Readership declined in the 40s!?

"Most people assume that technologies like the Internet and cable television caused the decline in newspaper readership, but the percentage of American's reading newspapers actually began to drop in the late 1940s" (Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to Build What's Next for News). 

I can't believe that! I'm so conditioned to all the nay-sayers telling me that newspapers are the best way to get the news and that people have always loved the newspapers. I guess I'm just really surprised. I wonder what older generations would think about that statement. 

But then why would newspaper circulation continue if people started to lose interest in the late 1940s?

"Still, newspaper circulation continued to rise simply because the U.S. population was growing so fast" (Entrepreneurial).

I am so glad I picked this book up! Do I believe everything that the book is telling me? Not necessarily. But what if it is true?

If newspapers have been in decline from the late 1940s, why? In the 1940s, news was very relevant. If people were no longer as interested in newspapers, how did they get their news? What was it about newspapers that was no longer so interesting to them?

And if newspapers are in the decline now, what is the average readership? Has the readership gone up or down in the last century? I think it would be interesting to tie the average readership to the population. Is the population decreasing now that people are being more conscious of abortions and contraception, and if so, is news consumption going down?

I personally don't think it is the end of the world that print journalism (and print books, for that matter) are going away. I can't help but wonder about what will happen if everything turns digital. Will the country be lost to dictatorship or communism and everything we see will be controlled? Will it be more easy for us to be manipulated?

Yes, I love the feeling of holding a book and not burning my eyes out from looking at a screen all day. But if people want digital news, what's the best way, as a journalist, that I can give it to them?