January 12, 2009

The Harry Potter Effect

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THE HARRY POTTER EFFECT….Via Dan Drezner, the NEA has released its latest survey of reading habits, and the news is good. Fiction reading among young adults is way up, and overall reading is up too. More than 50% of adults read a piece of literature last year. Huzzah!

The highest rate of reading is among 55-64 year-olds. Poetry reading continued to decline: only 8% of adults read a poem last year, compared to 12% in 2002. And in other unsurprising news, internet reading is concentrated among the young. About half of 18-44 year-olds read an article or essay online last year, with the number plummeting quickly above that. Less than 10% of 70-year-olds read anything online in 2008.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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