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“Media Extinction Event”: Print Newspapers Face COVID-19 Death-Knell

April 6, 2020

“Media Extinction Event”: Print Newspapers Face COVID-19 Death-Knell

Traditional print media was already on the ropes long before the crisis, in competition with exploding alternative forms of digital news and independent platforms, but the coronavirus pandemic and accompanying shutdown of the economy could prove the final death blow.

Bloomberg reports at a moment newspaper staff in cities and towns across the US are being furloughed in huge numbers and increasingly being issued pay cuts that “Local papers are slashing staff and publishing less frequently as the already-battered businesses try to weather the Covid-19 storm. Many either won’t survive or will have to drastically reduce their operations.”

File image via AP/Shutterstock 

In some cases for those newspapers not yet completely shuttered, it’s translating into a rapid transition to digital presence only. Others are going from being daily papers to only delivering print copies twice a week — this also as cash-strapped advertisers and shuttered retail stores are foregoing conventional ads.

“I’m hearing 40% to 60% drops in revenue over the last 30 days,” Dean Ridings, chief executive officer of the national trade association America’s Newspapers, said. “The advertisers are the local mom and pops, the retailers, the restaurants, who are understandably canceling their advertisements.”

Some notable developments strongly suggesting the writing is on the wall:

  • Recall that Warren Buffett already abandoned the industry in January, selling all 31 daily papers to Lee Enterprises Inc. for $140 million.
  • Largest American newspaper chain Gannet Co., which owns USA Today along with hundreds of local papers like the the important Des Moines Register, announced this past week it’s been forced to slash jobs and furlough workers amid the outbreak carnage.
  • A recent Buzzfeed headline dubbed the pandemic a “media extinction event.” 
  • BuzzFeed itself announced pay cuts employees through May in order to stave off mass layoffs.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Visualizing The Print-pocalypse Of American Newspapers

August 4, 2018

Visualizing The Print-pocalypse Of American Newspapers

The number of employees working in the media industry plunged 23.6 percent from 2008 to 2017, according to a new analysis.

According to a Pew Research analysis published Monday, in 2017, there were about 88,000 newsroom employees – reporters, editors, photographers, and videographers – working across five industries that generate news: broadcast news, cable, newspapers, radio, and other information services. That number is down from 114,000 employees in 2008, which represents a loss of about 27,000 jobs (-23.6 percent).

Glancing through the report, what caught our attention — is the decline in newspaper employees.

Pew mentioned the number of employees at newspapers across the US collapsed -45 percent over the last ten years. Citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics survey data, the nonpartisan American fact tank reports roughly 71,000 workers were employed at newspapers in 2008, while the number stands at only 39,000 in 2017.

“Of the five industries studied, notable job growth occurred only in the digital-native news sector,” reported Pew.

“Since 2008, the number of digital-native newsroom employees increased by 79%, from about 7,400 workers to about 13,000 in 2017. This increase of about 6,000 total jobs, however, fell far short of offsetting the loss of about 32,000 newspaper newsroom jobs during the same period,” the fact tank added.

The decline in newspaper employment also means the industry is rapidly shrinking.  In 2008, newspaper newsroom employees were about 62 percent of all news workers. By 2017, they stand at only 45 percent.

In the last decade, there has been a noticeable expansion in television broadcasting workers of all newsroom employees, from 25 percent in 2008 to 33 percent in 2017. Employees in digital-native news increased from 6 percent of all newsroom employees to about 15 percent in 2017.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

When Newspapers Die and Reporters Go Bad

April 14, 2016

When Newspapers Die and Reporters Go Bad

When right wingers go off on NPR and the New York Times for being mouthpieces of the Democratic Party or left wingers criticize Fox News and PBS for having too many conservatives on the air, it makes my head spin. Is there no such thing as truth anymore or not a single honest reporter in town?

No. And we shouldn’t expect there to be. Journalism is one of those bedrock institutions that are critical to a democratic society. Reporters are supposed to inform citizens of things they need to know, to help them navigate the world confidently, effectively, to live well and prosper. Such a noble calling reporters have. From the outside journalism looks like public service. Sometimes it is. But from the inside, the news business is like making sausage or politics. The average person really wouldn’t like to watch how the news is actually made. It’s a pretty dirty and disgusting business even if people like the news product they consume every day.

Reporters are supposed to be fair and thorough but they are often fatuous and sloppy. In order to make their deadlines they take short cuts, make deals, trade information, manipulate gate-keepers, misrepresent themselves, snivel, dissemble and act disingenuously or even dishonestly. Some are quite vindictive and write just enough of the truth to tell a lie or support one. Judith Miller’s shameless reporting about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction when he didn’t have any comes to mind. Not exactly the kind of people who follow the golden rule in their work life. But theirs is such a noble calling.

There is a kind of catechism you learn when you go to J-School: get the facts, get the story, get if first, but get it right.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Let’s Help Canada’s Newspapers Stop Embarrassing Themselves

October 31, 2015

Let’s Help Canada’s Newspapers Stop Embarrassing Themselves 

In this post-Harper era, our democratic institutions must be fixed. Start with media.

Observing the cathartic effect of the end the Harper regime reveals just how traumatized millions of Canadians were by nearly 10 years of rule by this vindictive prime minister. The analogies and metaphors keep coming: like getting out of jail, like waking up from a nightmare, like the end of an occupation.

This election will provide students, pundits and authors with career-building opportunities to dissect the results. Part of that analysis will, of course, examine the unprecedented assault on democracy carried about the Conservatives. As it should, because undoing the damage must be the litmus test for the new Liberal government and Parliament.

However, while it is critical to track these efforts, the other democratic institution which needs renewed attention is the media and in particular the newspapers in this country. Regrettably, we have adapted to the outrageous concentration of newspaper ownership in Canada, greater than in any other developed Western nation.

But the newspapers perhaps did us a favour in the last week of the campaign with their inane endorsement of the Harper autocracy for yet another four-year term. Postmedia and the Globe and Mail actually managed to write editorials justifying the re-election of a man turfed from office by a tsunami of voter revulsion.

The Globe and Mail and the National Post editorials both declared their support because of Harper’s economic record — but ignored all the actual evidence. The Globe declared: “The key issue of the election should have been the economy and the financial health of Canadians. On that score, the Conservative Party has a solid record.” And the National Post: “Harper’s commendable record in office cannot be dismissed. Our economy is in good shape…”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

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