Yesterday, the world woke up to the news that Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States. His astounding victory has caused shockwaves across the globe – and newspapers have rushed to meet a huge increase in demand.
The Obama Rush
In 2008, Barack Obama made history when he was elected the first black President of the United States. The story was a media sensation. Across America (and across the world) there was a massive demand for newspapers. People rushed to get a copy; not to find out the news, but to have a keepsake of an event that changed their lives. Before long, newspapers were sold out and a number of papers had extra print runs to keep up with demand.
Getting Prepared
They might have been caught off-guard eight years ago but the newspapers were prepared for this election, setting up temporary retail stands outside their headquarters and printing thousands of extra copies. The New York Times printed an extra 225,000 copies of its Wednesday edition, while The Los Angeles Times printed triple its normal number of papers and sold souvenir versions of its front page.
Clinton vs Trump
With Trump and Clinton splitting the vote almost equally between them, it seems that the same amount of newspapers would have sold to celebrating supporters no matter who won. Both would have made history is elected: Clinton the first female President, Trump the first President never to have held an elected office previously. But it is likely that a win for Clinton would have sold more keepsake newspapers in Europe, where people are more politically aligned with her values and supportive of a woman shattering what she calls “that highest and hardest glass ceiling”.
Newspapers as a Historical Record
It’s no secret that more newspapers sell when a big story breaks. In the fortnight after 9/11, around 28 million extra copies of national newspapers were sold. It was the news everyone knew – there were hours of TV coverage – but people still wanted to read about it, and copies of newspapers covering the story are highly collectible today.
Newspapers and the Internet
Of course, the Internet was not nearly as all-consuming in 2001 as it is now. Most people did read about Trump’s victory online – but research shows that about half of Americans got their election news from at least five different sources. Traditional forms of media – television, radio and newspapers – are still the most popular, with the Internet being used mainly as a supplement. And of course, a screenshot of an online article really doesn’t have the same romance as a hard copy.
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