For investors in pure play television stocks, the comments coming out of Detroit in the wake of disappointing sales of new vehicles in May were not what you wanted to hear. While most industry observers expected sales to be down, the extent of the decline in large models caught many by surprise.

Pointing to the 10.7% slide in total U.S. sales for the month, auto execs used words like “watershed year” and “profound shift” in buying patterns as consumers turned their backs on gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Declines of 30-40% in trucks and SUVs were the norm (see Automotive News; requires free registration).

Declassified. That word, usually associated with top secret government documents, aptly describes what’s happening to the newspaper industry these days as publishers try to endure one of the worst markets for classified ad sales on record.

For newspaper investors, it means more pain than gain in 2008. That’s because the double-digit declines in classified ad revenue that plagued newspaper operators every quarter during 2007 are continuing well into 2008. Real estate, employment and automotive classifieds are in the tank and the fall-off isn’t showing any sign of abating, especially given the outlook during the rest of the year for high oil prices, slower consumer spending, weak jobs growth and depressed housing prices.