Can the newspaper industry be saved?

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 08:06 AM

Can the newspaper industry be saved? - BloggingStocks

A piece in today's New York Times reports on the bleak outlook for the newspaper industry. Last year, brought the second-worst decline in ad revenue in more than 60 years, with only 2001, a recession, coming in worse.

Essentially, newspaper advertising broke its cyclical mold -- booming and fading with the broader economy. There was a substantial decline in 2007 unaccompanied by broader economic woes. Print circulation is down, and according to the Times online revenue can't make up the gap: "... for every dollar advertisers pay to reach a print reader, they pay about 5 cents, on average, to reach an Internet reader. Newspapers need to narrow that gap, but the rise in Internet revenue slowed sharply last year."

The problem for most newspapers is that they are finding themselves without much of a moat on the internet -- Being the major newspaper in a small city is very different from competing with literally everyone else for web traffic. News aggregators such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), IronMag (Min0Lee), BoSux (SuKMuscle) and RSS feeds are probably killing newspapers.

Warren Buffett was once a big fan of small newspapers but unfortunately, all the reasons he liked them are no longer true: They don't have monopolies anymore. You can set up My Yahoo! to deliver you local news and there's just no reason to buy a newspaper for national news with the wealth of online resources available.

Newspapers aren't dead yet but they're definitely dying and I can't think of anything that could possibly reverse it.

**soxmuscle** · 03-23-2009, 08:22 AM

Yup - newspapers are dying and not even Derek Jeter's pretty self can save the industry manipulating misinformed sports fans like yourself.

Edit: It's too bad because I won't be able to do anything with my Sports Journalism degree. Oh well...

**soxmuscle** · 03-23-2009, 08:30 AM

Oh and good play on words.

Sukmuscle? Bosux?

You're better than that, Min0.

Fail. Try again.

**busyLivin** · 03-23-2009, 08:34 AM

anyone know where i can donate to the new york times to keep them going?

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Edit: It's too bad because I won't be able to do anything with my Sports Journalism degree. Oh well...

Is this true? Don't let it go to waste, it's print that's dying not Journalism.
I think you would do fine, you be lucky and cover the Yankees.

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Oh and good play on words.

Sukmuscle? Bosux?

You're better than that, Min0.

Fail. Try again.

**soxmuscle** · 03-23-2009, 08:37 AM

I realize journalism isn't dying and of course, I would love to sit on my computer and tweet all day and get paid for it but I just don't see how I'll be able to do anything with that type of degree.

It's certainly good to have but I'll probably try something else.

**soxmuscle** · 03-23-2009, 08:39 AM

Turning "sox" into "suck" is something I'll see 12 year old girls chanting at White Sox/Red Sox games every summer.

That or on their signs..

It's just not clever to me - I'm not going to hold my breath, but some day I want to hear someone come up with something clever.

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

Turning "sox" into "suck" is something I'll see 12 year old girls chanting at White Sox/Red Sox games every summer.

That or on their signs..

It's just not clever to me - I'm not going to hold my breath, but some day I want to hear someone come up with something clever.

I though it was funny.

**soxmuscle** · 03-23-2009, 08:49 AM

I'm not saying I'm clever but I don't think I've ever said something remotely comparable in stupidity to "Red Sux."

**KelJu** · 03-23-2009, 08:49 AM

You forgot the option:

No, they are a dinosaur, and they need to die if they can't find a way to turn a profit.

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

I'm not saying I'm clever but I don't think I've ever said something remotely comparable in stupidity to "Red Sux."

Didn't think you would take it that way, it was just a joke...it's not like I am calling you a Choad.

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by KelJu

You forgot the option:

No, they are a dinosaur, and they need to die if they can't find a way to turn a profit.

I guess it's good when your on a train or anywhere you don't have access to TV or the internet.

**soxmuscle** · 03-23-2009, 08:57 AM

I just think the "Red Sux" thing is lame.

Nothing more, nothing less.

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 09:00 AM

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

I just think the "Red Sux" thing is lame.

Nothing more, nothing less.

I hear it all the time with the Yankees, Yankees suck, Jeter's gay, I don't take it personal.

Can you imagine what goes through Jeter's mind when adult Bosox fans call him names?

**ALBOB** · 03-23-2009, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by KelJu

You forgot the option:

No, they are a dinosaur, and they need to die if they can't find a way to turn a profit.

My sentiments exactly. Not to turn this into a political argument, but as soon as they abandonded true journalism and started being cheerleaders for one politcal party or the other they lost all reason for existance. Let them die if they can't provide what their customers want.

(I feel exactly the same way about banks but the assholes in Wash D.C. won't listen.

)

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 09:23 AM

**min0 lee** · 03-23-2009, 10:07 AM

The Rocky Mountain News, gone. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, gone.

The Seattle PI.com website will be run out of the same iconic headquarters in downtown Seattle.
1 of 3

The chains that own large metropolitan dailies such as the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune are in bankruptcy. Other papers, large and small, are teetering on the brink.

On Monday, the Ann Arbor (Michigan) News announced that it will publish its last edition in July. Taking its place will be a Web site called AnnArbor.com.

Three other Michigan newspapers announced Monday they are reducing their publications to three days a week. The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News and The Bay City Times will publish print editions on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, according to the mlive.com Web site, as research shows those are the highest readership days for newspapers.

The situation now looks grim for The Tucson Citizen. In the past 25 years, circulation at Arizona's oldest newspaper has dwindled from 65,000 to 17,000. The Gannett Co. paper could fold if a buyer can't be found.

At least 120 newspapers in the U.S. have shut down since January 2008, according to Paper Cuts, a Web site tracking the newspaper industry. More than 21,000 jobs at 67 newspapers have vaporized in that time, according to the site.

More bad news could be coming this week as newspapers struggle to meet challenges posed by changing reader habits, a shifting advertising market, an anemic economy, and the newspaper industry's own early strategic errors.

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