Magazines and newspapers

The vibrant range of magazines that greet the curious reader has blossomed, as the trend away from the general and toward the particular continues. There seems to be a magazine for every facet of interest or zeal, from northern aquaculture to ostriches. Many of these magazines have websites: by the end of 1998/99, 44% of magazines published in Canada either had a website or were creating one. Similarly, the number of 'e-zines'—magazines that exist only on the Internet—has swelled.

With several countrywide newspapers, Canadians have several versions of national events to choose from, both in print and on a screen. A 1998 survey discovered that, of the 30% of Canadians who had used the Internet at least once that year as a leisure activity, 32% had read a newspaper, a magazine or a book on the Net. Nonetheless, from 1992 to 1998, books, magazines and newspapers all saw declines in the proportion of Canadians reading them, by 5%, 9% and 10%, respectively.