Small daily townpapers are often found in the cities of the Tohoku region, Japan. In this study, the author tried to find some factors which have influence upon the location of such townpapers. The results are summarized as follows:
I. The location of small daily townpapers is seriously affected by: 1) a condition of rivalry between prefectural and nation-wide papers, and 2) geographical conditions, namely, the distance between the city and the prefectural capital and the scale of the population of the area served.
II. A small daily townpaper is often found in a city where: 1) the nation-wide paper hold the share of the market over 50 per cent, 2) the distance from the prefectural capital is at least 50km (generally 100km), and 3) the population is over 50, 000 (This type of city is classified as type I).
III. A small daily townpaper might be found in a city where: 1) the nation-wide paper hold the share of the market over 30 per cent, and the total rate of newspapers' circulation is over 95 per cent, 2) the distance from the prefectural capital is at least 30 km, and 3) the population is over 50, 000 (This type of city is classified as type II).
Owing to their less favorable circumstances, townpapers in cities of type II may well have some of the following characteristics. They are a) small scale enterprises, b) not yet incorporated, c) affiliated to some of the larger newspapers, and d) troubled by rivalry with other small daily papers in the same city.
IV. In two cities of Aomori prefecture which can be classified as type III, there are daily townpapers similar to prefectural or nation-wide papers.
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