Monday, March 23, 2009

Times are Changing; Newspapers are Failing


By: Sarah Horner
March 23, 2009

For more than 200 years Americans have had a pretty normal routine, they wake up and read the newspaper with their morning coffee. In ten, maybe five, possibly even 1 year, this routine may be completely extinct. Since January 2008, at least 120 Newspapers throughout the United States have shut down, over 21,000 journalists have lost their jobs and many other newspapers are on the brink of extinction.

Newspapers are not going completely extinct, in many cases, newspapers have moved online. This helps to curb the high costs of printing and can also be more easily reached especially by the younger generation.

This plague on the Newspaper industry is not just a result of the terrible economic recession we are currently facing, but also because of changes in the advertising industry. People have turned to posting classified Advertisements on sites such as Monster.com or craigslist.net instead of in local newspapers. Furthermore, a shocking statistic said that from 2007 to 2008 the industries advertising revenue dropped 23% from $49.5 billion to $38 billion.

A few newspapers that are nearing the brink of extinction include, the Las Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, whose parent company is currently facing bankruptcy. Many newspapers are moving online such as the Ann Arbor news. Many other newspapers have announced massive staff cuts, however this will probably only save these newspapers for the short term.

References:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/19/newspaper.decline.layoff/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-231124

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