March 3
Standard & Poor's cuts Gannett to junk - Business Courier
A week after Moody’s Investors Service lowered its credit ratings on Gannett Co. Inc., Standard & Poor’s has done the same, citing the continued decline in advertising revenue.
March 3
Men's monthly magazine Arena to cease printing after 22 years - guardian.co.uk
Pioneering men's monthly magazine Arena is set to close after 22 years, putting up to 12 jobs at risk. Publisher Bauer Media said today it was suspending publication of the title and would consult with staff over possible job losses.
March 3
Dispatch cutting 45 newsroom employees - Business First of Columbus
The Columbus Dispatch on Monday said it will cut 45 workers in its newsroom next month as it copes with a steady decline in advertising revenue.
March 3
Washington Post profit falls 77 percent in 4th qtr - San Francisco Examiner
The Washington Post Co.'s reeling newspaper and magazine divisions stumbled again in the fourth quarter, extending an earnings slump that would have been even more disconcerting if not for the stability of the company's education and cable TV businesses.
March 3
Boston Herald to cut 20 more jobs - The Boston Globe
The Boston Herald said today it needs 20 employees, about 5 percent of its staff, to take buy-outs as the recession takes a toll on advertising.
March 3
Newspaper to outsource printing, layoffs possible - News 14
The Wilmington Star News announced Friday that it will stop printing its own newspaper. The Star News says it will outsource the printing of the newspaper to a company that has not yet been named. Nearly 40 full-time workers in the mail room and press room could be laid off as a result.
March 3
Manitoba Daily Drops Monday, Moves Printing - Editor & Publisher
Beginning in May, The Daily Graphic and its Saturday weekly, the Herald-Leader, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, will be printed at their Sun Media sister paper in Winnipeg... The Graphic also will cease publishing a Monday edition, starting March 30.
March 3
Worth magazine lays off most of NY staff - Reuters
Worth, the luxury magazine that caters to high-rolling executives and wealthy people, cut its New York-based staff by 45 percent because of a sharp decline in advertising by financial firms.
March 3
American Society of Newspaper Editors Cancels Convention - NYTimes.com
The American Society of Newspaper Editors canceled its annual convention on Friday in deference to the cost-cutting and turmoil in the industry, just days after the Magazine Publishers of America called off its annual conference for the same reasons.
March 3
Trinity Mirror scraps final dividend after plunge in advertising - The Guardian
Trinity Mirror axed its final dividend yesterday as the newspaper group warned that advertising revenues had fallen about 30% in the first two months of this year.
February 26
Fairfax Seeking A$684 Million in Share Sale to Pay Down Debt - Bloomberg.com
Fairfax Media Ltd., which this week reported its first loss on record, is seeking to raise as much as A$684 million ($443 million) by selling stock to existing shareholders at a discount to lower its debts.
February 26
Newsday will start charging readers to view stories online - Asbury Park Press
Cablevision Systems Corp. will start charging readers to access the New York daily Newsday online, seeking new sources of revenue to make up for plunging advertising sales.
February 26
NYT Reduces Frequency of T Style Mag, Scales Back Key - Fitz & Jen
The New York Times is scaling back T and Key, the style and real estate magazines distributed in the Sunday paper.
February 26
Cosmopolitan UK publisher to cut 100 jobs - guardian.co.uk
National Magazine Company is to make nearly 100 staff redundant – almost 15% of its workforce – as it bids to cut costs after its chief executive claimed it was facing the worst business conditions during his 20 years with the firm.
February 26
Friday last day for Rocky Mountain News - The Denver Post
A nearly 150-year publishing run will end Friday as the Rocky Mountain News prints its final edition. The News becomes the latest casualty in an industry stricken by a spiraling decline in newspaper economics.
February 26
Yorkshire Evening Post circulation down 12% - guardian.co.uk
Johnston Press's Yorkshire Evening Post suffered a year-on-year headline circulation fall of 12% in the second half of 2008, as most leading English regional evening papers saw heavy declines.
February 26
Torstar falls to $211.2-million Q4 loss on media property writedowns, CEO exits role - The Canadian Press
Torstar Corp. (TSX:TS.B), the publisher of the Toronto Star and other papers, is replacing its CEO, slashing its dividend and warning of further restructuring and job cuts after a huge $211.2-million quarterly loss.
February 26
Liverpool Daily Post sales down 17% - guardian.co.uk
Trinity Mirror's Liverpool Daily Post was the biggest circulation faller among the English regional daily morning papers in the second half of 2008, down by 17% year on year.
February 26
Gannett Joins Crowd, Slashes Dividend 90% - Fitz & Jen
annett’s unbroken streak of paying out 163 consecutive quarterly dividends since going public in 1967 is still unbroken -- but you've gotta put an asterisk on this record.Gannett’s board Wednesday slashed the cash dividend from 40 cents a share to a nominal 4 cents. What a difference an industry and global credit meltdown makes.
February 26
Hartford Courant cuts 100 more jobs - Newsday.com
The Hartford Courant, struggling with other Tribune Co. newspapers with bankruptcy, massive debt and an industrywide decline in advertising, says it will eliminate 100 jobs this week, primarily through layoffs.
February 26
Post Co. Quarterly Earnings Fall 77% - washingtonpost.com
Washington Post Co. earnings fell 77 percent in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the same period in 2007, as large impairment charges drove down net income.
February 26
Hearst says cuts needed or S.F. Chronicle may close - MarketWatch
The Hearst Corp. said Tuesday that unless the San Francisco Chronicle can undertake "critical" cost-cutting measures including job cuts within weeks, the media giant will be forced to sell or close the 144-year-old newspaper.
February 26
Another Wave of Job Cuts at Media House - Khaleej Times Online
One of the UAE’s largest publishing houses has announced another wave of job cuts in the face of declining advertising. Eight editorial staff were laid off from ITP’s consumer division in Garhoud on Tuesday as staff are panicked over where the axe will fall next.
February 26
Moody's Whacks Canwest Media Rating - Fitz & Jen
Moody’s Investors Service warned that Canwest Media, Canada’s largest English-language newspaper publisher, could soon fall out of compliance with its financial covenants.
February 26
Up to 116 jobs on the line at Northcliffe - guardian.co.uk
Northcliffe Media has unveiled plans to centralise the subbing of newspapers in the east Midlands and the north of England and transfer printing of the Leicester Mercury away from presses in the city, placing up to 116 jobs at risk.
February 26
FT says staff offered three-day working week - AFP
The Financial Times, the leading financial newspaper, will offer staff the chance to work three days a week over the summer as part of its drive to cut costs, a company spokesman said Monday.
February 26
More jobs may go at Fairfax | Herald Sun
Fairfax Media chief executive Brian McCarthy has hosed down speculation of an imminent capital raising but not ruled out further job cuts at the publisher which yesterday posted a $365 million first-half net loss.
February 26
Philly Newspaper Owner Seeks Bankruptcy Protection - NYTimes.com
The owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News has filed for bankruptcy. Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Sunday. PNI is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC. It is the second newspaper company in two days, and fourth in recent months, to seek bankruptcy protection.
February 26
Journal Register files for bankruptcy protection - The Associated Press
The Journal Register Co., publisher of the New Haven (Conn.) Register and other newspapers, filed for Chapter 11 protection Saturday, joining at least two other publishers that turned to bankruptcy court in recent months amid slumping advertising revenue and circulation.
February 26
N. Idaho newspapers announce staffing cuts - KTRV Fox 12
The publisher of 2 northern Idaho newspapers says 10 jobs have been eliminated in an effort to save money and survive the sputtering economy. The cuts announced Friday involve employees at the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. The newspapers are owned by TPC Holdings Inc.
February 26
Star Tribune seeks to void pressmen's contract - StarTribune.com
The Star Tribune asked a federal bankruptcy judge late Thursday to cancel the labor contract for its 116-member pressmen's union and impose new language that would save the debt-laden newspaper $3.5 million a year.
February 26
Citizen likely to close March 21; no buyer stepping up - Tucson Citizen
The deadline for bids on the Tucson Citizen has passed - apparently with no offers - which means the paper likely will cease publication March 21 after 138 years in business.
February 26
E.W. Scripps posts 4Q loss, will cut salaries - Forbes.com
Media company E.W. Scripps Co. posted a loss for the fourth quarter Thursday as it plans to cut salaries and benefits amid an industrywide advertising downturn.
February 26
The Times Company Suspends Its Dividend - NYTimes.com
The New York Times Company suspended dividend payments to shareholders on Thursday for the first time in four decades as a publicly traded company, another in a series of concessions because of sharply lower newspaper revenue.
February 26
Register Star, Daily Mail to end Sunday editions - BizJournals.com
The Hudson Register Star and The Catskill Daily Mail, sister publications in Columbia and Greene counties of New York, are dropping their Sunday editions. Instead, the newspapers will distribute “weekend editions” on Saturdays, begining Feb. 28. The last Sunday editions will publish Feb. 22.
February 26
SSP The Star cuts pay, benefits to trim costs - Ventura County Star
The Star announced Wednesday it was cutting workers' pay and retirement benefits as part of a companywide effort to control costs during bleak times.
February 26
Magazine Trade Group Loses Two More Members to Recession - Advertising Age
The Magazine Publishers of America has lost two more members, New York magazine and American Media, to tough business conditions. The exits by New York, an industry darling that's one of the top 50 magazines by revenue, and American Media, which publishes 11 titles including Star and Shape, compound the surprising dropout by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., which recently decided against paying the membership dues despite the company's close ties to the magazine association.
February 26
Indiana Newspaper Cutting Salaries - Inside INdiana Business
Another Indiana newspaper is taking steps to weather the declining economy. Our partners at Evansville Courier & Press say starting next month, salaried employees' pay will drop by 5 percent and most hourly employees will fall by 3 percent. Beginning in April, the newspaper company will no longer match employee contributions to a 401(k) retirement program and will freeze pension plans.
February 26
Playboy Concedes It's Open to Flagship Sale - MediaWeek
Playboy has accelerated cost reductions in recent months, slashing jobs and outsourcing certain functions in an effort to rein in costs
February 26
Island of Ireland ABCs: titles continue to lose circulation - Brand Republic
All daily paid-for papers in the Republic of Ireland shed circulation year-on-year between July and December, according to the Island of Ireland report out today. The largest Republic of Ireland-only paper by circulation was Independent News and Media-owned Irish Independent, with a circulation of 154,610. However, the Irish Independent's circulation was down 3.9% year on year, according to the average figure for the last six months of 2008.
February 26
Death of newspapers - Salon
If reporting vanishes, the world will get darker and uglier. Subsidizing newspapers may be the only answer.
February 26
Does A Rate Card Mean Anything These Days? - followthemedia.com
With the huge advertising downturn does a rate card in a competitive environment mean anything these days? Indications are the discounts are now huge and increasing
February 26
5 Newspapers in Northeast to Share Content - NYTimes.com
Five major newspapers in New Jersey and New York announced on Wednesday that they would share articles and photographs, adding to a growing movement in an industry that is seeking new ways to cope with shrinking resources.
February 26
Newspaper publishers seek tax cut - Seattle Times
Newspaper publishers want lawmakers to give them a temporary break on the state's main business tax. Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen and Scott Campbell, publisher of The Columbian in Vancouver, say they need help during tumultuous times in the industry.
February 26
Condé Nast Pulls the Plug on German Edition of "Vanity Fair" - Deutsche Welle
The last issue of the German edition of the US glossy, whose circulation had plummeted from a half million to less than 200,000 per week, appears on Thursday, Feb. 19.
February 26
Spokane newspaper to freeze wages - Seattle Times
The Spokesman-Review newspaper will freeze wages in 2009, and seek a 5 percent salary cut for all managers, non-union employees who earn more than $11 an hour, and, with their voluntary consent, all union employees.
February 26
Printer Transcontinental cuts 1,500 jobs at N American operations, 600 in Canada - The Canadian Press
Commercial printer and newspaper publisher Transcontinental Inc. (TSX:TCL.A) is undertaking the largest job cut in its 33-year history by jettisoning 1,500 positions, or 10 per cent of its Canadian, U.S. and Mexican workforce and reducing costs to address the deepening recession.
February 26
Brown Cutting Workforce 8% - Graphic Arts Online
Publication printing company commences staff reduction across all three of its plants.
February 26
Tories announce details of reworked Canadian magazine fund - globeandmail.com
The Harper government is going ahead with plans to create a new $75.5-million Canada Periodical Fund that merges the functions of the Publications Assistance Program and the Canada Magazine Fund, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore announced yesterday.
February 18
Playboy Open to Sale Talks - FolioMag.com
Playboy reported a year-end net loss of $156.1 million in 2008, compared to a net gain of $4.9 million during 2007. The majority of that loss came during the fourth quarter, which saw a profit loss of $145.7 million due, in part, to $157.2 million in impairment and restructuring charges.
February 18
Another Media Business Model Broken: Free Newspapers - followthemedia.com
In response to industry-wide financial woes, the Kane County Chronicle will cut costs next month by switching to a tabloid-size format and no longer publishing on Sundays and Mondays while continuing to cover news daily on its Web site, the suburban paper told its readers Tuesday.
