Dead-tree media news

[genlock]

The Rocky Mountain News publishes its last paper tomorrow.

Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, broke the news to the Rocky staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper's future. He called the paper a victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry.

[Lester]

Printing The NYT Costs Twice As Much As Sending Every Subscriber A Free Kindle
Not that it's anything we think the New York Times Company should do, but we thought it was worth pointing out that it costs the Times about twice as much money to print and deliver the newspaper over a year as it would cost to send each of its subscribers a brand new Amazon Kindle instead.

http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/p ... ree-kindle

[AmpedNow]

The Seattle PI will be next to go.

[genlock]

Maybe San Francisco Chronicle? (Hearst)

The Rocky was a Scripps paper.

This thing may spin out of control soon and
an avalanche of dead papers will pile up.

[Big Media]

http://www.time.com/time/business/artic ... 85,00.html



The 10 Major Newspapers That Will Fold (or go digital)


1. The Philadelphia Daily News. The smaller of the two papers owned by The Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, which recently filed for bankruptcy. The parent company says it will make money this year, but with newspaper advertising still falling sharply, the city cannot support two papers and the Daily News has a daily circulation of only about 100,000. The tabloid has a small staff, most of whom could probably stay on at Philly.com, the web operation for both of the city dailies.

2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has filed for Chapter 11. The paper may not make money this year even without the costs of debt coverage. The company said it made $26 million last year, about half of what it made in 2007. The odds are that the Star Tribune will lose money this year if its ad revenue drops another 20%. There is no point for creditors to keep the paper open if it cannot generate cash. It could become an all-digital property, but supporting a daily circulation of over 300,000 is too much of a burden. It could survive if its rival the St. Paul Pioneer Press folds. A grim race.

3. The Miami Herald, which has a daily circulation of about 220,000. It is owned by McClatchy, a publicly traded company which could be the next chain to go into Chapter 11. The Herald has been on the market since December, and but no serious bidders have emerged. Newspaper advertising has been especially hard hit in Florida because of the tremendous loss in real estate advertising. The online version of the paper is already well-read in the Miami area and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Herald has strong competition north of it in Fort Lauderdale. There is a very small chance it could merge with the Sun-Sentinel, but it is more likely that the Herald will go online-only with two editions, one for English-speaking readers and one for Spanish.

4. The Detroit News is one of two daily papers in the big American city badly hit by the economic downturn. It is unlikely that it can merge with the larger Detroit Free Press which is owned by Gannett. It is hard to see what would be in it for Gannett. With the fortunes of Detroit getting worse each day, cutting back the number of days that the paper is delivered will not save enough money to keep the paper open.

5. The Boston Globe is, based on several accounts, losing $1 million a week. One investment bank recently said that the paper is only worth $20 million. The paper is the flagship of what the Globe's parent, The New York Times, calls the New England Media Group. NYT has substantial financial problems of its own. Last year, ad revenue for the New England properties was down 18%. That is likely to continue or get worse this year. Supporting larger losses at the Globe will become nearly impossible. Boston.com, the online site that includes the digital aspects of the Globe, will probably be all that will be left of the operation.

6. The San Francisco Chronicle. Parent company Hearst has already set a deadline for shutting the paper if it cannot make tremendous cost cuts. The Chronicle lost as much as $70 million last year. Even if the company could lower its costs, the northern California economy is in bad shape. The online version of the paper could be the only version by the middle of the 2009.

7. The Chicago Sun Times is the smaller of two newspapers in the city. Its parent company, Sun-Times Media Group trades for $.03 a share. Davidson Kempner, a large shareholder in the firm, has dumped the CEO and most of the board. The paper has no chance of competing with The Chicago Tribune.

8. NY Daily News is one of several large papers fighting for circulation and advertising in the New York City area. Unlike The New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, and Newark Star Ledger, the Daily News is not owned by a larger organization. Real estate billionaire Mort Zuckerman owns the paper. Based on figures from other big dailies it could easily lose $60 million or $70 million and has no chance of recovering from that level

9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram is another one of the big dailies that competes with a larger paper in a neighboring market — Dallas. The parent of The Dallas Morning News, Belo, is arguably a stronger company that the Star Telegram's parent, McClatchy. The Morning News has a circulation of about 350,000 and the Star Telegram has just over 200,000. The Star Telegram will have to shut down or become an edition of its rival. Putting them together would save tens of millions of dollars a year.

10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is in one of the economically weakest markets in the country. Its parent, Advance Publications, has already threatened to close its paper in Newark. Employees gave up enough in terms of concessions to keep the paper open. Advance, owned by the Newhouse family, is carrying the burden of its paper plus Conde Nast, its magazine group which is losing advertising revenue. The Plain Dealer will be shut or go digital by the end of next year.

— Douglas A. McIntyre

[genlock]

Is it time for the Chilton family to pull the plug on the Daily Mail?

[Hoosier Daddy]

I would hate to see the Plain Dealer shut down.

[Lee]

Yet The Ironton Tribune remains...

[genlock]

And Logan's Banner too.

A front page picture of last week was a firefighter from Man
washing off the front of a railroad engine after said engine
ran over and killed a local man. Hard hitting local news.
If it bleeds, It leads.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Small town papers aren't seeing the negative numbers on the balance sheet that are killing big city papers. Probably a lack of competition for true local news reporting (and coverage of events that qualify as "news" only in a small town) and a lack of credible options for local advertisers.

[genlock]

Big city newspapers and other big city operations are usually overstaffed
due to union problems and management featherbedding.

[Lester]

McClatchy just announced a 15% reduction in workforce.

[genlock]

People are just not into newspapers anymore.
They are not convenient and do not fit a mobile lifestyle.
As more electronic outlets become available, newspapers will
continue to fail and accelerate that trend until they are all gone.
With all it's faults, electronic (internet) media is more trustworthy
because of the availability of multiple sources. Most of all, I want to
see the NY Times fall on it's ass.

[Big Media]

I don't get print media anyway. I regularly thumb through the Sunday HD, but I am just as apt to browse the headlines on herald-dispatch.com. The only.. ONLY.. time I ever pick up a magazine is when I am at the doctor's office or on the can.

The reason is simple, it is available, almost clutter free, right here on the old laptop.

Having said that, I doubt I will ever read an e-book, neither on a computer nor on a handheld (or Kindle).

[genlock]

The Sun-Times Media Group, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of suburban newspapers, says it has filed for Bankruptcy, making it the fifth newspaper publisher in recent months to seek protection from creditors.

The company said it filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Delaware court Tuesday. It will continue to operate its newspapers and online properties.

[fearpeddler]

Fear not, the american government will soon be providing you with your daily paper.....