Subscribers to the Catholic Star Herald regularly read the paper and, by a wide majority, describe its content and style as good or excellent, a Temple University study has found.
The study, done by the school’s Journalism Department as an academic project, began through the efforts of Sheila McGirl, advertising sales, who wanted to offer potential Star Herald advertisers a portrait of the readership. The study was expanded to explore readers’ views of editorial content.
Of the paper’s 65,000 subscribers, 1,000 were contacted via a mail survey. More than 15 percent responded.
The study discovered that Star Herald subscribers:
• Read the paper regularly (95 percent), with about 73 percent reporting that they read every issue.
• Are largely female, 66 percent, with the largest groups hailing from Camden County (44 percent) and Gloucester County (26 percent).
• Are most likely to be baby boomers between 50-64 years of age (30 percent).
• Are likely to have college degrees (42 percent).
• Describe the paper as “informative,” (48 percent), by far the most popular response to an open-ended question.
• A majority, 57 percent, gave the Star Herald either good or excellent overall ratings.
“The Temple study quantifies what we long assumed. The Catholic Star Herald remains an excellent vehicle in getting the word out about the life of the diocese, as well as news and commentary about the Church around the world,” said Peter Feuerherd, associate publisher and director of communications for the Diocese of Camden.
The full text of the Temple University study can be found in the article posted online at www.camdendiocese.org.
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