February 18
Kane County Chronicle to reduce size, frequency - Chicago Tribune
In response to industry-wide financial woes, the Kane County Chronicle will cut costs next month by switching to a tabloid-size format and no longer publishing on Sundays and Mondays while continuing to cover news daily on its Web site, the suburban paper told its readers Tuesday.
February 18
Dallas Morning News parent A.H. Belo posts 4th straight loss - Dallas Business News
Dallas-based newspaper company A.H. Belo Corporation lost $33.1 million in the fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday, its fourth consecutive quarterly loss since becoming an independent company in early 2008.
February 17
Local Paper Cuts Day Out of Publication - KPVI NEWS 6
These tough economic times are forcing one local newspaper to cut back on the number of editions they publish. Starting March 2nd, The Post Register will stop publishing their Monday edition of the paper.
February 17
Two-paper buyers fold as crunch hits - The Australian
he squeeze on discretionary consumer spending is affecting Sunday newspapers, according to Neil Breen, editor of News Limited's Sydney masthead The Sunday Telegraph. The title's 2.7 per cent year-on-year decline in the December quarter circulation figures released last week looks relatively good next to a 3.9 per cent drop across the category and the 5.3 per cent fall experienced by direct rival The Sun Herald.
February 17
Trib to close Rome bureau, trim Jerusalem - Daily Herald
Chicago Tribune, the flagship newspaper of bankrupt Tribune Co., said it would close its Rome bureau and reduce the number of employees in Jerusalem as part of a previously announced plan to lower expenses. The newspaper cut 20 jobs, including the foreign positions, according to a memo sent to workers yesterday by Editor Gerould Kern. The newspaper will share reporting duties in Israel with Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times, he said.
February 17
'Post-Tribune' Building Up for Sale as Sun-Times Media Group Sheds Real Estate - Editor & Publisher
In the latest in a series of real estate sales by cash-strapped Sun-Times Media Group, the Post-Tribune is putting up its Merrillville, Ind., office building up for sale. Also for sale is the building in Merrillville's downtown square that houses the Crown Point Star and Shopping News.
February 17
Newsstand Sales of Magazines Shrink 11% - WSJ.com
Total single-copy magazine sales fell 11% to 43.37 million from the second half of 2007, while total circulation, which includes both newsstand and subscription sales, fell less than 1%, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The downward trend accelerated from a 6.3% dropoff in the first half of last year.
February 17
Circulations slide for majority of Future games magazines - gamesindustry.biz
The majority of videogame magazines from Future Publishing suffered a drop in circulation during 2008, with only two PlayStation publications increasing in numbers.
February 17
Magazine ABCs: Women's weeklies take a hit - guardian.co.uk
Circulation of women's weekly magazines was hit hard in the second half of 2008, with the sector down 8% year on year and Richard Desmond's OK! magazine plunging 25%.
February 17
Magazine ABCs: Sales slump hits homes magazines - guardian.co.uk
The credit crunch is hitting magazines about homes and decor hard, with circulation falling for 19 out of 24 titles in the sector in the second half of 2008.
February 17
Stephens Media Suspending 401(k) Matches - Editor & Publisher
Stephens Media LLC, publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and 11 other dailies, has told employees it stopped matching their 401(k) retirement plan contributions at the end of January. It joins numerous other newspaper chains which have taken the same step to reduce corporate expenses.
February 17
Magazine ABCs: Music weeklies suffer as sector falls 12% - Press Gazette
IPC's weekly new music magazine, NME, has dropped below the 50,000 circulation mark - one of the biggest casualties in a music magazine market that shrunk by 12.2 per cent in the second half of 2008.
February 17
Local real estate magazine ends long run - Livingston Daily
A slumping economy, along with the growing real estate presence on the Internet, forced the couple to make a painful decision and stop printing the Parade of Homes after a 38-year run.
February 17
Ad losses hit Tribune's bottom line - The Columbia Daily Tribune
The economic downturn and a resultant drop in advertising revenue have prompted Tribune Publishing Co. to make cutbacks companywide, including eliminating five newsroom staff positions this week.
February 17
'Vibe' Retrenches in Face of Recession - Advertising Age
Vibe magazine is cutting its paid circulation 25%, reducing its frequency to 10 issues a year from 12, and merging its print and digital editorial operations, all in the magazine industry's latest response to the twin attacks by recession and new media.
February 17
DMGT sees newspaper advertising tumble - Times Online
Newspaper advertising collapsed in January at the Daily Mail and other titles owned by the tabloid's parent company, Daily Mail and General Trust. The Mail and the group's other national newspapers and the soon-to-be sold London Evening Standard, suffered a 23 per cent fall-off in advertising at the start of 2009, accelerating from the 9 per cent decline experienced in the fourth quarter of 2008.
February 17
Financial woes continuing at daily newspapers - Pleasanton Weekly
Here in the East Bay, the dailies owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group are also suffering financially. To reduce costs, Media News has ordered its employees, including editors and reporters, to take five unpaid furlough days by March 31.
February 17
'Further substantial cuts' planned at Northcliffe titles - Press Gazette
Regional newspaper publisher Northcliffe has warned of further job cuts, closures or changes to newspaper frequencies after it posted a 40 per cent year-on-year decline in January advertising revenues.
February 17
Taconic group newspapers shutting down - Poughkeepsie Journal
The Taconic Newspapers group of weekly papers will print their last editions this week. The Journal Register Co., which owns the seven local weeklies, is ceasing operations for the papers, each of which serves part of Dutchess County, plus the Putnam County Courier and three magazines.
February 17
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Is Now Out - followthemedia.com
All the usual features you expect but a lot thinner – not the models, the magazine – it has about one-third less advertising pages than last year.
February 17
Circulation of celebrity-focused magazines takes a nose dive - Chicago Tribune
Many of the magazines that had banked on coverage of the Bradgelina crowd in recent years took a nose dive in the second half of 2008, according to paid-circulation figures out this week from the Schaumburg-based Audit Bureau of Circulations.
February 17
Journal Communications cuts dividend to save cash - Forbes.com
ournal Communications Inc., publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other papers, said Tuesday it lowered its quarterly dividend to 2 cents per share from 8 cents in an effort to preserve cash.
February 17
The Forum lays off employees - KXNet.com
The Forum newspaper in Fargo has laid off some employees, though management is not saying how many. General Manager James Boberg on Tuesday said that the layoffs are the result of the poor economy.
February 10
Canwest Media Debt Is Junk. 'La dette de Canwest est ordure' - Fitz & Jen
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded the debt of Canwest Media even deeper into junk territory Tuesday over concerns about the liquidity of Canada’s largest English-language newspaper publisher.
February 10
US Media Jobs Losses In 2008 - Follow the Media
One in 11 newspaper jobs disappeared, one of 14 radio jobs gone, and tv lost one in 33, but internet media companies were still hiring
February 10
Newsstand sales of US magazines drop 11 pct - International Herald Tribune
Sales of U.S. magazines at newsstands and other retail outlets dropped during the second half of 2008 as readers looked for ways to trim discretionary spending, but overall circulation was largely flat.
February 10
WSN may cut Friday print, put mags online - Washington Square News
Washington Square News is facing a budget deficit and is considering cost-saving measures. Among them are cutting the newspaper’s Friday print edition, circulation and student stipends.
February 10
Newsweek Plans Makeover to Fit a Smaller Audience - NYTimes.com
Newsweek is about to begin a major change in its identity, with a new design, a much smaller and, it hopes, more affluent readership, and some shifts in content. The venerable newsweekly’s ingrained role of obligatory coverage of the week’s big events will be abandoned once and for all, executives say.
February 10
WSJ closes fashion and retail group, cuts staff - DMNews
The Wall Street Journal, which almost seemed immune to the cost-cutting fervor of other newspapers, has closed its fashion and retail group and cut 14 of its staff.
February 10
London Evening Standard posts year-on-year fall - guardian.co.uk
London Evening Standard's circulation saw a slight year-on-year fall in January, the month it was bought by Russian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev for a reputed £1.
February 10
Daily Herald ending weeklies - Salt Lake Tribune
The Daily Herald is ending publication of five weeklies in Utah County as it attempts to foster more readership of the Provo-based newspaper. The weeklies are the American Fork Citizen, Pleasant Grove Review, Lehi Free Press, Lone Peak Press and Orem Times. All are published on Thursdays and delivered to subscribers by mail.
February 10
S&P, Fitch lower McClatchy Co. ratings - Sacramento Business Journal
Two ratings companies dealt another one-two blow to the cash-strapped McClatchy Co., lowering the newspaper giant’s debt rating deeper into junk status Friday.
February 10
Chicago Tribune Plans Job Cuts, Pay-Raise Freeze - Bloomberg
Chicago Tribune, the flagship newspaper of bankrupt Tribune Co., will cut more jobs, halt merit pay increases this year and eliminate open positions to help stem a decline in revenue, the publisher told employees in a memo.
February 10
Post and Courier newspaper announces 25 layoffs as advertising revenue declines - Charleston Regional Business Journal
The Post and Courier newspaper announced today that it has laid off 25 employees. The publisher of the Charleston daily newspaper said he had hoped buyouts offered to employees in July would have prevented the job cuts.
February 6
Herald and Times group suffers big circulation falls - guardian.co.uk
Beleaguered Scottish newspaper company Herald & Times Group saw its leading titles the Herald and the Sunday Herald post big year-on-year circulation declines in January.
February 6
GateHouse Daily in Kansas Shutting Down - Editor & Publisher
The Daily Reporter in the Wichita suburb of Derby is shutting down after 47 years. GateHouse Media Inc. owns the newspaper and announced the closing in a story posted Thursday on the newspaper's Web site and in its Thursday-Friday edition.
February 6
Independent folds after 36-year run -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY
Today's 36-page edition of The Independent will contain a healthy dose of local news, which is just what readers of the twice-weekly newspaper expect. But the paper also will include an unexpected announcement: The edition is its last.
February 6
Unite set to hold protest over proposed Cambridge University Press job cuts - printweek.com
[T]he union has launched a campaign to resist the job losses, which include around 20 further jobs at the company's publishing arm. Unite regional officer Steve Ireland claimed the move marked the "death knell of 425 years of printing at the press".
February 6
KPMG survey finds ad dollars moving away from traditional media - Geek.com
Most of those who participated in the study seem to be of one mind when it comes to what is probably going to happen over the next five years. 75% of executives believe that more than a quarter of media time and spending will move away from traditional channels. Those to benefit will be social networks like MySpace and Facebook and mobile marketing.
February 6
Mostly Gloom for Glossies - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com
Another day, another closure. Magazines are becoming thinner as advertising pages fall, and publishers are grimly cutting underperforming titles. But the outlook is not dour for all — a handful of magazines are still expanding their ad lineups, some by startlingly high percentages.
February 6
Independent on Sunday sales down by nearly a quarter - guardian.co.uk
All papers in the quality national Sunday market recorded year-on-year falls in circulation in January, with the Independent on Sunday dropping more than 24% over January 2008.
February 6
Star plans more job cuts - Kansas City Star
More job cuts are in store for The Kansas City Star after its parent company announced a fourth-quarter loss and plans to cut up to $110 million in expenses... The layoffs would mark the fourth time since June that The Star has cut jobs.
February 6
A Tough Second Half for Newsstand Sales - Women's Wear Daily
As the economy tumbled toward the end of the year, so, too, did magazine circulation. For the second half of 2008, nearly every large fashion and lifestyle title saw a steep decline in single-copy sales.
February 6
The Paper's Been Cut in Half - voiceofsandiego.org
If judged from the size of its printed edition, The San Diego Union-Tribune is about half the paper it used to be. The last Sunday newspaper in January 2006 was a whopping 288 pages. Three years later, subscribers only had to lug a 118-page bundle into their homes on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009. And for the week of Jan. 24-30, the total number of pages in the printed editions of the Union-Tribune fell from 840 in 2006 to 424 in 2009.
February 6
Wall Street Journal to cut 2 dozen newsroom jobs - The Associated Press
The Wall Street Journal, one of the last major U.S. daily newspapers to avoid deep cuts to its news gathering operations amid a historic industry downturn, is trimming about two dozen newsroom jobs.
February 6
Rexburg 'Standard Journal' Cuts Back on Publishing Days - Editor & Publisher
Executives at the Standard Journal say they will publish the newspaper three days a week instead of five in response to higher production costs and the dismal economy.
February 6
The Future of Alt-Weekly Cartoons - Bors Blog
If you follow the blogs of my colleagues in the alt-weekly cartooning world, you are probably aware of the panic that is taking hold due to the continued loss of paying clients. It feels like the industry is in free fall... Print newspapers will continue to exist, but there's the sad realization that all of us are fighting for a piece of an ever-shrinking pie. It means less income for all of us and I'm not sure we'll see everyone producing their strip on the other side of this recession.
