Seoul - In the face of stiff competition from TV and the internet, South Korean newspaper readership is falling, the Korea Press Foundation (KPF) said Monday.

Only three to four people in every ten surveyed said they were newspaper subscribers, the media watchdog said.

KPF said it conducted the survey in one-to-one interviews with 5,000 adults between May 3 and June 9.

KPF added that in 1996, seven in ten people reported they were regular newspaper readers.

KPF mentions the shift from print to internet and TV as a main reason for the newspaper readership fall.

Internet sites are reportedly getting about 17 per cent of the total advertising money spent by Korean companies, while newspapers are getting smaller share of advertising money.

About 15 million homes in 16 million homes in South Korea are cable TV subscribers, with 10 per cent of these homes using digital cable TV with more than 100 channels.

The KPF survey ranked newspapers as the third-most-reliable source of information after TV broadcasters and digital media.

The poll comes at a time when Korean companies are often discouraged from putting their advertising money into conservative newspapers after these newspapers have become the targets of criticism from more liberal young people. (dpa)