Newspaper revenues crash by 29 percent

If this is a d_b, delete. I didn't see it anywhere.

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Newspapers may be dying out even faster than we thought possible, as the numbers we’re about to present are not pretty.

Last week, the Newspaper Association of America posted the quarterly financial data of the U.S. newspaper industry. It tracks both print and online revenues for the industry as a whole. But unlike past updates, the NAA did not promote these numbers. When you look at them, it’s easy to see why.

In Q2 2009, newspapers made $6.8 billion in print and online revenues. In the same quarter last year, the newspapers made $9.6 billion, a nearly $3 billion difference in the span of a year, or a full 29% from 2008 to 2009.

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http://mashable.com/2009/08/31/newspaper-revenue-crash/

:-\

 

If only we'd twittered more and had higher payroll expenses

 

Those revenues are not walking through that door.

 

Any story that starts with, "Newspapers may be dying out even faster than we thought possible ..." automatically earns my suspicion.

Moreover, how is newspaper's revenue fall compared to that of other industries over the same period? I'm sure it's bad, assuredly worse than the national norm, but that's context that's sorely needed in that story. I know our paper took a big early hit and has since recovered somewhat.

On top of that, I'm so tired of the "newspapers are dying" theme. And I'm doubly tired of those within our industry that repeat as if its fact. Newspapers are not doing well, they will never do as well as they did in their heyday. I don't think they're dying.

Yet, it's like there's a bunch of us who fall over each other in the race for the axe to come down on our necks.

Things suck right now. I'd venture to guess that most of us have been furloughed, had our pay cut, made to do extra work without compensation, or worse still, been laid off. I've been furloughed. The rancor is understandable, don't me wrong. It all sucks ass.

But I'm tired of buying into "newspapers are dying". I think newspapers will live. I think what we do has value to our communities, our companies and to ourselves. I will continue to fight on with that ideal, even if the face of mounting challenges and those who say it's not worth it. It is worth it and newspapers are important.

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'. I don't want to die, I will do what I need to do to live. Part of it is believing in what I do. I can't think of another way I'd want to do it.

 

News gathering and reporting will live forever. The paper part, I'm not so sure of. If advertisers find a more efficient way of reaching customers, they will use it, no matter how many people still want a printed version.

 

I agree, but we do ourselves no favors as an industry when we're constantly advertising our own alleged doom.

 

This is what happens when a business makes no secret of its attempt to kill itself.

 

We don't advertise our own doom.

I don't recall us printing our layoffs in our paper.

 

Bingo.

 

Publishers: We are bleeding money, we need to cut staff.

Reporters and editors: No you aren't, you just want ridiculously high profits.

Real stats: They are bleeding money.

R & E: This is all your fault for cutting staff.