Abstract

The present study explored the newspaper reading habits of undergraduate students attending higher education institutions and degree colleges in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. The study aimed to determine the frequency of reading, purpose, preferred language, choice of newspaper, content preferences, and reasons for limited readership among the students. A descriptive research methodology was employed, and a structured questionnaire (via Google Forms) was distributed through Whatsapp. Out of 450 questionnaires distributed via WhatsApp groups, 386 valid responses were received, resulting in a response rate of 85.78%. The findings indicate that the primary objective for reading newspapers is to obtain the latest information (59.33%), followed by reading as a hobby (37.05%) and enhancing general knowledge (34.97%). Hindi newspapers are the most preferred (92.19%), while 63.73% people also read English newspapers. Approximately 41.82% of students read newspapers every day, and the majority (61.66%) of students spend 30 minutes to 1 hour reading newspapers. The most read newspapers were Dainik Jagran (83.35%) and Hindustan (62.95%). Political news (79.63%) and sports (67.62%) are the most preferred sections. The results showed that the increasing use of the internet and social media (69.43%) was the most important reason for the decline in newspaper readership. Other reasons included spending too much time on television and radio (40.93%) and the declining quality of newspapers (36.52%).

• 1.   Awuttey, Wisdom Mawuli (2020). A Study of Newspaper Reading Habits among Members of the Debaters’ Club of Okuapemman School, Akropong-Akuapem. E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (EHASS), 1 (2), 58-67. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.38159/ehass.2020062
• 2.   Bernhardt, E. & Kamil, M. (2003). Teaching Reading (Educational Practices Series Number 12). Geneva, Switzerland: International Academy of Education.
• 3.   Bharucha, Jehangir (2017). An Analysis of Newspaper Reading Patterns of among the Youth. International Journal of English and Education, 6 (1), 138-146.
• 4.   Dhiman, D. (2022). A Case Study of Newspaper Reading Habits among Students. A Case Study of Newspaper Reading Habits among Students. Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn. com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4311713
• 5.   Goodman, Kenneth S. (1967). Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game. Journal of the Reading Specialist, 6 (4), 126-135.
• 6.   Gupta, Kamini (2018). Newspaper Reading Habits of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students of Dev Samaj College of Education, Chandigarh: A Comparative Study. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 5 (1), 449-453. https://unacademy.com/ content/bank-exam/study-material/generalawareness/the-history-of-newspaper-inindia/ [accessed Jul 11 2026].https://www. britannica.com/topic/newspaper [accessed Jul 11 2026].
• 7.   Hussain, Irshad & Munshi, Parveen (2007). Identifying Reading Preferences of Secondary School Students. Creative Education, 2 (5), 429- 434. Doi:10.4236/ce.201
• 8.   Karim, Nor Shahriza A. & Hasan, Amelia (2007). Reading Habits and Attitudes in the Digital Age. The Electronic Library, 3 (25), 285- 298.
• 9.   Kothainayagi, T. N. & Karthikeyan, C. (2019). Newspaper Reading Behavior among the College Students. Research Explorer, 7 (22), 44- 49.
• 10.   Kumar, D., Singh, R. K. & Siddiqui, J. A. (2011). Newspaper Reading Habits of University Students: A Case Study of Chaudhary Charan Singh University, India. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). Paper 470.
• 11.   Linse, C. T. & Nunan, D. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners. McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT, New York.
• 12.   Majumder, Dipika & Hasan, Md. Mehedi (2013). Newspaper Reading Habits of Private University Students: a Case Study on World University of Bangladesh. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 12 (1), 87-91. Available from: https://www. iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol12- issue1/L01218791.pdf?id=4049 [accessed Jul 17 2026].
• 13.   Mondal, Atanu (2022). Importance of Newspaper Reading Habit for Social Science Students: An Analytical Study. Journal of Namibian Studies, 32, 129-137.
• 14.   Napa, Komal Kumar et al. (2026). Investigating reading habits and their impact on reading performance among Indian undergraduate students. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE), 15 (3), 2648-2658.
• 15.   Ocak, G. & Karsl, E. (2022). Relationship between critical reading skills and creative reading perceptions of fifth-grade students. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 10(3), 91-100. (PDF) Impact of Reading Newspaper on the Development of Second Language Learners’ writing Skills. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/389012771_Impact_of_Reading_ Newspaper_on_the_Development_of_ Second_Language_Learners'_writing_Skills [accessed Jul 11 2026].
• 16.   Smith, N. & Robinson, H. (1980). Reading instruction for today’s children. Englewood Cliff. Prentice hall Inc.
• 17.   Swaminathan, K. S. M. (2017). News Paper Reading Habits among the Students of Arts Colleges in Madurai, Tamil Nadu: A Study. Indian Journal of Information Sources and Services, 7 (1), 36-39.
• 18.   Yagcıoglu, S. & Deger, A. C. (2002). A workshop study on the acquisition of metacognitive reading skills. Proceedings Presented in the Second Turkish and Turkish Language and Literature Symposium. (PDF) Impact of Reading Newspaper on the Development of Second Language Learners’ writing Skills. Available from: https://www.researchgate. net/publication/389012771_Impact_of_ Reading_Newspaper_on_the_Development_ of_Second_Language_Learners'_writing_ Skills [accessed Jul 11 2026].
• 19.   Yılmaz, B. (1993). The role of public libraries in reading habits. Ankara: Ministry of Culture. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 3983–3990. (PDF) Impact of Reading Newspaper on the Development of Second Language Learners’ writing Skills. Available from: https://www. researchgate.net/publication/389012771_ Impact_of_Reading_Newspaper_on_the_ D e v e l o p m e n t _ o f _ S e c o n d _ L a n g u a g e _ Learners'_writing_Skills [accessed Jul 11 2026].

Data Sharing Statement

Funding