Is this the End for U.S. Newspapers As We’ve Known Them ?

[Kangaroo]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51O03Y20090225

San Francisco Chronicle may shut down




This from 2008
http://marylandonmymind.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/recession-is-the-end-for-us-newspapers-as-weve-known-them/



We also know the Tribune has been struggling for the last couple years

[Jon88]

They're a waste of paper for the most part. I like the sales on Saturday and Sunday but that's about it. I can get everything else online.

[Kangaroo]

They're a waste of paper for the most part. I like the sales on Saturday and Sunday but that's about it. I can get everything else online.

The local Houston paper rights articles so in opposition of what I view and has no balance. Then they refused to fire a writer that basically worded an article in such a way to attack the Iraq war after quoting a fallen hero's family and the family got mad and when it all came out the writer refuse to apologize and the Editor refused to take action. I have never bought a Houston Chronicle from that day forward not even a Sunday paper.

[tyke1doe]

This from 2008
http://marylandonmymind.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/recession-is-the-end-for-us-newspapers-as-weve-known-them/



Very good article. The industry is in trouble. Newspapers not named The Washington Post or The New York Times are going to have to scale back on national news coverage - which readers can get in any number of publications or on television.

Smaller newspapers may be able to survive by doing what the big guys can't - covering local news. However, because advertising dollars are drying up, even that's going to be a big challenge.

I may need to check into law school ;)

[Bob Sacamano]

Very good article. The industry is in trouble. Newspapers not named The Washington Post or The New York Times are going to have to scale back on national news coverage - which readers can get in any number of publications or on television.

Smaller newspapers may be able to survive by doing what the big guys can't - covering local news. However, because advertising dollars are drying up, even that's going to be a big challenge.

I may need to check into law school ;)

WHOA!

hold on now, times aren't that desperate

[tyke1doe]

WHOA!

hold on now, times aren't that desperate

:laugh2:

[ScipioCowboy]

Very good article. The industry is in trouble. Newspapers not named The Washington Post or The New York Times are going to have to scale back on national news coverage - which readers can get in any number of publications or on television.

Smaller newspapers may be able to survive by doing what the big guys can't - covering local news. However, because advertising dollars are drying up, even that's going to be a big challenge.

I may need to check into law school ;)

Why don't you find a job with an online paper? Is it so different?

[Jon88]

The local Houston paper rights articles so in opposition of what I view and has no balance. Then they refused to fire a writer that basically worded an article in such a way to attack the Iraq war after quoting a fallen hero's family and the family got mad and when it all came out the writer refuse to apologize and the Editor refused to take action. I have never bought a Houston Chronicle from that day forward not even a Sunday paper.

My parents did the same thing after the local paper - Shreveport Times - was too liberal and irresponsible.

[iceberg]

Very good article. The industry is in trouble. Newspapers not named The Washington Post or The New York Times are going to have to scale back on national news coverage - which readers can get in any number of publications or on television.

Smaller newspapers may be able to survive by doing what the big guys can't - covering local news. However, because advertising dollars are drying up, even that's going to be a big challenge.

I may need to check into law school ;)

just the other day i said FM will have to do the same thing to survive.

[DIAF]

Nope, just the big ones. Many smaller papers are doing just fine, its the major metro papers that overleveraged themselves to expand into megapapers in the 90s that are taking it in the face.

[Rowdy]

I can't believe something as a part of everyday life like the newspaper will probably be gone. I grew up reading the Sunday comics and I delivered the paper for awhile back when school was uphill both ways.

[burmafrd]

If people do not want to buy what you sell that is that. Newspapers and most of the MSM today have little of what most people want and there it is.

[iceberg]

Nope, just the big ones. Many smaller papers are doing just fine, its the major metro papers that overleveraged themselves to expand into megapapers in the 90s that are taking it in the face.

and why are the smaller ones doing just fine? cause they provide the local news as their "lead in" as needed. i worked for a small town paper for many years - they do cater to the community cause it's their lifeblood.

[DIAF]

and why are the smaller ones doing just fine? cause they provide the local news as their "lead in" as needed. i worked for a small town paper for many years - they do cater to the community cause it's their lifeblood.

Yep. A couple of friends from my stint in journalism school ended up writing for small-town papers after college. Pay is crappy, though, as Im sure you are well aware.

Even if the large papers catered mostly to just in-town and state news, they'd still have a hard time doing well. The main reason why they are getting killed is because of rapid expansion, and trying to do too much. They get into other businesses (for example, sports teams) that they shouldn't be getting into, they have large circulation areas (big circulation costs) that require a lot of people and gas to distribute, etc. Sure, the internet and cable news hurts, but things would be a lot easier if they all didnt have this huge mountain of debt they have gotten themselves into.

Its kinda sad. When i went back home to the rural North Ga. town my mother lives in over Thanksgiving, i tried to get an atlanta paper for the black friday ads. The teenage girl at the CVS looked at me funny and asked me if I was from out of town...i explained to her i went to HS there, moved out of the area after '95 and now lived in Atlanta....."...why do you ask?" I say. "Because the AJC hasn't run out here for 2 years" she replies. That was a shock. We had a subscription for the 5 years we lived there before i moved away, and I checked the boxscores of Rangers and Braves games religiously every day. 2009, and less than two hours away from the Metro area, and I can't even get the damn paper.

[Kangaroo]

Here we go one down and out

Rocky Mountain News Shuts Down



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123567732712586001.html

E.W. Scripps Co. said it will publish the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News on Friday after failing to find a buyer for the Denver newspaper.
The Rocky's demise makes the Colorado capital the first of what could be a string of big metropolitan markets to lose a major daily newspaper due to the current advertising recession. The Rocky is the biggest newspaper to collapse amid a crisis that this week alone forced two publishers into bankruptcy proceedings and led another to warn of the possible closure of the San Francisco Chronicle.

[bbwlover]

Tim Cowlishaw had better hope his radio gig works out.

[iceberg]

Tim Cowlishaw had better hope his radio gig works out.

it's times like this all our lives change.

who gives a **** about a hack reporter?

[tyke1doe]

Why don't you find a job with an online paper? Is it so different?

I don't know how that would work. The issue in most cases, as far as an employee, is health benefit packages, retirement plans, etc.

It's not just about finding a job with a newspaper. It's being able to find equal pay and benefits, especially if you've been in your industry a number of years.

But my newspaper, as well as many others, have shifted a lot of their coverage online.

As someone noted, small papers aren't being hit as hard, but they don't have a large staff, large overhead and they don't pay as well.

But even then, the advertising dollars are shrinking, and as more mega companies like Wal-Mart enter local markets, driving local mom and pop stores (those who thrive on more traditional advertising) out of business, even the smaller papers are going to take a hit.

[burmafrd]

Darwin at work. Survival of the fittest. Media with agenda's SHOULD FAIL.

[ninja]

The news in the papers always comes after the net. Why pay for oudated material you can get for free on the net?

[DaBoys4Life]

I think the internet killed the newspaper. CNN.com or anywhere else if you want your news.