It seems to be an under reported story in the mainstream media (which I never hesitate to criticize) but if you go online and SEARCH for this story, you will see numerous articles about the issue. Time even has a "Top 10 Endangered Newspapers." (click here)
About 80% of newspaper revenue comes from advertising, and the Newspaper Association of America expects those sales to drop 9.7% in 2009 to $34.2 billion, after falling 16.5% in 2008. The major question is... is this a permanent business model change or a temporary issue heightened by the recession? My opinion is that more and more people are going online for information (which affects sales) and advertisers have creative ways to market products to consumers online (which affects ad revenue).
I personally dont read the "hard copy" newspaper. I think it has outlived its usefulness.
But how many companies have prepared for a transition from "brick and mortar" to "click and mortar" if not online-only. I dont think that newspaper companies have out-lived their usefulness, they are extremely important and its very disconcerting to see newspapers close, but at the same time, could there have been steps taken to evolve their business? Is there still time? I've seen some of the figures (net loss) and they are unbelievable.
What is the future of investigative journalism? Blogs are cool. Dont get me wrong... you may not know this, but I blog from time to time... but this is just me giving my opinion on things. And if I do give any information, its usually based on news articles that I have read. But the person that works for the New York Times, he's not basing his story off some WordPress blog he saw online. He's the person who's researching the information. She's the person calling back, checking with sources. He's the person flying to Mumbai or New Delhi. She's the person interviewing Gordon Brown or Angela Merkel in England or Germany. He's following up on the sales reports and comparing them to what he was told by the CFO.
We need the actual reporters who get paid to "dig" for the facts. Not just online knuckleheads (like me!) who give opinions based on things we have read. I merely talk about artifacts found in Egypt. Newspaper reporters are the archaelogists who have the dirt under their fingernails.
We are seeing papers doing one of two things. They are either closing altogether or taking deep steps to cut costs. Publishing less frequently (e.g. Sunday, Tue, Thu only)... decreasing the number of pages per issue... downsizing the staff... cutting salaries... transitioning to a web presence. And again, what of local news. Now, far be it for me to accuse local TELEVISION news of airing/focusing on certain types of stories... but, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal will not tell you whats going on in your own neighborhood like your local newspaper will.
Here are a few newspapers that have closed after more than a century of printing.
Cincinatti Post 126 years
Kentucky Post 126 years
Rocky Mountain Post 150 years
Ann Arbor News 169 years
Seattle Post-Intelligencer 146 years (going to a web-ONLY presence)
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