February 6
News Corp Misses, Rupe: Recession Worse Than We Thought - Silicon Alley Insider
News Corp. just turned in an ugly earnings report, with $6.4 billion in Q2 losses due to an $8.4 billion writedown. Uglier than that loss: Rupert Murdoch's forecast for 2009. In the release he says, "the downturn is more severe and likely longer lasting than previously thought." and "We are implementing rigorous cost-cutting across all operations and reducing head count where appropriate."
February 6
Media companies report 4Q losses and grim outlooks - The Associated Press
Media companies McClatchy Co., Belo Corp. and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. all reported fourth-quarter losses Thursday, weighed down by the declining value of their properties.
February 6
Star-Telegram expected to cut more jobs - Dallas Business Journal
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is preparing to cut more jobs, its parent company said Thursday... In an internal e-mail sent to Star-Telegram employees, the newspaper's executives stated that the paper is experiencing an “unprecedented loss in advertising revenue” with customers going out of business or closing locations. The paper added, “In response to these losses we are developing plans to reduce expenses. Unfortunately, these cuts will include position eliminations.”
February 6
Small Press Organization Cuts Executive Director - mediabistro.com
After 20-years at the New York Center for Independent Publishing, Karin Taylor was laid off as executive director of the nonprofit. Her departure, due to "a murderous economy," leaves the small, influential group with a staffing crunch.
February 6
Hearst Newspapers Announces Management Realignment - The Earth Times
Hearst Newspapers today announced a realignment of its newspaper management as a part of its “100 Days of Change” initiative.
February 6
McClatchy plans more cost-cutting - News & Observer
The corporate parent of The News & Observer announced this morning that it will take further steps to cut costs after reporting weaker fourth-quarter revenue and profit. The McClatchy Co., which also owns the Charlotte Observer, Miami Herald and other newspapers across the country, will freeze its pension plans and temporarily suspend the company match to its 401(k) retirement plans, effective March 31.
February 6
'Dallas Morning News' Thinks About Charging for Online Content Too - Fitz & Jen
Dallas Morning News Publisher Jim Moroney first thought online subscriptions were untenable but he could be persuaded otherwise, he tells Dallas Observer scribe Robert Wilonsky in a Q&A. That part is waaaay down though. Wilonsky first tackles the 500 job cuts at A.H. Belo and asks Moroney why management is receiving bonus.
February 6
Local fashion magazine folds after 4 years - Honolulu Star Bulletin
The latest issue of SMART Magazine is the last issue of SMART Magazine. The fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine begun and run by local women for local women issued its last issue at the beginning of last month, its January/February edition.
February 6
Earnings Preview: McClatchy faces pressure in 4Q - MSNBC Wire Services
Advertising revenue at McClatchy's newspapers has continued to drop as the recession compounded longer-term pressures from the ongoing migration of readers and advertisers to the Internet.
February 6
News Corp set to trim newspaper jobs in US and UK - FT.com
News International, whose papers include The Times, Sunday Times and The Sun, is in the final stages of an efficiency review conducted by the Boston Consulting Group and could cut up to 50 jobs, or some 2.5 per cent of its staff, although some new posts may be created.
February 6
Time Warner swings to 4Q loss on hefty writedown - The Associated Press
The publishing division reported a 13 percent decline in revenue to $1.3 billion, primarily pulled down by a 20 percent drop in ad sales. For the year, the company reported a loss of $13.4 billion, or $3.74 per share, compared with profit of $4.39 billion, or $1.17 per share, in the previous year.
February 4
Talk to the Newsroom: Bill Keller - The New York Times
"My expectation (and I remind you of the disclaimers regarding my business acumen) is that for the foreseeable future our business will continue to be a mix of print and online journalism, with the growth online offsetting the (gradual, we hope) decline of print."
February 4
Major Mag Wholesalers Shut Down - MediaPost
Two weeks after threatening magazine publishers with price hikes, a pair of wholesalers that together account for half the magazine market, have ceased operations.
February 4
Independent staff to ballot on industrial action over job cuts - guardian.co.uk
Union members at the Independent and Independent on Sunday are poised to ballot on industrial action in a new row over the papers' redundancy process after the company fell short of its voluntary redundancies target by at least 25 people.
February 3
S.F. Chronicle Charges More for Redesigned Paper, Expects to Lose Readers - SFWeekly.com
The Chron recently raised the newsstand price of its Sunday paper 50 cents to $2, and in mid-January the paper quietly raised its subscription price by 33 percent, from an annual rate of $300 a year to $400 a year for 7-day delivery. (That's about $60 more than if you bought the paper at 7-Eleven every day.) The subject of charging readers more money came up at a Chron staff meeting two weeks ago when management showed off a prototype of the redesigned paper. When asked at the meeting how price increases would affect readership, Bushee predicted "double digit" declines in circulation, according to three people in attendance. (This would be on top of the 7 percent drop in circulation the Chron suffered last year.)
February 3
More buyouts looming at St. Pete Times - Tampa Bay Business Journal
Saying that each day will get them a little closer to recovery, Times Publishing Co. chief executive Paul Tash told employees at the St. Petersburg Times that pay freezes will last another year at the paper and buyouts will be re-offered to some of its employees.
February 3
After The Bell Tuesday: Gannett Hits All-Time Low - Fitz & Jen
The ugliness continued Tuesday for Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), as shares of the nation’s largest newspaper company hit an all-time low on Wall Street.
February 3
Launch abort - The Space Review
Recently, Launch’s publishers posted the following online: "But now we are caught up in an extremely difficult economy, not only for the nation at large, but very specifically in the publishing industry. These are truly tough times. To that extent, we regret that we have no choice but to place LAUNCH on a hiatus of at least two months."
February 3
Advertising revenue growth drops - The National Newspaper
Advertising revenue growth in the UAE will drop from a robust 41.5 per cent last year to just 6.7 per cent this year, according to a regional media study released yesterday.
February 3
Internet Donations Hope to Stifle Print Journalism Decline - The Statesman
It all started with an idea. Then all it took was a compelling story pitch and accompanying video blog recorded from Thea Chroman's living room to raise the $550 needed to investigate the rise of car and tent cities as low-income San Franciscans are driven out of their homes... The project accepts story tips from the public and pitches by journalists, which are then funded by citizens to be materialized into mostly investigative stories for publication.
February 3
Gannett shares fall on debt concerns - Reuters
Shares of Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N) fell as much as 12.5 percent on Monday after Standard & Poor's said it might cut the U.S. newspaper publisher's debt rating to junk, and after it reported a 36 percent decline in advertising revenue.
February 3
Newspaper Project bites back for hard-hit newspapers - Editors Weblog
group of newspaper executives have heard enough talk about the apparent imminent demise of the printed press, and have launched www.newspaperproject.org to let the world know that it's really not that bad. The aim is to dispel the popular belief that newspapers are in crisis and no longer needed, and to fight back against their misrepresentation in the press itself.
February 3
National Buy a Newspaper Day today - Examiner
I will symbolically buy a print newspaper today because I believe in the power of symbols. I don't know if I will buy a paper tomorrow. I like to think that I will, but the recession is hurting me and times do change. We do what we can today. Honor and celebrate National Buy a Newspaper Day today, because who knows how much longer it will be around.
February 3
Mills keep tight rein on prices as demand wavers - Newspapers & Technology
The pricing roller coaster ride of North American newsprint looked more like a steady upward climb in 2008 as producers got ahead of publishers' demand trends for the first time in over 40 years. The spike in prices could not have occurred at a worse time for newspapers, which are scrambling to remain profitable in the face of declining ad dollars and readership.
February 3
Online revenue no match for print costs - The Australian
Newspapers are facing a future where smaller newsrooms will need to turn out smarter reporting in a variety of media, while the printed product is sold at a higher price to fewer advertisers and a smaller paid circulation.
February 3
Ad drought ravages media firms - Crain's New York Business
New York is the capital of the media world and, while that business is not Wall Street, it is crucial to the city's economy. Media companies account for more than 160,000 jobs and $15 billion in wages, according to the city's Economic Development Corp. New York controls 50% of all the revenue in magazines, broadcast television and books, and about a quarter in radio, cable television and newspapers. Media is also among the areas of the economy hit hardest by the downturn.
February 3
Newspaper woes send Longview plant seeking new customers - The Daily News Online
The struggles of the newspaper industry are cutting into the core business at Longview’s Norpac newsprint plant, but the company is trying to “book” other business to compensate. U.S. demand for newsprint — the paper newspapers are printed on — dropped 20.2 percent in October from the previous year, which was down 10.7 percent from 2006, according to the Pulp and Paper Products Council.
February 3
Goodbye to 'an old friend' as World-Herald ends edition - Omaha World-Herald
Today, economic realities have severely reduced the number of newspapers delivering to homes in every county in their states. Only a handful of statewide newspapers survive, including the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Providence Journal in tiny Rhode Island. The World-Herald on Monday will finally join that trend, which began in the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s, when it stops home delivery of its bulldog (Midlands) edition in parts of western Nebraska.
January 31
Newspaper Web Audience Grows, Revs Decline - MediaPost
[B]ig increases in Web traffic simply are not translating into increased online revenues.
January 31
A.H. Belo to lay off 500 workers, 14 percent cut - The Associated Press
Newspaper publisher A.H. Belo Corp. said Friday it will lay off 500 workers, or about 14 percent of its work force, and implement other cash-saving measures to cope with declining advertising revenue.
January 31
LA Times Cuts Local News Section, 300 Jobs - West Hollywood News
Another shoe has dropped in the declining fortunes of the LA Times – the California section dedicated to local news is dead, killed by the new publisher, says Times watcher Kevin Roderick. The decision to drop the section and place its content into a condensed front section, came just weeks after the LA Times raised its price 50 percent from 50 to 75 cents.
January 31
1105 Media Shutters Print Magazine - Folio Magazine
1105 Media has decided to shutter the print edition of Redmond Developer News and fold the content into Visual Studio magazine, the company said today... 1105 will continue to produce the RDN Web site, reddevnews.com, the company said.
January 31
Mountain magazine folds - Aspen Daily News Online
An upstart magazine that focused on luxury recreation has fallen victim to the economic crisis.
January 31
Canadian newspapers expected to face another year of turmoil on weak ad sales - The Canadian Press
Newspaper companies are making a mistake in assuming that a shift in focus to the Internet alone will rescue their business model, Young said. He believes they need to find a way to persuade younger readers to pick up newspapers, which would in turn benefit advertisers.
January 30
Cuts Coming Next Week at 'The Wall Street Journal' - Portfolio.com
According to multiple sources within and close to the Journal, the newsroom is due to undergo another round of personnel cuts late next week.
January 30
Gannett to take quarterly charge of up to $5.2 billion - MarketWatch
Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, said Friday that it will take non-cash charges of as much as $5.2 billion against financial results for the fourth quarter, as a number of its assets have diminished in value because of the worldwide financial crisis.
January 30
Staff Cuts at Library Journal - Library Journal
Faced with a tough advertising market, and in the wake of an aborted attempt to sell the company, Reed Business Information (RBI) this week cut some seven percent of its work force. These cuts included layoffs at Library Journal.
January 30
Baltimore Examiner newspaper to close - baltimoresun.com
Less than three years after its debut, the Baltimore Examiner free newspaper will cease publication next month, a victim of the worst advertising climate in decades. The last issue will be on Feb. 15.
January 29
Page Six Magazine' gets deep-sixed - Crain's New York Business
Page Six Magazine, the weekly supplement which launched in September 2007 with the aim of extending a popular franchise and making the New York Post competitive on Sundays, is effectively shutting down. The publication will now appear quarterly, the Post announced Thursday.
January 29
Auto Trader cuts sales force - Jacksonville Business Journal
Cox Enterprises has closed its national Auto Trader sales offices following sliding print sales for two of its automotive magazine titles.
January 29
Metro Shutters Spanish Operations - Editor & Publisher
Metro International is pulling the plug on its Spanish operations, which publishes seven free dailies in the country. The company launched the Spanish edition in 2001 and said that by 2004 it was turning a profit. But the challenging advertising climate and intense competition forced Metro to seek other options including mergers.
January 29
Media General shares drop 19% on results, dividend suspension - MarketWatch
Shares of newspaper publisher and broadcaster Media General Inc. fell as much as 19% Thursday after the company reported dismal fourth-quarter results and said it would suspend its dividend due to an uncertain economic outlook.
January 28
Mandatory 1-week furloughs at Mercury News, other MediaNews papers - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal
Managers at Bay Area papers owned by MediaNews Group told employees Wednesday that there will be mandatory one-week furloughs in the coming months.
January 28
Reader's Digest Association Adopts 'Recession Plan' - Advertising Age
Reader's Digest Association said today it plans to lay off 280 of its 3,500 employees worldwide as part of a plan to navigate the global economic slowdown.
January 28
College Newspapers Finally Hit by Economic Downturn - PBS
The widespread economic pains in the media environment are finally hitting college news outlets, and many college newspapers are scrambling to deal with the squeeze.
January 28
New Mexico Daily Cuts Back to 3 Days - Editor & Publisher
The Las Vegas Optic will begin publishing three days a week instead of 5.
