Digital Revenue Could Help Newspapers Survive In Changing Media Landscape

From The Center Square:

By Kevin Bessler

For anyone interested in news and current events, it is hard to avoid the sense that newspapers are struggling.

Newspapers have a long and storied history that dates back to the 1600s, but with the advent of radio and then television, newspaper circulation began a gradual but steady decline.

The journalism industry, which was dominated by newspapers informing the public about current events, is shifting to digital platforms such as websites and social media.

A study by the Poynter Institute found that 25 percent of all U.S. newspapers have disappeared over the past 16 years and many that remain are understaffed.

Since hitting a record high of $49.4 billion in advertising in 2005, newspapers have lost about 75 percent of that peak, according to the Pew Research Center.

Bill Cassidy, a communications professor at Northern Illinois University, said the decline has been steady over the years.

“Revenues have declined for decades and we are seeing that exacerbated and played out in more recent years and now especially with COVID,” Cassidy said.

Afternoon newspapers were the first casualties. Instead of coming home from work and opening a newspaper, people would just turn on the television. Afternoon editions were essentially eliminated once profits dried up.

While television put a dent into newspaper profits, the internet has had a significant impact. When the internet became available in the 1990s, unlimited amounts of information were suddenly free for the taking.

Cassidy said online newspaper subscriptions are a tough sell.

“While that has worked better than it did a decade ago, there are a lot of people who say they are used to getting their information for free online and I’m not going to pay for this,” Cassidy said.

Still, there are people who yearn to have the physical paper in their hands. The Chicago Tribune, first published in 1847, now has a daily circulation of 238,000, according to Alliance for Audited Media. It is the ninth-largest daily newspaper in the country.

Cassidy said understaffed newsrooms around the country unable to cover a city council meeting, for example, hurts democracy.

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