Print or Online - thought two

Times are hard, we all know that. The economy is struggling, unemployment rates are up and prices for necessities such as gasoline and groceries are reaching all-time highs. The newspaper industry is taking it hard too. Major publishers, including New York Times Co., Gannet Co. (parent company of the Des Moines Register), McClatchy Co., Lee Enterprises Inc. and E.W. Scripps Co., are reporting profits cut in half as compared to the second quarter of last year.

So, as to continue on the thought of my previous blog, perhaps more readers are turning to the internet for their news. Maybe in these increasingly tough economic times, readers are choosing to forego the cost of printed news and opt to use computers more. After all, you can receive the same information, almost always for free, on the internet.

How are the newspaper companies going to survive this downward turn? Some of the recent ideas we have heard in class could surely help. By compressing story size, being more selective about the information being printed, reducing the actual size of the paper used and reducing or eliminating ads are all seem to be excellent ways of reducing costs. However, advertising is a large part of the newspaper industry's revenue; reducing or eliminating ads could also cut revenue, driving up the cost of the paper for consumers. So the newspaper industry has their work cut out for them if they are to survive this nation-wide budget crunch, just as we all do.