January 28
'St. Pete Times' Parent Looks to Unload 'Congressional Quarterly' - Editor & Publisher
Times Publishing says the company gets the majority of its revenue from its online properties, though it continues to publish the print CQ Weekly. Among its properties is the subscription-based online CQ.com plus CQ daily, which publishes both digitally and in print.
January 28
Conde Nast Shutters Domino - Media Bistro
Conde Nast is shuttering Domino magazine and its Web site, Women's Wear Daily reports. According to company president and CEO Charles H. Townsend, the decision to fold the shelter title "is driven entirely by the economy."
January 28
Times Results Reflect Decline in Advertising - NYTimes.com
Battered by a steep drop in newspaper advertising, The New York Times Company on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter income of $27.6 million, or 19 cents a share, down 47.5 percent from a year earlier.
January 27
McClatchy cancels dividend - Sacramento Business Journal
The McClatchy Co. will indefinitely suspend its quarterly dividend, the latest effort to preserve cash for the financially strapped newspaper chain.
January 27
Modern media cope with recession's daily woes - Northern Colorado Business Report
Stripped across the bottom of the page, was another story - a message that began "Dear Business Community." The letter from Jill Stravolemos, the Camera's vice president of advertising and marketing, amounted to an ad for space available in the newspaper.
January 27
Trust in UK newspapers falls to 19% - guardian.co.uk
According to the latest Edelman global trust barometer, trust in UK newspapers has now fallen to just 19%, which is 10 points down on a year ago. British broadcasters are more trusted, but even they have suffered significant falls - with radio news dropping off 20 points to just 33%. TV news is also down to 33%.
January 27
Bonfire Of The Dailies - Forbes.com
The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation findings show that national daily newspaper circulation dropped 4.6% in the six months ending last September. More alarming, advertising at major market papers in the U.S. is down about 15% compared to a year ago, says Morton. Worse, the most lucrative slice of the advertising pie--classifieds--is off 30% at many big city papers. Classified ads can make up half a metropolitan paper's ad sales.
January 27
Online newspaper readership climbs 16 percent - CNET News
Despite a virtual meltdown in the newspaper industry, the nation's top 10 online newspapers posted a 16 percent increase in December Web traffic, according to a report released Tuesday by Nielsen Online.
January 26
Missbehave Misses Mark, Folds - MediaWeek
The quarterly Missbehave launched in March 2006 and claimed a circulation of 100,000. March’s issue will be the last. The ad recession has claimed a string of titles lately, but Missbehave’s founder, Samantha Moeller, said the decision to stop publishing a print edition was a response to its young readers’ preference for the online platform. Missbehave will live in online and in the form of a weekly e-newsletter.
January 26
Casa y Hogar Halts Publication to Search for New Financing - Advertising Age
With shelter magazines hit heavily by the recession, the only Spanish-language title in that category, Casa y Hogar, has suspended publication and is looking for new financing and a new business model.
January 26
NUJ to hold day of action over newspaper job cuts - guardian.co.uk
Members of the National Union of Journalists from across the UK and Ireland have voted to hold a joint day of action in protest at job cuts in the newspaper industry after the union's president said the sector was "on the brink of extinction".
January 26
INM considers sale of Independent newspaper titles - Telegraph
Independent News & Media is considering a sale of the Independent newspaper titles in a bid to reduce its €1.4bn (£1.3bn) debt by “eliminating its loss-making businesses”.
January 26
More Hill news bureaus shut down, experts say it's time to rethink media coverage - The Hill Times
The Montreal Gazette, one of Canada's oldest newspapers that had a presence on the Hill dating as far back as 1873, closed its Ottawa bureau earlier this month, joining at least a dozen other bureau closures over the last 20 years.
January 23
Layoffs at Diamond, DC Comics, Top Cow - Publishers Weekly
Several comics and graphic novel companies announced layoffs and cutbacks, among them Diamond Comics Distributors, DC Comics and California comics publisher Top Cow.
January 23
Sinking Ad Revenues: Death Knell for Newspapers -- Seeking Alpha
US newspaper ad revenues are expected to drop 42.5% in the next seven years, signaling a death spiral for the medium as readership moves online and to more real-time, interactive venues, according to a report from eMarketer.
January 23
France Pledges $780 Million to Struggling Newspaper Industry - Media Buyer Planner
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged nearly $780 million in emergency aid for his country’s troubled newspaper industry. In addition to his pledge of €600m ($779 million), Sarkozy has promised that every 18-year-old in the country will get a free subscription to the newspaper of his choice for a year.
January 23
Citizen's owner will make more money once newspaper is gone - AZBiz.com
Robert Dickey, president of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing division, flew to Tucson Jan. 16 to tell Citizen employees of the company’s decision to put the newspaper up for sale for 60 days and then shut it down if it can’t find a buyer.
January 23
Bristol News & Media plans up to 45 job cuts - guardian.co.uk
Northcliffe's Bristol News & Media division is understood to be planning up to 45 job cuts as speculation mounts that the Western Daily Press could in future rely on content supplied by other company titles in the region.
January 23
Mount Airy 'Messenger' Cuts Back to Publishing Three Times a Week - Editor & Publisher
The Messenger of Mount Airy will shift from printing five days a week to publishing on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It also will change to a tabloid-size paper.
January 23
Worrying a Little Bit? MAD Magazine Goes Quarterly - Newsarama.com
The venerable humor magazine today announced that starting with issue #500 in April, it will move to a quarterly publication schedule from its current monthly. The magazine’s version for younger readers, MAD Kids will cease publication with the issue on sale February 17th, while the final issue of MAD Classics will go on sale March 17th.
January 23
Cambridge University Press Lays Off 160 Employees - mediabistro.com
Cambridge University Press has cut close to 160 jobs. The layoffs affected around 9.4 percent of the company's 1,700 employees and followed 60 cuts at Oxford University Press.
January 23
Media Predictions TMT Trends 2009 - Deloitte TMT Industry Group
Print media companies need to accelerate steps to re-establish profitable business models again in 2009. The potentially parlous state of the global economy is likely to make change especially pressing.
January 23
A Note from the Publisher: Changes at the Valley News - Valley News Today
[O]n February 1, a new chapter in Shenandoah newspaper history will begin. The Valley News Today is changing from a four-day daily to a twice-weekly newspaper.
January 23
Moody's cuts New York Times rating to 'junk' - Forbes.com
Moody's Investors Service on Friday downgraded the New York Times Co.'s senior unsecured rating to "junk" status on concerns over slumping ad sales.
January 23
Options run out for print media - BloggingStocks
Through the third week in January, advertising pages at BusinessWeek are down 31%. At Entertainment Weekly, they are off 36%. Through their February issues, GQ and Gourmet's ad pages are off over 30%.
January 23
Media giants face layoffs and cutbacks - Canadian HR Reporter
The more than 1,000 full-time staff with [Rogers Communications'] more than 70 publications, including Maclean's and Chatelaine, were given the choice to reduce their workweek from five days to four, with a corresponding 20-per-cent drop in pay.
January 22
'Billings Gazette' Lays Off Eight - Editor & Publisher
The Billings Gazette announced Monday it has laid off four full-time employees and four part-time employees in an effort to cut costs.
January 22
Times Co. Is in Talks to Sell Part of Building - NYTimes.com
The New York Times Company is in advanced negotiations to sell a substantial portion of its 52-story headquarters building on Eighth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan to W. P. Carey & Company, an investment and management firm that specializes in so-called sale-leaseback transactions, the newspaper company confirmed on Thursday.
January 22
Playboy Takes $100M Charge, Closes N.Y. Editorial Offices - XBIZ Newswire
Playboy Enterprises plans to write down more than $100 million and consolidate its online and print operations as it tries to shore up its business.
January 22
Meredith Reports 65 Percent Drop in Q2 Earnings - msnbc.com
Meredith Corp. has announced a 65 percent drop in earnings for its second quarter, citing a special charge for job cuts and weakening ad sales... It has announced it will eliminate 250 jobs and close Country Home magazine.
January 22
Disney Gives Up on Wondertime Magazine, Website - Advertising Age
Walt Disney Publishing is axing Wondertime magazine, the 3-year-old parenting title, after its March issue because of tough economic conditions, the company told employees today.
January 22
Oxford University Press Lays Off 60 Employees - mediabistro.com
In cuts that ranged between the New York and North Carolina offices, 60 workers have been laid off at Oxford University Press.
January 22
Globe Gazette in Mason City cuts jobs - chicagotribune.com
The Globe Gazette in Mason City has laid off nine full-time employees and will leave six open full- and part-time positions unfilled.
January 22
'Ads-for-equity is a newspaper's choice' - Business Standard
During his second stint as Indian Newspaper Society (INS) president in the last three years, Hormusji Cama, director of Mumbai’s popular Gujarati daily Bombay Samachar, cannot complain of a single dull day... “The newspaper industry is in a bad shape,” he admits and talks to Shuchi Bansal on the challenges facing newspapers in the country.
January 22
Paper cuts slice into Courier's newsroom operations - Leamington Spa Today
It is estimated nearly 50 jobs will be lost in total. A number of editorial management roles are to be redefined.
January 22
Hearst Folds Quarterly Teen Title - MediaWeek
The teen magazine category has suffered another casualty, with Hearst Magazines folding Teen, a quarterly publication that it bought along with Seventeen from Primedia in 2003. Meanwhile, Garden & Gun, a regional title aimed at affluent Southerners, is threatened with folding unless it can shore up a buyer or investors in the next several days.
January 22
Guardian still leads, but drops by 12.34 per cent month on month - Journalism.co.uk
Guardian.co.uk held onto the top place for unique users, but has suffered a 12.34 per cent month on month decrease, according to the December 2008 report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe), which recorded unique users for audited sites.
January 22
Ad declines lead gay media to cut back - The Bay Area Reporter Online
The staff layoffs and downsizing plaguing mainstream news outlets is also hitting gay media newsrooms as advertisers pull back due to the faltering economy.
January 22
The Missing Watchdogs: How Staff Cuts at Newspapers Hurt Democracy - Editor & Publisher
Without paid reporters on the ground it's almost impossible to hold our government accountable. While the prospect of having no one to look over their shoulders anymore could make a politician or two giddy, it's at the public's expense
January 22
Home Design Magazines Find No Shelter From the Economic Slump - washingtonpost.com
The first one to go was House & Garden. In November 2007, the 106-year-old magazine unexpectedly ceased publication. Soon after, Time Inc.'s In Style Home and Martha Stewart's Blueprint folded, and late last summer, Hachette Filipacchi Media's Home shuttered. Since November, three more home design magazines announced their demise: Time Inc.'s Cottage Living, Hearst Magazines' O at Home and Meredith Corp.'s Country Living. Recently, media reports have said that Condé Nast's Domino is in trouble, too.
January 22
Mass Media, Magazine Influence Continue Declines - MinOnline
Only 18% of U.S. consumers cite magazines as a source of information they have consulted in the last month, down from 23% in 2006, according to recent research from Ketchum Public Relations.
January 22
New Nation and Eastern Eye placed in administration - guardian.co.uk
Two of Britain's leading ethnic minority newspapers, New Nation and Eastern Eye, have been placed in administration. The African-Caribbean newspaper, New Nation, and the Asian weekly publication Eastern Eye, have been put up for sale after months of plunging advertising revenues and years of falling circulation, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.
January 22
Dark days in Hollywood - Reuters MediaFile
Warner Brothers Entertainment is the latest to cut staff, announcing 800 jobs would be lost, or 10 percent of its worldwide staff. NBC Universal and Viacom have already cut jobs, and industry watchers expect more job cuts to be announced by Walt Disney and Sony Pictures.
January 22
Seattle P-I workers notified of possible layoffs - Forbes.com
Employees at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have been notified by the newspaper's owner, the Hearst Corp., that it expects all P-I jobs to be eliminated if no one purchases the paper.
January 20
Google Halts Print Ads Program - Advertising Age
In what is probably not great news for newspapers, Google has given up on its endeavor to sell ink-stained print ads.
January 20
Meet the New York Times's New (Very Expensive) Bank: Carlos Slim - AllThingsD
The Times will use the money to refinance some of its $1.1 billion in debt, including a $400 million revolver that expires in May. But the cash won’t solve the company’s core problem: Its ads are disappearing, and it has yet to cut cost costs to reflect that reality. And now its costs just increased–it will have to pay Slim $35 million a year in interest.
January 20
Local newspapers are a key part of culture' - The Northern Echo
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP Ashok Kumar will today ask the Government to come to the aid of local newspapers.
January 20
Denver Post union votes to reopen contract - Denver Business Journal
Union workers at The Denver Post voted Monday night to enter into formal discussions with the newspaper's owner to reopen contract talks in a bid to trim expenses at the ailing newspaper.
January 19
Up to 49 subs jobs set to go in Midlands - Holdthefrontpage.co.uk
Up to 49 jobs are under threat after Johnston Press announced plans to restructure editorial departments in its Midlands divisions.
