We remain committed to investigative journalism and rigorous reporting.
Margaret Sullivan: Newspapers struggling to reinvent themselves
What in the world is happening to the newspaper business? Consider the events of the past weeks.
The Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns several of the nation’s largest and traditionally most successful newspapers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company is swimming in the $12.8 billion in debt that its new owner created when he bought it a year ago.
Meanwhile, the New York Times Co. — whose stock is down an astonishing 64 percent since last April — wants to borrow up to $225 million against the value of its Manhattan headquarters to help repay debt and is considering what assets to sell as it tries to raise money.
Many newspapers are struggling. Here’s a short course in why.
• Advertising revenue is down. Once upon a time, newspapers were by far the best way for many businesses to advertise. Not always true any more. And with the nation in a recession and many businesses retrenching, newspaper ad revenue is getting a double-whammy.
• Readership of newspapers is down. Lots of people still buy the newspaper, of course, and we appreciate every single one of you. But not as many as before, and fewer all the time. The problem is especially acute among young people. Although this paper’s readership among young people is quite high, that’s not the case across the country.
In an e-mail exchange following a panel discussion in Manhattan earlier this month, New Yorker magazine editor David Remnick offered his take: “My sons, who are in their teens, look at the Sunday paper outside the door as if a mattress had inexplicably landed there from heaven. To them, it’s a strange and gigantic thing, but they also have a hunger for news online. In that hunger is the hope that we’re not in the midst of a death of newspapers so much as a transformation.”
Meanwhile, though, the change in reading habits by young and old alike drives down circulation revenue.
• Newspapers remain an expensive business to operate. Newsprint is costly; printing presses require production crews; delivery trucks need drivers; news gathering requires professional reporters and editors.
However — and that’s a big “however” — newspapers still have a lot going for them. As sources of news and information, especially in the role of government watchdogs, they continue to outshine Web and broadcast outlets.
They also have considerable strengths as businesses. Newspapers are still a great way to deliver an advertising message, especially now that they have an online presence to augment print. In an age of media fragmentation, they continue to reach a mass market, and a print ad can pack a powerful punch. In many regional markets, newspapers remain the go-to place for advertisers such as department stores, car dealerships and supermarkets.
What does this all mean for the newspaper you are holding in your hands — or reading on a screen? The News is fortunate that it is not saddled with debt like the Tribune and many others. While not immune to the troubling trends, we remain profitable as we take steps to reduce expenses, maintain traditional revenue sources and find new ones.
Still, the future is not certain. What we are certain about is our mission,
which must be defended at all costs. The News will continue to be the best source for news and enterprise journalism in our region. We remain committed to investigative journalism and rigorous reporting.
To do so means staying viable as a business. We’re doing that by continuing to reinvent ourselves as a broad-based media company and an Internet destination. Despite the head winds, I’m confident we’ll get there. We simply must. For, in Remnick’s words, “the death of newspapers — especially the best of them, the most aggressive and ambitious — would diminish the republic beyond measure.”
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