Duude

Five Reasons Why Newspaper Industry Will Bounce Back

I agree the bigger newspapers with the exception of the Wall Street Journal, will suffer much more pain. Some of the pain is due to a stubborn refusal to cut back at nearly the pace that large American businesses cut. Look no further than the recent 2nd quarter earnings reports of major corporations. They made huge cuts, and even though they experienced a big drop in revenue, many were still profitable. Large newspapers were seeing a drop in circulation well before the recession occurred and yet, they were stuck in denial. The New York Times who has always been very union friendly has fought tooth and nail to get some of their other newspapers like the Boston Globe to force their unions to accept major cuts. Unfortunately, its never enough as they are now looking to sell the Boston Globe altogether. Now if only they were to turn that same force to cut upon themselves. Thus far, they've just bled red ink and will continue till they dismantle their union newspaper and refocus their efforts where they can produce a reliable and profitable income stream. As for Murdoch's call to charging for content, while the Wall Street Journal has successfully sold online subscriptions for years, other papers lacking much distinction from competitors will find charging for online content a difficult road. Magazines like Newsweek, and Time will simply whittle away awash in red ink. Its a medium whose most at risk. Timely publication of information is the issue. Daily newspapers are beat by the Internet, weekly news magazines are beyond archaic and will likely largely disappear or turn become monthly highlights in news publications.