January 19
Can newspapers still deliver? - BtoB Magazine
The New York Times earlier this month introduced Bono as an op-ed columnist in a much trumpeted move some saw as a clear sign that newspapers, grappling with declining readership and falling advertising revenue, still haven't found what they're looking for. There are other, far more dire signs, though, that the newspaper business is in crisis.
January 19
News site scoops rivals - FinancialPost.com
Mr. Cox makes no bones about the fact that [the news Web site Al lNovaScotia.com] is competing directly with the city's main daily newspaper, the Chronicle-Herald. People in the Halifax business community who subscribe to the service say Allnovascotia often scoops its mainstream media rivals.
January 19
When news is free, there will be no news - TheChronicleHerald.ca
Newspapers across Canada have announced upwards of 1,200 job cuts in recent months. In the U.S., it’s way worse. The problem is advertising. There are simply too many pieces being carved out of the advertising pie.
January 19
Time's and Newsweek's Survival Strategy After Recent Cutbacks - washingtonpost.com
When Jon Meacham joined Newsweek in 1995, "there was a phrase in the culture -- 'We need to get something in on X' -- that we never use anymore," he says. The days of a "newsmagazine of record," Meacham says, are long gone.
January 19
A Revolving Door of Editors and Publishers - NYTimes.com
USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Baltimore Sun, The San Jose Mercury News and The Kansas City Star have something in common, aside from some of the biggest names in an endangered industry. By the start of February, not one of them will have the same top editor it had when 2008 began. Most of them will have different publishers, too.
January 19
The Source Quits Accepting Lewd Advertising - NYTimes.com
The Source hopes to gain more than it loses by chasing mainstream advertisers that do not want their ads alongside the adults-only kind. That’s a serious gamble at a time when magazines are struggling, unable to hold onto the ads they have.
January 19
How the Big Gulp Approach to News Makes Readers Scram - Advertising Age
The [Chicago Tribune] announced last week it will produce two editions: the same old unwieldy broadsheet for home subscribers and a more portable tabloid edition for newsstand buyers. Come on, really? We're reading about this kind of "innovation" in 2009? It's like Detroit announcing it's going to start making SUVs that are a little smaller and in brighter colors.
January 19
Newsweek May Stop Weekly Circulation - Newsmax.com
Battered by a one-two punch of declining readership and ad pages, Newsweek magazine is getting an extreme makeover this year that will include a large circulation reduction, deep cuts in operating costs, and a new effort to attract advertisers by concentrating on an elite audience.
January 19
A farewell to lunch as book world cuts back - The Observer
Book launch parties, the fledgling author's traditional moment of glory after months of lonely endeavour, are being consigned to literary history as a new austerity grips the publishing industry.
January 19
Financial Times Journalists To Protest Job Cuts Thursday - WSJ.com
Journalists at Pearson PLC's (PSO) Financial Times are to hold protests Thursday against proposed compulsory job losses at the paper, the National Union of Journalists said Saturday.
January 19
Gannett selling Tucson Citizen - Newspapers & Technology
Gannett Co. Inc. late Jan. 16 put its interests in the Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen on the sales block and said if it didn’t complete a sale by March 21 it will close the afternoon daily.
January 19
The Popular Newsweekly Becomes a Lonely Category - NYTimes.com
[W]ith readers and ads melting away, and more media outlets available to get the same information faster, U.S. News & World Report took itself out of that competition in 2008, and Newsweek may be poised to step back from it this year, leaving Time as the one playing something closest to the traditional newsweekly game, and making money at it.
January 19
Minneapolis 'Star-Tribune' Files For Bankruptcy - MediaPost Publications
As long expected, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on Thursday, putting yet another American newspaper in the financial doghouse.
January 19
Union-Tribune announces cost cuts, including future staff reductions - SignOnSanDiego.com
Citing a dramatic decline in advertising revenue, The San Diego Union-Tribune announced cost-cutting measures Friday that include a temporary furlough for hourly employees.
January 19
Future Less Than OK! For Current Staffers - mediabistro.com
OK! fires current staff to make room for refugees from People and Us Weekly, while American Media struggles to pay its bills.
January 16
Open Here' to Peek at Esquire's Articles and Ad - NYTimes.com
The February issue of Esquire... has a window, or flap, in the middle of the cover, next to an invitation to “Open here.” Opening the window reveals quotations from articles inside the issue, adjacent to an advertisement for “One Way Out,” a new series on the Discovery Channel cable network. The cover ads are indicative of efforts by magazines and other traditional media to find additional ways to raise revenue during one of the most challenging economies in decades.
January 16
Tony Benn to address protesting FT journalists after job cuts leak - guardian.co.uk
Former Labour MP and cabinet minister Tony Benn will address Financial Times journalists protesting over job losses next week as details of a secret document emerged proposing yet more cuts to production staff. A National Union of Journalists chapel meeting earlier this week, attended by more than 100 FT union members, unanimously decided to hold a mass meeting next week in protest at the planned cuts.
January 16
Newspapers may die out, but we'll always need news - Recordnet.com
So publishers face a conundrum: Their "product" - the news - is more in demand than ever before, while the business operations that have long paid the bills - advertising and paid circulation - are in serious decline.
January 16
Star Tribune files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - Star Tribune
The Star Tribune, saddled with high debt and a sharp decline in print advertising, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition Thursday night.
January 15
Boston Globe Plans to Trim Its Newsroom by 12% - NYTimes.com
The Boston Globe will reduce its news staff by 12 percent through buyouts and possibly layoffs, the paper announced on Thursday, part of a sharp contraction in the size of American newspapers as they grapple with falling advertising and circulation.
January 15
Newspaper Research Firm Belden Going Out of Business - Editor & Publisher
Belden Associates -- which provided newspapers with proprietary marketing, editorial and circulation research for 68 years -- is going out of business, Chairman and CEO Sammy Papert announced in a newsletter sent to clients Wednesday.
January 15
Arkansas newspaper seeks cut in workers pay, hours - msnbc.com
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is asking for volunteers to accept a reduction in their work hours and salary. High costs and pressure on advertisers from the recession are the reasons for the request, said Paul R. Smith, president of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Inc. He said the paper's advertisers were spending less on ads.
January 15
News of the World falls to lowest circulation for nearly 50 years - guardian.co.uk
The News of the World's circulation dipped below 3m copies in December for the first time since the paper began independently auditing its monthly sales figures nearly 47 years ago.
January 15
Magazine Ad Pages Fell 11.7% in 2008 - Advertising Age
Magazine ad pages fell last year by 11.7%, a bigger decline than even the body blow of 2001, new statistics show. In the difficult fourth quarter alone, magazine ad pages fell 17.1%.
January 15
American Express Publishing Lays Off 33 - Advertising Age
American Express Publishing, which publishes titles such as Food & Wine and Travel & Leisure, laid off another 33 people today as part of a drive by its parent company, American Express Co., to cut its head count 10%, a company spokeswoman confirmed.
January 15
Efforts to sell Rocky could extend into next week - The Rocky Mountain News
E.W. Scripps, owner of the Rocky Mountain News, said Wednesday its attempts to sell the newspaper could stretch beyond Friday into at least next week.
January 15
Random House Inc. confirms more cuts - Chicago Tribune
Spokesmen Paul Bogaards of Knopf and David Drake of Crown each said there had been a small number of layoffs across various departments, following reductions at Random House announced in the fall and at the end of last year, not long after the publisher merged its divisions from five into three. Random House has also frozen pensions for current employees and eliminated them for future hires.
January 15
Gannett furloughs employees to avoid more layoffs | Reuters
Gannett Co Inc, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, will make workers take a week off without pay because of what it called some of the most difficult economic conditions it has ever experienced. The move could help Gannett avoid more layoffs, Chief Executive Craig Dubow wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday.
January 13
Archant to cut up to 20 jobs on Suffolk papers - guardian.co.uk
Regional newspaper publisher Archant plans to cut as many as 20 jobs at its East Anglian Daily Times publishing centre in Ipswich.
January 13
Irish Publisher Aims to Save Cash - WSJ.com
Dublin-based Education Media is now taking tough measures to save cash, as it faces the prospect of keeping up payments on its $7 billion debt amid falling textbook sales. Using an approach typical of private-equity firms, which buy companies with the aim of restructuring and selling them at a higher price, Education Media has been firing staff, outsourcing functions, buying fewer new books, and phasing out some textbooks for the past year. Some 700 people lost their jobs in December, according to a person familiar with the situation.
January 13
MEN Media disbands its motoring sales team - Brand Republic
MEN Media, the Guardian Media Group-owned regional publisher, has closed its motoring sales team with the loss of 10 jobs.
January 12
'Honolulu Advertiser' Drops, Consolidates Sections - Editor & Publisher
The Honolulu Advertiser ended its standalone tabloid business section Monday, as it rolled out a series of format changes that will see features dropped and consolidated in the next week.
January 12
Country Weekly Drops Subscriptions for Newsstand Sales Only - Advertising Age
American Media is amputating about 80% of Country Weekly's paid circulation as part of a bid to keep the title publishing.
January 12
Journalism will survive death of printed newspapers - Midwest Voices
No government bailout is forthcoming for newsprint. Nor is it likely that billionaire philanthropists are going to pick up the tab for failing newspapers around the country. I like to believe that capitalism will eventually sort this out. If the role of written journalism is truly important to sustain a free society, some way will be found to sustain operations. But that sort of free market churning will take time.
January 12
'Plenty' Runs Out of Green, Shuts Down - Portfolio.com
ast week, you read about how Plenty magazine had laid off half its staff and made tentative plans to chop the frequency of its print component, a magazine about environmentalism, despite the prospect of a cash infusion from Live Earth entrepreneur Kevin Wall. But by Friday afternoon, that information was no longer up to date. Now, Plenty has shut down altogether. The Daily Green reported it first, and now publisher/editor in chief Mark Spellun confirms it.
January 12
More Signs Of Endangered Journalism - Science News
Because many news organizations cover only a limited region or topic, subscribers are unlikely to find many — in some cases any — alternative sources to what has been lost when a publication folds. And when competition dies, the incentive to strive for ever-greater quality can also wither.
January 12
Pearson's Financial Times Group To Cut 80 Jobs - EasyBourse
The Financial Times Group, part of Pearson PLC (PSON.LN), said Monday it is cutting up to 80 jobs. "They will be a mixture of commercial and editorial jobs," a spokesman said, adding that 20 will be editorial jobs. He said 10 editorial job cuts will be voluntary redundancies.
January 12
Employment ads fall to 'recession levels' - The Australian
Western Australia suffered the biggest dive in newspaper job ads, with the number falling 23 per cent last month compared with November. Strong monthly falls in newspaper job ads also occurred in Victoria (down 18.2 per cent), South Australia, (down 17.2 per cent) and Queensland (down 10.5 per cent).
January 12
Media misery as circulations fall - Investors Chronicle
Trinity Mirror, which generates 40 per cent of revenues from circulation, recorded a 9.85 per cent month-on-month fall, while the Daily Mail, which derives about 20 per cent of revenue from newspaper sales, saw circulation contract by 7.43 per cent in December.
January 12
Financial woes challenge news outlets - OrlandoSentinel.com
"It was a very challenging year where we saw revenues take a pretty substantial decline, and we had to adjust the business accordingly," said Howard Greenberg, publisher of the Orlando Sentinel. "I would love to have it obliterated from my memory."
January 12
Publisher says the Register will end up different, better - The Des Moines Register
A perfect storm is lashing The Des Moines Register and media companies, as the worst advertising recession in decades sweeps newspapers navigating a risky journey that includes a stronger digital future. Yet Publisher Laura Hollingsworth says she sees the Register emerging as a full-fledged multimedia company that will serve readers with watchdog journalism and reporting relevant to their lives.
January 12
Courier Will Close Book-mart Press - Press Release
Courier Corporation, one of America’s leading book manufacturers and specialty publishers, today announced its decision to close Book-mart Press, Inc., a short-run manufacturing subsidiary in North Bergen, New Jersey, and consolidate its one-color printing operations into other Courier facilities.
January 12
Computer Buyer becomes latest magazine to close - Press Gazette
Computer Buyer, a monthly magazine published by Dennis, has ceased publication after 18 years and merged with another title. Dennis – which publishes magazines including The Week and Auto Express – said it had closed the title due to falling circulation.
January 11
Print media's 2009 jitters - BizCommunity.com
Battered and squeezed by falling circulation, soaring input costs and dipping advertising revenues and the side-effects of the global financial meltdown, which will lead to mass retrenchments, the South African print media enters the year 2009 like a wounded lion, looking to revise its hunting strategy, nurse its wounds and recover from a miserable 2008.
January 11
Shock horror as newspaper wars slash value of Sport titles - Crain's Manchester Business
Andrew Fickling, chief executive of Sport Media Group, publisher of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport, said back in June that the papers’ relaunch would be a success if daily sales were 100,000 copies by the end of 2008. Last week the company admitted that weekday circulation has fallen to about 75,000, a fall of 10,000 since last May.
