Market‐driven journalism: Creating special sections to meet reader interests Available to Purchase

A major shift has occurred since the 1970s in the way newspapers do business, largely due to the impact of marketing research on newsroom decisions. Research used to identify and meet the needs of the newspaper‐reading public has become a way of doing business in an increasingly competitive media climate. This national survey of executive and managing editors randomly selected from the Editor and Publisher Yearbook tracks the trend in the USA of creating special sections to meet readers’ interests as identified through marketing and focus group research. It also found that the newsroom staff was responsible for the production of these sections. Previous research has focused on the evolution of marketing practices in newsrooms. This research statistically documented these practices as a national trend.