Local reading figures offer a bright spot

Thank you for reading — not just The Seattle Times or Post-Intelligencer, but anything.

According to a report from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Americans are reading less, with bad consequences for themselves and society. This is a bleak report, but there is good news later in the column, so keep reading.

How bad is it? The NEA report reaffirms the basic conclusions of a 2004 study that said less than half of adults (47 percent) read a work of literature — a novel, short story, play or poem — within the previous year. That was a drop of 7 percentage points from 10 years earlier. Literary reading declined for men and women, across all education levels, and in virtually all age groups.

"The story the data tell is simple, consistent and alarming. Although there has been measurable progress in recent years in reading ability and at the elementary-school level, all progress appears to halt as children enter their teen years. There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia.

"Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates. These negative trends have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural and civic implications," Gioia said.

He added that as people read less, they read less well. Reading less well correlates with lower academic achievement, lack of employment, lower wages and being less active in civic and cultural life, including volunteerism and voting. If that isn't enough, people in prison tend to read less well than the general adult population.

Gioia said the report is a "call to action — not only for parents, teachers, librarians, writers and publishers, but also for politicians, business leaders, economists, and social activists ... It is now time to become more committed to solving it or face the consequences. The nation needs to focus more attention and resources on an activity both fundamental and irreplaceable for democracy."

The report, "To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence," is available at www.nea.gov/research. Be sure to check out the pages about declining newspaper circulation nationally.

Which brings me to thanking you again for reading. Because of you, The Times and P-I both have increased newspaper and online readership.

In the most recent report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the six-month period ending Sept. 30, The Times' daily average increased 1.2 percent, while the P-I was up 1 percent. Among the top 50 major metro newspapers, The Seattle Times ranked No. 2 for growth, while the P-I was right behind at No. 3.

Our Sunday circulation was down 0.6 percent, but that was substantially better than the industry average, which was down 3.5 percent. Average daily circulation nationally was down 2.5 percent.

Another measurement of audience, from Scarborough Research, was also released recently. Scarborough measures the scope of our audience in King and Snohomish counties for both newspapers and the online network that includes the newspaper Web sites, NWSource.com and related marketplace sites. The total combined audience grew by 4 percent, reaching about 72 percent of all adults.

"Contrary to the notion that organizations like ours continue to lose readers/audience to other Web sites, blogs, TV, etc., the opposite is true," said Alan Fisco, vice president for circulation and marketing. "We have and continue to not only hold, but grow our audience base, now through a more diversified offering of content and platforms. Our most recent measurements of paid print circulation and readership and combined print and online audience are all up."

"We are proud of our results, proud to be part of our organization's mission and thankful for the strong community support. And, we look forward to a bright future where we continue to serve our community in new and exciting ways," Fisco added.

Another encouraging reading note is our Newspaper In Education program. This year NIE is serving 102 school districts, 872 school locations and 2,529 classrooms, offering educators 21 different programs to choose from The Times and P-I. The program includes curriculum guides, lesson plans, teacher training and serialized stories in The Times and The P-I.

To see the complete NIE program lineup, visit our NIE Web site at www.seattletimes.com/nie.

And, finally, an enticing bit of reading news that offers yet another way of subscribing to The Seattle Times. Amazon.com last week introduced a new portable reading device called Kindle, which allows users to buy and wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers (including The Times) and blogs.

I haven't tried the device yet, but Times columnist Danny Westneat has and concluded, "The Kindle feels like reading a book." That's amazing to me, just as amazing as the fact that Amazon is offering some 90,000 book titles for downloading.

Its $399 price tag might slow sales, but the technology is another step toward information ubiquity. There's never been a better time to be a reader, so keep it up.

As NEA's chairman Gioia says, "reading is an irreplaceable activity in developing productive adults as well as healthy communities."

Inside The Times appears in the Sunday Seattle Times. If you have a comment on news coverage, write to Michael R. Fancher, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, call 206-464-3310 or send e-mail to mfancher@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists