Are Newspapers Headed For The Morgue?
A copy editor I know from a U.S. daily newspaper warned his son who was just starting college a couple of years ago, that if he declared journalism as his major he would cut off his tuition.
And who’s to blame him.
In case you missed it, The Audit Bureau of Circulation released some woeful circulation figures on Monday, reporting daily newspaper circulation dipped 3.5 percent for some of the biggest U.S. dailies. The New York Times daily circulation slipped 3.8 percent, while The Washington Post fell 3.5 percent, The San Francisco Chronicle's dropped 4.2 percent, The Boston Globe slipped by 8.3 percent, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution plunged 8.5 percent, the Orange County Register declined a staggering 11.9 percent.....on and on it went
So how bad is it for the newspaper industry?
According to Alan D. Mitter’s blog, who by the way, is a former city editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, fewer than 18 out of 100 Americans buy a daily or Sunday print edition, based on numbers provided by the Newspaper Association of America.
A week doesn’t go by, it seems, when newspapers aren’t announcing more retrenchment, either in the form of offering employee’s buyouts or out-and-out layoffs, as daily circulation declines and advertising revenue dries up.
Just on Monday, for example, The News & Observer Publishing Co. announced it was offering buyouts to 204 of its roughly 900 employees ; while the Orange County Register announced it was laying off between 80 and 90 of its employees, representing five percent of its workforce, both newspapers citing declining advertising revenue as the reason for the drastic measures.
So what is to become of the daily newspaper?
How far are we from a time when the vast majority of newspapers will be merely online operations; and the only publications still alive and kicking will be the three-headed monster: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal?
Mitter shares my fears that most newspapers will only be available online and the ones still ``remaining will be available for free.’’
Adam L. Penenberg, professor of Journalism at New York University, too, thinks at ``some point a print newspaper will shutter its print edition and go completely online.’’
Not all are ready to put the print edition to bed.
David Rubin, dean of the S.I.Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, thinks ``newspapers are caught between two technologies. They can’t afford not to publish the print newspaper. They can’t afford not to build a vigorous web site. Advertising doesn’t exist to support both. Hence, the decline in profit margins.’’
Striking a more optimistic tone than most doomsayers, Rubin is confident that ``newspapers will figure out what audiences and advertisers want from the web site. ``They will also eventually save a lot of money as the requirement to publish on newsprint diminishes and finally goes away (in 20 to 25 years), along with the costs of distribution and printing. ``If not for the absurd returns on investment demanded by the lords of Wall Street, and if not for the fact that many newspaper groups are carrying a lot of debt, Rubin says, newspapers would able to weather this transition with ease.
Sadly, the Fayetteville, N.Y. resident and host of ``The Ivory Tower Half Hour," a popular local public affairs television program in Central New York, is convinced ``Wall Street is trying to ruin the newspaper business, and democracy with it, just as it ruined the housing market. If I could outlaw one thing, it would be public ownership of the media. Give me family and private company ownership any day.’’
When I asked Martin Dunn to glance into his crystal to see what he envisions for the future of print editions five years from now, the Editor-in-Chief & Deputy Publisher of The New York Daily News, said he forsees The Daily News as the only print edition still in operation.
It’s Dunn’s sardonic humor, during these trying times, that is keeping newspaper employees from leaping out of the window, fearful of what lies ahead.
-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net
And who’s to blame him.
In case you missed it, The Audit Bureau of Circulation released some woeful circulation figures on Monday, reporting daily newspaper circulation dipped 3.5 percent for some of the biggest U.S. dailies. The New York Times daily circulation slipped 3.8 percent, while The Washington Post fell 3.5 percent, The San Francisco Chronicle's dropped 4.2 percent, The Boston Globe slipped by 8.3 percent, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution plunged 8.5 percent, the Orange County Register declined a staggering 11.9 percent.....on and on it went
So how bad is it for the newspaper industry?
According to Alan D. Mitter’s blog, who by the way, is a former city editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, fewer than 18 out of 100 Americans buy a daily or Sunday print edition, based on numbers provided by the Newspaper Association of America.
A week doesn’t go by, it seems, when newspapers aren’t announcing more retrenchment, either in the form of offering employee’s buyouts or out-and-out layoffs, as daily circulation declines and advertising revenue dries up.
Just on Monday, for example, The News & Observer Publishing Co. announced it was offering buyouts to 204 of its roughly 900 employees ; while the Orange County Register announced it was laying off between 80 and 90 of its employees, representing five percent of its workforce, both newspapers citing declining advertising revenue as the reason for the drastic measures.
So what is to become of the daily newspaper?
How far are we from a time when the vast majority of newspapers will be merely online operations; and the only publications still alive and kicking will be the three-headed monster: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal?
Mitter shares my fears that most newspapers will only be available online and the ones still ``remaining will be available for free.’’
Adam L. Penenberg, professor of Journalism at New York University, too, thinks at ``some point a print newspaper will shutter its print edition and go completely online.’’
Not all are ready to put the print edition to bed.
David Rubin, dean of the S.I.Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, thinks ``newspapers are caught between two technologies. They can’t afford not to publish the print newspaper. They can’t afford not to build a vigorous web site. Advertising doesn’t exist to support both. Hence, the decline in profit margins.’’
Striking a more optimistic tone than most doomsayers, Rubin is confident that ``newspapers will figure out what audiences and advertisers want from the web site. ``They will also eventually save a lot of money as the requirement to publish on newsprint diminishes and finally goes away (in 20 to 25 years), along with the costs of distribution and printing. ``If not for the absurd returns on investment demanded by the lords of Wall Street, and if not for the fact that many newspaper groups are carrying a lot of debt, Rubin says, newspapers would able to weather this transition with ease.
Sadly, the Fayetteville, N.Y. resident and host of ``The Ivory Tower Half Hour," a popular local public affairs television program in Central New York, is convinced ``Wall Street is trying to ruin the newspaper business, and democracy with it, just as it ruined the housing market. If I could outlaw one thing, it would be public ownership of the media. Give me family and private company ownership any day.’’
When I asked Martin Dunn to glance into his crystal to see what he envisions for the future of print editions five years from now, the Editor-in-Chief & Deputy Publisher of The New York Daily News, said he forsees The Daily News as the only print edition still in operation.
It’s Dunn’s sardonic humor, during these trying times, that is keeping newspaper employees from leaping out of the window, fearful of what lies ahead.
-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net
Digital revaluation in print media is worked well. Online readership is increased dramatically from the past three years. All the publishers are presenting their publications through online and some publishers are using the companies like http://www.pressmart.net in distribution of publication over the new technology mediums. Digitization becomes the revenue generation tool for all print publishers.
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Poor Jose. His ungrammatical content reveals the flaw with the "digital revaluation" he is attempting to pitch. Unintentionally, he provides the journalistic Achilles Heel of online news credibility: accuracy, and blatant product marketing embedded as editorial content.
As for the copy editor's college kid, he never should have gone into journalism as a college major even back in the day. Far more useful to get a well-rounded education with a major in core subjects such as math, science, economics or history. Then get an internship at the weekly newspaper in your hometown, still the best college course you can enroll in if you want to be a newspaper person. They even can train you in 'going digital.'
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