January 11
Twelve Major Media Brands Likely To Close In 2009 - 24/7 Wall St
No one working in the media industry will ever have seen a year as bad as 2009 will be. The sharp slide in advertising began in 2008, and, based on the worsening economy, there is no reason to think that advertising will improve.
January 11
Connecticut's Proposed Newspaper Bailout: Will The News Media Be Neutered? - The Moderate Voice
Is a local newspaper bailout by the state about to happen in Connecticut? And, if it does, what will it mean to the news media? In this Guest Voice post, authors and speakers Floyd and Mary Beth Brown warn that it could be a slippery slope, indeed.
January 11
The Santa Barbara Independent UCSB Student Paper Cuts Friday Issue - Santa Barbara Independent
In a Thursday staff editorial headlined “Black and White and Dead All Over,” the paper announced that cost-cutting prompted the paper to stop printing its Friday edition, at least until the school’s winter quarter ends in March.
January 11
Single-Copy Mag Sales Trending Downward - MediaWeek
At a time when consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending, single-copy magazine sales declined 8 percent to 244 million in the third quarter from 266 million in the year-ago quarter, according to MagNet, which compiles magazine newsstand sales data.
January 11
Evening Sun struck by layoffs - Evening Sun
The Evening Sun has cut nine full-time reporter and editor positions from its newsroom staff of 25 in an effort to cut costs and increase efficiency.
January 11
Company hired to sell PI, but analysts skeptical - Seattle Times
The managing director of the investment company hired to sell the state's oldest newspaper says they will do the very best job they can, but industry analysts are skeptical a buyer will materialize.
January 11
Newspaper death is exaggerated | TheUnion.com
Newspaper print circulation is declining in many instances, but total readership (print and Web) is growing. Thanks to the Internet, newspapers are reaching more readers than before. The reason you hear about newspapers “in trouble” is because they have not yet learned to “monetize” enough of the Web readership.
January 11
Newspapers: The buggy whips of 2009? - The Modesto Bee
Every columnist must eventually type his or her pronouncement on the decline of newsprint, so here is mine. When I'm done, I promise to resume my job chronicling and commenting on other news of the day.
January 9
Globe and Mail cutting work force - reportonbusiness.com
The Globe and Mail is planning to reduce its work force by about 10 per cent through voluntary buyouts, and possible layoffs, publisher Phillip Crawley told staff Friday... [The publisher] said the company began looking at ways to offset “what has been a pretty steep drop” in newsprint advertising revenue. “But the pace and the severity of the decline is like nothing we've seen in recent years,” he told staff.
January 9
Beleaguered Herald & Times Group suffers large sales drop - guardian.co.uk
Troubled Scottish newspaper publisher the Herald & Times Group saw its leading titles the Herald and the Sunday Herald post large year-on-year circulations declines in December.
January 9
Hearst Looks to Sell, or Close, Seattle Paper - NYTimes.com
The Hearst Corporation will stop printing The Seattle Post-Intelligencer unless it can find a buyer in the next 60 days, company executives told the newspaper’s employees on Friday.
January 9
Print Newspapers, R.I.P.? - WCVB Boston
Perhaps you have read all about it. Newspapers going the way of the butter churn and the black and white TV. It started with the emerging popularity of the Internet as news source for those under 30. A few years ago, one read about the “decline of print.” Now, in some quarters, the death of print is being measured not in years but in months.
January 9
Web-based US news has global ambitions - The Age
GlobalPost, a web-based news service, goes online next week with the goal of covering the world for American readers at a time when US newspapers are struggling and cutting back on foreign coverage.
January 9
December ABCs: Sunday qualities shed readers - guardian.co.uk
All papers in the quality national Sunday market, except for the Sunday Times, recorded year-on-year falls in circulation in December, traditionally a slow month for newspaper sales.
January 9
For newspapers, time's the enemy - Chicago Tribune
Readers want information faster than any printing press could ever deliver it. Revenue streams at money-losers such as the Chicago Sun-Times and still-profitable titles such as the Chicago Tribune, alike, are shrinking so quickly that initiatives demand results in months rather than years because the cash will only last so long.
January 9
Newspaper cuts 39 jobs - St. Louis Today
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch announced Thursday it would cut 39 jobs from its work force of about 1,000 employees. The layoffs include 14 in the newsroom. The other departments affected are operations, advertising and finance.
January 9
BusinessWeek publisher McGraw-Hill makes cuts - DMNews
In a company-wide restructuring, McGraw-Hill Cos. has cut 375 jobs, including 70 from its Information and Media group.
January 9
Stage set for P-I to close - Seattle Times
Quoting an unnamed source, KING TV reported Thursday night that the newspaper's owner, The Hearst Corp., planned to put the P-I up for sale soon, setting the stage for its closure in the next few months.
January 8
Monitor to trim its staff by 7 percent - The Boston Globe
The Christian Science Monitor, which last fall said it would halt its daily print edition and shift to online coverage, will reduce its 90-person editorial staff by about 7 percent.
January 8
Publishers turn page with big cuts - The Columbus Dispatch
Book sales have deteriorated since October, falling about 7 percent compared with the same period the previous year, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of sales. The slide is driving many of the cutbacks, but the publishing industry is also affected by longer-term trends, including a shift toward digital reading and competition from entertainment options such as video games and online social networking.
January 8
Albuquerque Journal to halt some home deliveries - International Herald Tribune
The Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico's largest daily newspaper, plans to stop home deliveries and rack sales in more than 30 communities around the state because of the economic downturn.
January 8
£18.2m pre-tax loss at Sport Media Group - North West Media News
The publisher of the Manchester-based Sport newspapers has reported an £18.2m pre-tax loss - down from a £5.3m profit last year. The Sport Media Group has wiped a third (£18.4m) off the value of the newspapers, which it bought for £50m in 2007.
January 8
Dow Jones Freezes Wages - Editor & Publisher
Dow Jones & Co. is the latest newspaper company to implement salary freezes in 2009. In a memo to employees, first posted on FishbowlDC, CEO Les Hinton informed staffers of the move because business faces a "weakened global economy, which continues to encroach on our business."
January 8
Have $42,000? Buy a Magazine! - FolioMag.com
Double Jump Publishing, the owners of national video game enthusiast magazine Hardcore Gamer, have put the magazine on the block—on eBay. The starting bid? A mere $42,000.
January 8
Publisher Meredith to cut 250 jobs, take charge - Reuters
Meredith Corp said it would cut 250 jobs, close a magazine and take a $16 million second-quarter charge because of poor advertising brought on by the weak economy.
January 8
Country Home> Has Folded - mediabistro.com
FBNY can confirm that Country Home has folded. A spokesperson at Meredith told us that as part of company-wide reductions the "difficult decision" was made to fold the magazine, which employed about 40 people. The March/April edition of the magazine will be its last. Press release to follow shortly.
January 7
Globe will sell space for ads on front page - The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe will soon join a growing number of newspapers nationwide that are selling front-page advertisements as a way to generate additional income.
January 7
Exchange & Mart ceases print publication and goes online only - Telegraph
The title, owned by Newsquest, a regional newspaper publisher, said February would be its last month. There are reports that there will be 80 possible redundancies.
January 7
Media Shake Up: EGM Closes Doors - PSP World
Venerable magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly will finally shutter its doors after more than two decades of publication.
January 7
Spanish newspaper ad revenues drop 20 pct in 2008 - guardian.co.uk
Spain's economic downturn and a slowdown in demand pushed newspaper advertising revenues down by a fifth last year, endangering thousands of media jobs, the head of the Madrid Journalists Association said on Wednesday.
January 7
Buyer comes forward to save Conn. newspapers - Forbes.com
Financially troubled Journal Register Co. has agreed to sell two of its daily newspapers in Connecticut, less than two weeks before its deadline to shut down the publications.
January 7
The new (gotcha) media - The Stanford Daily
It is self-evident that as traditional media outlets (read: print newspapers) continue to downsize their staff and technological advances make the dissemination of current events a collective endeavor, the barrier between plebe and reporter becomes increasingly obsolete.
January 7
Publishers turn page with big cuts - The Columbus Dispatch
Amid a string of layoffs and pay-freeze announcements, book publishers are clamping down on some of the business' most glittery traditions.
January 7
What this year holds for magazines - Media Life Magazine
It has been a grim year for magazines, and there’s little sign of relief in 2009. After ending 2007 at nearly flat to the previous year, magazine ad pages took a big dive in 2008, with year-to-date declines through third quarter of almost 10 percent.
January 6
U student newspaper to eliminate one daily edition - StarTribune.com
The Minnesota Daily is about to become a little less ... daily. Starting this month, the independent student newspaper at the University of Minnesota will cease publication on Fridays and expand its coverage online.
January 6
Hernando Today to trim publication by two days - TampaBay.com
Hernando Today, the local publication of the Tampa Tribune, has announced that it will cease publishing Monday and Tuesday editions beginning Jan. 19. The move will leave the Hernando Times as the only newspaper in the county with a seven-day-a-week print edition.
January 6
NYSE Officially De-lists Certain Tribune Co. Debt - Editor & Publisher
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) followed up on its stop-trading order last month, officially notifying the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday that it has delisted some of Tribune Co.’s publicly traded debt.
January 6
Forbes Lays Off Another 19 in Second Round of Cuts - MediaWeek
mw/photos/stylus/65955-ForbesCoverM.jpg In a sign that the magazine bloodletting hadn't ended in 2008, Forbes Media said today that it laid off another 19 people, this time from the editorial side.
January 6
Tulsa World announces staff reduction - Tulsa World
The Tulsa World today terminated 28 employees citing deteriorating economic conditions nationwide and in media business. The terminations included 26 news staff members and two in other departments.
January 6
Newsquest York journalists vote for industrial action over job cuts - Guardian
York Press union members voted 85% in favour of strike action after local management were unable to guarantee staff that there would be no more compulsory redundancies following a round of lay-offs last summer.
January 6
2009 a make or break year for UK media - Telegraph
“Regional newspapers to collapse”, “Television in freefall” and “Media group calls in administrators”. These are just some of the grim predictions for the year ahead.
January 6
Job cuts impact quality journalism: CAJ - Press Release
A flood of job cuts threatens to hobble high-quality journalism in this country, the Canadian Association of Journalists warns. The retrenchment is so profound that the CAJ fears journalism in Canada is reaching a tipping point where the decline in the quality of news content will lead to an industry death spiral of less content, smaller audiences, and yet more cuts.
January 6
News eliminates two supervisor positions - Northfield News
The Northfield News announced the elimination of two advertising supervisory positions Monday.
January 6
Register publisher says she's fighting to protect paper's heart and soul' - Iowa Independent
Since August, Gannett Co. Inc., which owns The Des Moines Register, has eliminated 82 jobs at the paper. Names that had become familiar to Iowans, like Ken Fuson and Brian Duffy, and years of tradition were lost in the shadow of a national recession that exacerbated the woes of a newspaper industry already hurting from years of decline.
January 5
Newspaper industry facing huge challenges | PostIndependent.com
“It’s now a trend whereby the business model of the 20th Century newspaper is not only irrelevant, but is also dysfunctional,” Voakes said. “The 21st Century newspaper caught many executives by surprise, and no one I’ve seen knows what the new business model for the 21st Century newspaper is going to look like.”
January 5
In terms of trouble, magazines are the new newspapers - BloggingStocks
Magazine publishers may have made the same mistake that newspapers did--they moved content to the web too late and did not staff up their online businesses fast enough.
January 5
Those Disappearing JRC Weeklies - Business New Haven
Sixteen area newspapers closed last month - not just for Christmas, but for good... The papers affected include the Branford Review, Clinton Recorder, Hamden Chronicle, Milford Weekly, North Haven Post, Shelton Weekly, Stratford Bard, West Haven News, Wallingford Voice, East Haven Advertiser and others.
January 4
The Times Starts Selling Display Ads on Page 1 - NYTimes.com
In its latest concession to the worst revenue slide since the Depression, The New York Times has begun selling display advertising on its front page, a step that has become increasingly common across the newspaper industry.
January 4
Forecast 2009: Print - MediaWeek
If independent publishers are serving a niche, they will just scrape by.
January 4
From inside a dying industry - Evening Sun
The year that just ended saw more than 15,500 people lose their newspaper jobs because of layoffs or buyouts.
January 4
Internet Skyrockets as a News Source - NYTimes.com
The Internet overtook print newspapers as a news source this year, according to a report by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which asked more than a thousand people where they got “most of” their national and international news.
January 4
As Marketers Retreat, Condé Nast Magazines Slim Down - NYTimes.com
The January 2008 issue [of Allure magazine] had almost 70 pages of ads, while the January 2009 issue had 41, according to the Media Industry Newsletter, a decline of 41 percent.
January 4
Read All About It! - The Irish Times
Decline in readership figures and slumping ad revenues, 2008 has been one of the worst years for the US print media since the Depression. Is it finally time to stop the press?
January 4
The New Austerity in Publishing - NYTimes.com
Amid a relentless string of layoffs and pay-freeze announcements, book publishers are clamping down on some of the business’s most glittery and cozy traditions. Austerity measures are rippling throughout the industry as it confronts the worst retailing landscape in memory.
