A decline in the daily reading of newspapers has been observed in the United States since World War II. In the decade from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, most daily newspapers employed market research to document and diagnose trends in readership, to estimate their present and future audiences' composition, and to assess the audiences' preferences in personal lifestyles in general and newspaper content in particular. These studies have made an important contribution to general pressures to align newspaper coverage and contents according to readers' preferences (and lifestyles) as well as to journalistic traditions. The impact of these pressures has been so great that by the end of the 1970s, newspapers could no longer get by with just printing news, they had to provide information for coping, helping the "new value consumer" seek self-fulfillment. The community orientation of the daily newspaper is no longer sufficient to provide the necessary economic support; though the relations of newspaper and community are interdependent, the social and political functions of the newspaper are also interdependent with its economic function. Newspapers are faced with the fundamental economic challenge of providing customer satisfaction while operating at a profit. (HOD)