentage of urban/rural households, etc. Such additional factors influences the pool of literate with potential access to a newspaper population and what percentage of such actually does read the paper, etc. It also ignores other forms of receiving news, such as television, which according to some studies is found in 90% of Dominican homes; the radio which has traditionally been much more widespread than television, the internet which is gaining momentum among the younger generations, etc.

In order for this speculative data to be meaningful, it would need more reliable data, but also to be compared with other countries in order to get a relative sense of how good or bad this is.

-NALs
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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NALs, you're absolutely right. In fact after reading your post, I think more people read newspapers in the DR than in any other country in the world!
 

El_Uruguayo

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Dec 7, 2006
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I think there's something missing from the equation, you say that theres about 5 people reading each newspaper - but what about the over the shoulder readers, there could be at least 2 for every individual reading - making the total of 15 people per newspaper.
 

Celt202

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May 22, 2004
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I think there's something missing from the equation, you say that theres about 5 people reading each newspaper - but what about the over the shoulder readers, there could be at least 2 for every individual reading - making the total of 15 people per newspaper.

What if you count the lip readers watching the people who mouth the words while they read?

We could be up to 20 per paper and rising here.....
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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I think Nals could actually convince himself that his house wasn't on fire even if it was - incredible - I vote for him to be the next Mirador. :)

If you want to see how many of the youth spell here go to some of the forums frequented by the youths. The majority of the posters have computers and are therefore affluent.

Also, Nals forget about telling me about quick abbreviations as the cause, I know "k" is just that, thanks.
 

El sabelot?

*** Sin Bin ***
Jan 7, 2008
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What if you count the lip readers watching the people who mouth the words while they read?

We could be up to 20 per paper and rising here.....

And what about the same lip-reader conveying the news by "throwing signs" Freemasonry-style to other "readers"?
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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making the total of 15 people per newspaper.

Someone has one shoulder? :cheeky:

Wasn't the OP asking for substantive data on the volume of newspapers printed rather than the numbers reading them?
I went to World Press Trends but all it said was 'While the total number of titles in the Dominican Republic decreased from 18 in 1999 to 12 in 2002, the capital of Santo Domingo is home to three free newspapers, El Diario Libre, El Expreso and El Dia. In the Dominican Republic, the government exerts economic pressure on the media through the denial of advertising revenues'.

Facts About Newspapers Around the World

According to Encyclop?dia Britannica 'Compared with other developing countries, the Dominican Republic has a high per capita rate of newspaper circulation.' But no figures!
Dominican Republic :: Press and broadcasting --* Britannica Online Encyclopedia

This is a bit dated (? 2003) but is all I could find on actual statistics. 'The newspaper with the largest circulation in the Dominican Republic is the List?n Diario with a daily circulation of 166,000, a Saturday edition with a circulation of 180,000, and a Sunday edition with a circulation of 150,000, numbers that nearly double those of any major competitor. Formerly in private hands, it is now run by Editora List?n Diario, which is owned by the BanInter Group. Other newspapers, in order of circulation, are the Hoy with a daily, Saturday, and Sunday circulation of 82,000; El Nacional with a daily, Saturday, and Sunday circulation of 42,000; and the ?ltima Hora (statistics NA), all of which are published out of the capital of Santo Domingo. Other national papers are El Caribe, circulation 40,000, whose former editor, Germ?n Ornes, won special recognition from the International Press Institute in 2000 as one of 50 "Heroes of Journalism of the last 50 years", and El Nuevo Diario, circulation 20,000. The largest circulation of regional interest is La Informaci?n of Santiago, circulation 22,000, and one English language paper, The Santo Domingo News.' :) ;)

Dominican Republic Press, Media, TV, Radio, Newspapers

Has some references at bottom of article which might provide more info.
 

El_Uruguayo

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Dec 7, 2006
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On the bright side, there are free papers in SD, and they tend to go pretty quickly. At least that allows one who wants to be informed get their info without having to pay for it. As for the content, not too bad, as good, if not better than the free papers in NA.