January 4
Online is the future and the future is now - The Guardian
With bosses focused on commerce and ratings, papers are falling behind where it really matters, says Roy Greenslade - creating online material and innovations people are prepared to pay for.
January 4
Online Or Bust: Why 2009 May Be The Nail In Newspapers' Coffins - paidContent:UK
In reality, 2009 is more likely to bring more layoffs, further consolidation and the death of certain long-running titles than it is a cyclical upturn in fortunes, as publishers grapple with the truth that their businesses have changed fundamentally and forever.
January 3
That was the year - Sierra Star
Big news for us at the Star was the switch back to publishing once a week. Like just about every other business, the newspaper business has been hit hard. All year, there have been stories of cutbacks and layoffs at big papers and small, and the Star was not immune.
January 3
AsianWeek to go online only - AFP
AsianWeek, a 30-year-old newspaper for Asian-Americans based in San Francisco, has announced plans to drop its print edition and go online only.
January 3
Newspaper nightmares - Canadian Business Online
In Canada, daily circulation of all weekday newspapers stood at 4,674,900 copies, down 1.5% from 2007.
January 3
Newspaper Blues: Lee Enterprises Faces De-Listing - MediaPost
The New Year is delivering more bad news for newspapers, beginning with the possibility that Lee Enterprises could be de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange.
January 2
2008: An Awful Year for the Newsosaur - Seeking Alpha
Alan Mutter, Boswell to the Grim Reaper of journalism, he has done a great job tracking the business misfortunes of the industry - produces a harrowing year-end account of newspaper company market value.
January 2
Magazines struggle as ad sales fall; readers' options grow - Baltimore Examiner
Advertising is down, which means profits are down, which means everybody's developing nervous twitches. You offer your magazine for 83 cents a copy, you're not making money on that end of the deal, but you're showing advertisers lots of new people who will see their products.
January 1
2008: The Year Newspaper Stocks Collapsed - Editor & Publisher
The statistics behind the collapse of newspaper stocks in 2008 are sobering as New Year's Eve approaches: GateHouse, down 99.55% in this calendar year; McClatchy, down 93.6%; Lee Enterprises, down 97.3%; Journal Register Co., down 99.58%; Media General, down 92.47%.
January 1
Fabled men's magazine publishes final issue - asahi.com(朝日新聞社)
Once considered the epitome of cool but long since lacking in luster, the Japanese edition of Playboy hit the stands for the last time in late November.
January 1
Village Voice Lays Off Nat Hentoff and 2 Others - NYTimes.com
The troubled Village Voice laid off three employees Tuesday, including Nat Hentoff, the prominent columnist who has worked for the paper since 1958, contributing opinionated columns about jazz, civil liberties and politics.
January 1
Papers shrink or vanish in western Colorado - The Denver Post
The newspaper downturn continues to deepen locally as several publications in western Colorado have shuttered or announced workforce reductions.
January 1
Year End Review - Morgan County Citizen Online
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution elects to pull circulation and distribution of the publication from Morgan County.
January 1
KCK's Kansan to go online, end print newspaper - Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Kansan, the only news source exclusively devoted to covering Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., will discontinue publishing its printed newspaper... After that, it will post its news online at www.kansascitykansan.com.
January 1
Western Slope newspapers cut staff - Denver Business Journal
Newspaper company Swift Communications Inc. has made staff cuts at its Western Slope newspapers and closed some weekly papers.
January 1
Gannett, Register cuts extend into eastern Iowa - Iowa Independent
Marengo Publishing Corp. and Poweshiek Publishing, companies under Gannett’s large umbrella, have published three weekly advertisers, seven weekly newspapers and a monthly magazine for several years. The seven newspapers — Belle Plaine Union, Brooklyn Chronicle, Marengo Pioneer-Republican, Montezuma Republican, North English Record, South Benton Star-Press and Williamsburg Journal-Tribune — will be consolidated or shuttered.
December 30
Us Style sees setback - DMNews
Us Style, conceived as a spin-off to the company's celebrity glossy, Us Weekly, was to have launched in March 2009 with a circulation of 450,000. The company is now setting its sights on a fall 2009 release.
December 29
Newspapers - A Thing of the Past? - CBN News
America's newspapers have been facing tough times- even before the recession In fact, the industry is in dire straits, and there's no talk of any billion dollar bailouts. So could newspapers soon be a thing of the past in this technology-driven world?
December 28
Blame the Internet for newspapers' problems - Green Bay Press-Gazette
The Internet is doing what radio and television could not do: It is killing the American newspaper. And until every newspaper publisher in this country rebels and says, "No, we are not going to put our newspaper on the Net," the slow death of newspapers will continue.
December 28
Economy dictates a restructuring of paper's print editions - The Clarion-Ledger
Beginning Monday, The Clarion-Ledger's print editions will undergo changes we believe you should know about. The changes are another way we've had to revise our business structure as we work to offset the impact of the challenging economy.
December 27
Online punishing print - MyBroadband.co.za
Even optimists are beginning to accept that the downturn is going to bite into revenues and most major news groups including Independent Newspapers, Media 24 and Naspers are in various stages of retrenchments.
December 27
Web overtakes newspapers as source of news in US survey - The Guardian
For the first time, more Americans are getting their news online than from traditional ink and paper, although the popularity of television still eclipses all other forms of media.
December 27
McClatchy stock on a wild ride - Sacramento Business Journal
McClatchy Co. shareholders endured a roller coaster-like ride Friday, with the stock of the third-largest newspaper chain dropping and then recovering.
December 26
Tabloids, magazines fare worst in print's decline | theage.com.au
Taking a longer view, the report says that nine of the nation's 12 metropolitan dailies have lost circulation since 2002.
December 26
India's Newspapers Put Off Expansion as Ad Sales Ebb - WSJ.com
The tough times are a reversal in fortune for the world's third-largest news daily market, which had until recently been booming with new dailies launching every month.
December 26
The East Iowa Herald East Iowa Herald to suspend print operations - East Iowa Herald
The East Iowa Herald newspaper today announces that it will suspend print operations after the Dec. 31, 2008, edition. Declining advertising revenue and a challenging outlook for the near term future are being blamed for the suspension.
December 26
Rivals Washington Post, Baltimore Sun Join Forces Amid Crisis - CNN
The consolidation of the newspaper industry continued Tuesday with the flagship newspaper of The Washington Post Co. (WPO) saying it would share content with its nearby competitor, The Baltimore Sun, which is owned by the now bankrupt Tribune Co.
December 26
Bad Times: NYT Says Revenue Fell 13.9% Last Month - Forbes.com
More bad news from The New York Times Company. This morning the Gray Lady announced total revenues for the company had fallen 13.9% in November compared with a year ago. Ad revenues were down 20.9%, according to a statement.
December 23
Free newspaper Metro to make staff redundant - guardian.co.uk
The Metro freesheet is to make up to 10 staff redundant and cease using the services of about 30 casuals.
December 22
Examiner will drop Monday edition - Kansas City Business Journal
The Examiner newspaper, which publishes editions in Independence and Blue Springs, will cease production of its Monday paper effective Jan. 12.
December 22
Missourian to Eliminate Two Editions - KOMU.com
MU Provost Brian Foster today announced the Columbia Missourian will soon print five editions per week, rather than its current seven. Missourian Executive Editor Tom Warhover reports the paper will discontine its Monday and free Saturday publications.
December 22
Newspapers to sell buildings, but who's buying? - The Associated Press
With revenue plunging as readers and advertisers flee to the Web, many newspaper companies have turned to selling off their buildings to raise money or save on costs. But now that option may be drying up too, as frozen credit markets make commercial real estate deals scarce.
December 22
Economy forces Catholic newspaper cuts - National Catholic Reporter
In his position as president of the Catholic Press Association, Bob Zyskowski regularly hears about the difficulties diocesan newspapers are facing. He has heard about budget cuts as high as 10 percent at some newspapers.
December 22
Lads' mags no longer turn men on - Asia One News
[W]ith the proliferation of such material online, many lads' mags are suffering from plummeting sales... In Singapore, local lads' mag NewMan also published its last issue in July, and is now on "indefinite suspension".
December 22
In Denver, a Web Site Seeks to Help Save a Paper - NYTimes.com
In what staff members said was possibly the first effort of its kind, they decided to start a Web site, iwantmyrocky.com, so that readers could voice their support for the paper and The [The Rocky Mountain News]’s own employees could publicly make the case for its survival.
December 22
Car Dealer Woes Hit Telegram - Worcester Business Journal
Newspapers, including the New York Times-owned Worcester Telegram & Gazette, are facing dramatic declines in ad revenues, in part because auto dealers — facing their own financial crisis — are pulling out of print almost entirely.
December 20
DNA demands wage concessions by Jan. 16 - The Rocky Mountain News
The Denver Newspaper Agency has issued an ultimatum to its six unions: Agree to $20 million in wage and benefit concessions by Jan. 16 or face even worse consequences.
December 19
Legislature starts with a lot fewer journalists - Seattle Times Newspaper
During the past 15 years, the state population has increased by 25 percent and the amount of tax money spent by the state has more than doubled. Yet the number of print, television and radio journalists covering the state Legislature full time has dropped by about 70 percent.
December 18
When newspaper circulation declines, puppies pay - Los Angeles Times
If nationwide newspaper circulation continues to decline -- or ceases -- what will shelters do? With the onslaught of foreclosure victims surrendering their family pets, the shelters are certainly in no position to afford premium paper to line cages. So what can you do to help? Skip the recycle bin and donate your newspapers to your local animal shelter. The puppies will appreciate it!
December 18
'Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,' Siblings Lay Off 39
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has laid off 17 employees, and another 12 jobs were cut at parent Journal Communications' community newspaper group.
December 18
Letter: Get rid of weekly, make type bigger - Times-News Online
Not only have the weather report, bridge column and crossword puzzles shrunk, the print is lighter, making them very difficult to read. Do you not realize that the majority of your readership is over 65? We have trouble reading normal print and now you’ve given another challenge.
December 18
Washington News Bureaus Are Shrinking - NYTimes.com
Cox, the publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Austin American-Statesman and 15 other papers, announced this month that its Washington bureau would simply close its doors on April 1.
December 17
Macmillan cuts 64 publishing jobs - Los Angeles Times
Another book publisher is cutting jobs: Macmillan, where authors include Thomas Friedman, Rick Atkinson and Janet Evanovich, is eliminating 64 positions, just under 4% of its workforce.
December 17
Journal Communications cuts 39 employees - The Business Journal of Milwaukee
Two of the newspaper groups within Journal Communications Inc. cut a combined 39 employees this month due in part to what newspaper group president Betsy Brenner called “restructurings.”
December 17
Sun Media cuts 600 jobs - Welland Tribune
Sun Media Corp. is cutting about 600 jobs in its Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada operations, reducing its workforce by about 10 per cent. Canada's largest newspaper chain - which is owned by Montreal-based Quebecor Inc. -said the move is in response to a newspaper industry in transformation and deteriorating economic conditions.
December 17
How long can newspapers keep delivering the news? - Los Angeles Times
This might go down as the week that they took paper out of the newspaper business.
December 17
Bad times for the local news business - Mountain Xpress News
ust last month, the Gannett-owned [Asheville Citizen-Times] announced that it will lay off 60 people at its printing plant, moving the printing of its papers to Greenville, S.C., in January. Now comes word that the paper has laid off 16 more employees, from departments including online operations, circulation, advertising, production, graphic design and editorial.
December 17
No relief in sight for Kansas' daily papers - Kansas Liberty
The Kansas City Star daily circulation decreased 2.3 percent and its Sunday circulation fell 5.3 percent. Employees have been laid off and the financial troubles of big advertisers such as Circuit City have meant the loss of millions in advertising.
December 17
More Pain In Store For Media Industry As Ad Revenue Slump Continues - iStockAnalyst
A number of forecasters in recent days have warned that leading advertisers are cutting down further on their advertising budgets and overall picture remains weak for the media industry as recessionary pain mounts.
December 17
Journal de Montreal Management Remains Open to Genuine Bargaining - MarketWatch
[T]he parties are well aware of the issues facing the industry, which are evidenced by the major staff cuts in print media throughout the West and the technological innovations that are revolutionizing newspaper publishing. At its convention in Quebec City 10 days ago, the Federation professionnelle des journalistes du Quebec (FPJQ) came to the same conclusion.
December 17
Other papers likely to follow Tribune group into bankruptcy - NZ Herald News
The storied American families who carved up the industry between them over many generations - the McClatchys, for example, with their empire of regional titles; and the Ochs-Sulzbergers, who have controlled the New York Times since 1896 - will face unprecedented challenges in keeping hold of their debt-laden possessions.
December 16
ASNE proposes name change; remove 'newspapers' - Politico.com
The American Society of Newspaper Editors contacted members today about changing the organization's name to reflect the decline of print.
December 16
Sun papers publisher to cut 10 per cent of staff, 600 jobs across Canada - The Canadian Press
Canada's biggest newspaper publisher, Sun Media, is cutting 600 jobs in Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec as it restructures in the face of harsh economic conditions.
