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Behind the News:
Newspapers Fight for Survival:
Revenue and Circulation Decline, but It's Not Over Yet:
The headlines are grim. Some newspapers are folding, others are filing for bankruptcy, downsizing or cutting back home delivery.
Are newspapers dying? Not anytime soon. Nearly 50 million newspapers are sold in the United States every day, and the industry earned double-digit profits last year, according to the Pew Research Center. In fact, many community newspapers are thriving.
But sinking ad revenue and shrinking circulating coupled with the economic recession have created deep trouble for many newspapers, especially large metropolitan dailies, which have responded by slicing staff and news coverage and by moving content online. Pew predicts that a quarter of all newsroom jobs that existing in 2001 will be gone by the end of this year.
What went wrong? For years, newspapers generated most of their income from classified ads and other advertising. The Internet changed everything by giving advertisers and readers more options, and more Americans now get their news online.
The big question: Can newspapers find a way to convert their growing online audience into sufficient revenue to sustain the industry before their shrinking revenues from print fall too low?
The forecast? There will always be a need for news, and newspapers could be viable for years to come, but the way news is produced and delivered will continue to undergo dramatic changes as the business model evolves.
Here's a Different Story: Community Newspapers Thrive:
Daily and weekly community and suburban newspapers are weathering economic and industry challenges better than their big-city counterparts.
Advertising revenues for smaller newspapers declined by just 3.6 percent in 2008, compared to double-digit decreases for the newspaper industry overall.
The ability to provide popular "hyperlocal" news, content and advertising is one reason for market strength. As the primary and sometimes only provider of local news, community newspapers "remain strong and viable,? according to the National Newspaper Association.
What Gives?
With fewer experienced reporters and less space for news at many newspapers, the watchdog and informational roles played by the press will suffer. Here are some trends reported by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism:
* News is now going unreported in some areas. Coverage of state legislatures, Congress and international news has been dramatically reduced.
* Deep cuts have resulted in feature, business and local sections being folded into the front sections of newspapers.
* Large metropolitan dailies have been hurt the most. The Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Hartford Courant, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Baltimore Sun are among those that reduced the size of their newsrooms by roughly half and cover less than they once did.
* A new "news ecosystem" in which newspapers play a role is taking shape in some communities, but alternate sources such as blogs, independent Web sites and public radio also provide news. |