Guardian UK: Bad news about the news

[marmar]

Bad news about the news
Today is 'National buy a newspaper day' in America – as the US print media's survival becomes a charity case

Maura Kelly
guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 February 2009 21.30 GMT


From reading the headlines, it's a dismal time for just about every sector of the economy — and the industry responsible for producing those headlines is particularly suffering. Of course, newspapers have been limping along for a while now, people have long turned to the web to find out what's going on in the world, and whatever new income web-based advertising generates has not been enough to make up for what's been lost in terms of both print display ads and classifieds, which are being almost entirely replaced in the US by Craigslist, eBay and internet dating sites. But with the recession, the news about the news has gotten even more dismal.

Every time I check, there's another story about the tanking news business. The profit margin of the venerable New York Times, for instance, has declined more than 50% in the last five years. The Washington Post's has gone down 25%. And Tribune Media – which owns two of the US's biggest papers, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune – filed for bankruptcy in December. In 2008, more than 15,554 newspaper jobs were lost and at least 25 papers around the country shut down, two of the biggest being the New York Sun and BostonNOW. Already this year 2,000 positions and 20 papers have disappeared, according to Erica Smith, who runs the blog Paper Cuts. "Current estimates are that 700 of the 1,400 US newspapers will be out of business by the end of the next decade," says Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab: the Institute for Interactive Journalism.

Things have gotten so bad that the situation has even inspired a grass-roots effort of the kind usually aimed at curing deadly diseases, saving endangered species, or freeing the unfairly imprisoned: Today has been designated America's "National buy a newspaper day".

You might be wondering why you should buy a paper, or even care, since you read the news online, and are perfectly happy doing that. But of course it's not just the print editions of newspaper organizations that are imperiled as a result of deteriorating profits; it's the entire hard news business. And without it — without a critical mass of investigative journalists, foreign correspondents and beat reporters — even bloggers such as Matthew Yglesias or Andrew Sullivan, opinion sites (such as this one), and many popular TV programmes, such as Jon Stewart's Daily Show, would have a difficult time coming up with material. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/02/usa-new-york-times

[bemildred]

1. The news media in general seem confused about their market.

Is it the public or is it the advertising interests? If they want to public to support them, they need to serve the public. Nobody expects a product manufacturer to do well if they produce a crappy product. It has long since been clear which side the corporate news has chosen, and they are unlikely to turn things around until they modify their allegiance to money over the public interest.

[scarletwoman]

2. Excellent! Straight to the heart of the matter! (nt)

[Frustratedlady]

3. Our newspaper had two sections, this morning. We always have at least three.

The ad inserts are also way down. This is their 172nd year, so I would hate to see it go down.

[anonymous171]

4. After eight years of failing to do their democratic duty, the newspapers deserve to go under.

[Demeter]

6. Far more than 8 years--since forever!

[Demeter]

5. Although Part of My Income Depends on the Newspaper Business

the current product (after a buyout by Gannett) is not worth the paper it's printed on. Customers are ending their subscriptions because the paper is so tiny, there's never been much news in it, and now there are no ads.

And the NYTimes is in the doghouse with me for their selective and slanted coverage since forever. They do some things well, but they should stay strictly out of political gaming.

I don't even read the papers--I read on line. It's faster, cleaner, no recycling mess, and I can keep stuff filed with a touch of a key.