The Year The Newspaper Died
Preethi Dumpala|Jul. 4, 2009, 7:00 AM

As you may have noticed, newspapers have had a rough 2009. But you may not quite appreciate the magnitude of the collapse.

So far this year:

* 105 newspapers have been shuttered.
* 10,000 newspaper jobs have been lost.
* Print ad sales fell 30% in Q1 ‘09.
* 23 of the top 25 newspapers reported circulation declines between 7% and 20%.
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Most of the closed papers were small.

The regionals have a little more ability to “contract” before they have to “give up the ghost”.

But with the continual growth of broadband, and particularly > 1mbs wireless data services, it is very difficult not to see all sorts of services available on “smart phones” in just a couple of years that will make another dent in the advertising dollar available for the traditional news. We might even see viable TV on mobiles. Given the GPS-awareness of these devices, and future features, like RFID readers, better batters and less-power-hungry logics/memories–it is possible to envision that the phone could provide “personal agent” capabilities to its growing list of functions.

Younger people are just not reading newspapers like their parents did .. so it is difficult to believe that the papers will survive in their current formats for much longer.

Where as the local newspapers only have local stories plus they are usually free. (Mine comes in the mail every Saturday).

You can get the AP stories for free on the web where as the local stories – the local newspapers.

The 12% profit figure represents the average profitability of the surveyed publications over the last five years, not just 2008.

Ankit Gupta said it well.

If newspapers die, you personally are screwed.

Do you know why?

Because the blog reporter pay scale is going to go way way down–at the same exact moment the talent pool available to your boss goes way way UP.

That means you, Leena, will most likely see your pay rate DECREASE. And you, Leena, will not have any leverage or ability to–what is that Lacy term, “Brand” yourself because your bosses will simply replace you with someone with better writing skills, greater experience, and less hassle at a cheaper price.

You, MG Hammer, Sarah Judith Miller Lacy, and all the others will be in fore a firestorm o’ trouble.

All while the fat man dances a jig…

Back in the early 90’s I was doing contract work at a large university and they just got the internet. Although there was very little out there, I was amazed. At this point only large companies or kiosk had internet access.

Later I was over a party at a friend’s house and I told everyone that this internet thing is going to be incredible and it is going to take over everything. One person said I just got a union job at a large paper and it’s a job for life, I am not worried. I said don’t be too sure of your self.

A couple of days later the host of the party told me that the above person was mad at me. Now I wonder if that person now thinks about what I said. I was right but had no clue of how right I was.

I realize not all cities are like this, but there is a significant portion where this is how things are run, because people enjoy it.

A part of what I’ve heard is that smaller papers are very much more niched and so they deliver news to people that they care more about than larger newspapers, which can get a little more bland in order to create that lowest common denominator to satisfy the largest group as possible. Smaller niches mean that they can create a more devoted following, and with stronger readership, the ads carry more value, which is why their advertising revenues haven’t dropped as much as others have.

In my opinion, I don’t see newspapers dying any time soon. Instead of being larger, we might end up with smaller organizations, but on the whole, the service is still needed.

I’d like to see the data that say small newspapers have audiences that are less internet savvy. I’ve seen quite the opposite in my urban area (with print online neighborhood papers seemingly thriving).

This is very true in the Oklahoma market, where very few of the small newspapers have full content online, while all of the large ones do. And just last year, the two largest newspapers in the state had to cut half their staffs to save money. Small newspapers, meanwhile, are actually growing.

Also, there’s no competition in the small towns — most of the time. If you want that information (which no one else is going to cover), you have to get it from the small-town newspaper.