Newsprint Remains an Important Source Of News and Information

Chart 1

During the Fujimori era, newspapers were considered more sensationalist and were often used for political propaganda. Over the years, they have gained a reputation as being more neutral and independent. Their readerships cut across all age groups fairly evenly, with only slightly lower readership rates among the youngest and oldest age groups. Men tend to read more newspapers than women. Daily readership is much higher in the highest-educated segment (56 percent) than in the least-educated group (41 percent).

Newspapers haven't disappeared in the electronic media age and remain an important source of information for urban Peruvians; 83 percent of those surveyed said they read a newspaper at least once a week for news and information, while around 40 percent said they read the paper daily (not shown in chart).

There are more than 80 newspapers in Peru, of which 31 are based in Lima. The newspaper market is dominated by two groups: Comercio Editorial Group and EPENSA (National Journalist Group). El Trome, El Commercio and Ojo are the most popular newspapers in urban regions, according to the InterMedia urban survey.

The majority of newspapers have online versions. El Comercio is the most visited newspaper website because of its up to date information and for its blogs, which includes the popular relationships-and-literary blog called Busco Novia, written by Renato Cisneros.

When asked about the reliability of the information they found in newspapers, a larger proportion of respondents trusted El Comercio for news and information than El Trome (table 1).

Table 1

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