December 16
Dramatic changes unveiled at The News, Free Press - The Detroit News
The Detroit Media Partnership that oversees The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press today announced an innovative plan designed to preserve both papers by curtailing home delivery and increasing online offerings.
December 16
Time cuts more jobs at Southern Progress - The Birmingham News
Time Inc. cut more jobs Monday at Southern Progress Corp., but the New York-based parent of the Birmingham publishing company is being tight-lipped about details. Debra Richman, spokeswoman for Time Inc., would confirm only that more cuts took place.
December 15
64 Laid Off at Macmillan Publishing - mediabistro.com
In a move that will affect nearly four percent of the company, Macmillan Publishing cut 64 jobs and consolidated all its children's imprints into a single "Macmillan Children's Publishing Group" today.
December 15
Newspaper Ad Revenues See Historic 18% Drop - Media Buyer Planner
Total print and online newspaper advertising revenues plummeted to $8.92 billion in Q3 2008, an 18% drop of nearly $2 billion from Q3 2007, and a 6.9% drop from Q2 2008, according to figures released by the Newspaper Association of America, MarketingCharts reports.
December 15
No easy fix for US newspapers - The Straits Times
'The business model that used to work at newspapers does not work any more,' The Washington Post Co chairman Donald Graham said last week, echoing what many observers of the US media landscape have been saying for some time.
December 15
Oregonian to halt delivery in Eugene-Springfield area - The Register-Guard
The newspaper says falling revenue and higher costs led to the decision, but readers can get the paper online or by mail.
December 15
Detroit Newspapers May Cut Delivery Days - NYTimes.com
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News are planning to stop home delivery most days of the week and print a pared-down version of their papers for newsstands on those days, according to people briefed on the plans. They will be the first major dailies in the country to take such drastic steps.
December 15
New York Times Freezes Wages - Forbes.com
The New York Times Company told print and Web employees of its flagship New York Times newspaper this afternoon that non-union staff would receive no pay raises next year.
December 12
Tough Times For News Nonprofits - Forbes.com
The for-profit press isn't the only kind taking a hit these days. National Public Radio laid off 64 people this week. Out of a staff of 889, the publicly financed news agency also said 21 open positions would stay that way and other expenses would be frozen. Two radio shows were canceled.
December 12
TechTarget closes its two print magazines, cuts jobs - BtoB Magazine
Technology media company TechTarget appears to be exiting the print magazine publishing business, according to documents filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
December 12
Newsweek Shrinks Circulation to Sell 'Elite' Audience - Advertising Age
There may never be a stable "new normal" for magazines. But their print editions are being slowly distilled into cheap, mass titles on one hand and luxurious niche books on the other -- with the web in between.
December 12
Publisher hikes job cuts plan to 40 - Fleetwood Today
A Cumbria-based publishing group has put up the number of proposed job cuts in a planned restructure from 30 to 40. It is expected 27 of the jobs will go at CN Group's Carlisle headquarters and a further 13 at its subsidiary Furness Newspapers Limited, based in Barrow.
December 12
Management to address Freep, Detroit News rumors next week - Crain's Detroit Business
Rumored shifts from paper to online publication and further job cuts at the Detroit Free Press and the partnership that controls its shared business functions with The Detroit News are expected to be addressed next week by the newspaper’s management.
December 12
OC auto magazine, Velocity, ceases publishing - OCRegister.com
Velocity magazine, a bi-monthly magazine for Orange County auto aficionados, will stop printing after just seven issues because of the current economic troubles, publisher David Threshie said today.
December 11
Advertising space in newspapers is proving ever harder to fill - Taipei Times
[A] UBS analyst who spoke at the conference, Matthieu Coppet, revised downward his estimates for ad spending. He previously forecast a decline in the US next year of 5.9 percent compared with this year; he changed that to a decline of 8.7 percent, primarily because local advertising could fall by a “double-digit level.”
December 11
Popular Irish magazine publishes farewell issue - Catholic Culture
[R]eadership has dropped steadily in recent years, and last year, with circulation well under 10% of its peak figure, the Divine Word Missionaries made the decision to close down the publication. Brother Paul Hurley, who served a remarkable 40-year term as editor from 1952 to 1992, remarked that "people who no longer go to Mass are unlikely to buy Catholic magazines."
December 11
Where All The Fired Media Elite Will Meet to Greet - Adages - Advertising Age
We're not sure how everyone's going to fit in the bar, but some newly un-employed media types are throwing a party in New York next week. The invite identifies the host as The American Society of Shit-Canned Media Elites, or ASSME.
December 11
Newsquest to shut Bolton print plant before Christmas, claims union - guardian.co.uk
The Unite union representing workers at Newsquest's Bolton print plant has claimed that the regional newspaper publisher is looking to end production at the site before Christmas, putting up to 80 jobs at risk.
December 11
Tribune's Downfall Is an Industry Warning - Seeking Alpha
Tribune is a classic textbook case on how not to take a media company private, especially in hard times. But the real tragedy will be if Zell adds insult to injury by failing to use Chapter 11 restructuring to give it a new lease on life. Undertaking a dramatic digital reinvention of its diverse operations would provide a template to other media companies that desperately need to transition into new infrastructures to survive.
December 10
Newspapers in Boise, NW make changes to fight economy - KTVB.COM
Some have folded, others have filed for bankruptcy, and still others are restructuring with layoffs. Newspapers are rethinking their traditional format to combat losses in readership and revenue.
December 10
Gannett says revenue down, more job cuts coming - Washington Business Journal
Gannett Co. Inc. expects full-year revenue to be down 8 percent from 2007, and says revenue so far this quarter is down 14 percent from year ago results. It also plans more job cuts in the new year.
December 10
Gannett Expects Full Year Revenue To Decline 8% For 2008 - CNN Money
Gracia Martore, chief financial officer with Gannett Co. (GCI), said Wednesday the media company expects full-year revenue to decline 8% in 2008.
December 10
Newsquest Shutting 11 Local Papers Across UK, At Least 23 Staff Affected - paidContent:UK
Illustrating the collapse in auto sales and classified advertising, once a stable source of income for local papers, Newsquest’s Lancashire Auto Exchange and Manchester & Merseyside Auto Exchange will also close.
December 9
Writing on the wall for newspapers - FT.com
The newspaper and magazine industry could be “decimated” in 2009 with one out of every 10 print publications forced to reduce publication frequency by more than half, move online or close entirely, according to a report by Deloitte.
December 9
The Newspaper Bubble, Too, Has Burst - NYTimes.com
Credit ratings for nearly every newspaper company judged by the major ratings agencies have been downgraded well below investment grade. “I think there will be more pressure on these companies, and more bankruptcies,” said Dave Novosel, senior analyst at Gimme Credit, a research firm.
December 9
OK! Drops Newsstand Price Below $3 - WSJ.com
OK! magazine is cutting its newsstand price by 50 cents in an effort to separate itself from a crowded field of celebrity weeklies.
December 9
Playboy to continue aggressive cost cuts in 2009 - Reuters
Playboy Enterprises Inc, publisher of one of the world's best known adult magazines, plans to continue "aggressive cost cutting" across the company in 2009 after cutting 14 percent of its workforce in 2008, according to Chief Financial Officer Linda Havard.
December 9
Newsday Stakes Its Future on Digital Strategy - Advertising Age
Cablevision may have laid off 100 employees at Newsday, the recently acquired Long Island, N.Y.-based daily newspaper, just last week. But Tom Rutledge, the media company's chief operating officer, laid out an ambitious digital strategy designed to reinvent the newspaper's coverage and distribution model.
December 9
Canadian book industry feeling economic pressure, but not as bad as U.S. - The Canadian Press
The Canadian book business is feeling the pinch of an economic slowdown but industry players believe the pain will be less than what its peers in the United States are experiencing, thanks in part to the swings of the Canadian dollar.
December 9
Newsquest set to close 11 regional papers in north west England - guardian.co.uk
Newsquest is planning to close 11 newspapers in the north-west of England as part of drastic cutbacks to its regional newspaper publishing operation.
December 9
TV Guide Tries Life as Print-Only Magazine - New York Times
In 1988, TV Guide was sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for about $3 billion. In 2000, it was sold for $9.2 billion. Last week, TV Guide once again changed hands. This time, the selling price was one dollar.
December 9
New York Times warns of 'challenging' year in 2009 - MarketWatch
New York Times Co. said Tuesday morning that it expects next year to be "among the most challenging" it has ever faced as advertising revenues fall further.
December 9
Newspaper Ad Revenues See Steep Drop Across All Categories - Seeking Alpha
Total print and online newspaper advertising revenues plummeted to $8.92 billion in Q3 2008, an 18% drop of nearly $2 billion from Q3 2007, and a 6.9% drop from Q2 2008, according to figures released by the Newspaper Association of America.
December 9
Deficits Put Newspapers On Notice - Epoch Times
As the gloomy economic situation worsens, advertising sales for the nation’s largest daily newspapers are tanking, circulations shrinking, and readers flocking to the web as the print editions of their newspapers face intensely troubled times.
December 9
Workers Pay for Debacle at Tribune - NYTimes.com
Advertising is in a free fall, and every newspaper is suffering. But Mr. Zell literally mortgaged the future of Tribune’s employees to pursue what one analyst, Jack Newman, at the time called “a childhood fantasy.”
December 8
Tribune Files for Bankruptcy - New York Times
The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Monday, as the publisher of newspapers like The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune struggled to cope with rising debt and falling ad revenue.
December 8
Times Co. to Borrow Against Building - NYTimes.com
The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.
December 8
Tribune May Face Potential Bankruptcy Filing - New York Times
Tribune has hired bankruptcy advisers as the ailing newspaper company faces a potential bankruptcy filing, people briefed on the matter said.
December 8
Viacom, NBC, Others Cull 30,000 in Fight for Their Future - Advertising Age
Viacom and NBC Universal swung the ax last week, eliminating 850 and 500 jobs, or 7% and 3% of their work forces, respectively. Add that to 600 job cuts at Time Inc., 1,500 at Yahoo, 1,800 at Gannett, hundreds at CBS's radio and local TV divisions, and incremental cuts just about everywhere else, and big media is getting a whole lot smaller.
December 8
Bailout For Two Papers Delusional - Hartford Courant
Seven legislators want state government to provide help to two newspapers, The New Britain Herald and The Bristol Press. This earns a special place in the crowded pantheon of bad ideas. Changing habits, new technology and a downturn in advertising continue to batter newspapers.
December 6
The demise of the 'Challenge' - Jamaica Gleaner News
Ardent readers of the magazine Caribbean Challenge have been grappling with the news contained in its latest edition, that this evangelical publication, barring a miracle, is going out of business.
December 6
Newspaper circulation drops slightly - The Star
THE average circulation of daily newspapers in all languages in Malaysia dropped marginally for the year to end-June 2008 compared with the previous year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) said.
December 5
The Miami Herald Is Said to Be for Sale - NYTimes.com
The McClatchy Company, burdened by debt and a steep slide in newspaper advertising, wants to sell one of its most prized properties, The Miami Herald, according to people briefed on the company’s plans.
December 5
Newsday to eliminate 100 jobs, raise newsstand price - Crain's New York Business
Newsday has joined the throng of companies announcing job cuts. The Long Island newspaper will cut 5% of its work force, or 100 jobs, Publisher Timothy Knight told staffers in a memo Friday. The paper will also raise the price of its weekday and Sunday papers.
December 5
Tough Choices Loom for Newspapers - WSJ.com
More than 20% of the newspaper industry -- measured by daily circulation -- is now in financial distress. Publishers including Tribune Co., McClatchy, Lee Enterprises, Journal-Register Company, MediaNews Group and Freedom Communications are carrying heavy loads of debt given their fast-shrinking revenues. Some have had to renegotiate their loan agreements to get more flexibility or are in discussions with lenders.
December 5
Iowa Independent " Des Moines Register changes extend beyond job cuts
The 56 job cuts announced Wednesday are not the only changes taking place at “The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon.” The Des Moines Register will eliminate several annual special sections... The paper will also cease publishing its Clive community paper.
December 5
Media Predictions for 2009 - BusinessWeek
It gets much worse before it gets better. Marketers use the downturn to revamp (and reduce) ad spending. At least one recent, heavily leveraged media deal—Tribune, Univision, Clear Channel, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I could go on—goes bankrupt. More than one newspaper in a top-100 market ceases publication or reduces its print edition to something unrecognizable as a daily newspaper. At least one top-50 magazine pulls a TV Guide: It sells itself for something like $1 to a nonindustry entity, presumably for a restructuring that any magazine company would find excruciating.
December 5
Abitibi axes Nfld. paper mill - The Globe & Mail
Grand Falls' fellow mill towns in Canada got off relatively lightly yesterday, however, as Montreal-based Abitibi unveiled a massive reduction in North American paper-making capacity in a bid to stay a step ahead of freefalling demand in newsprint consumption. The cuts are sure to enrage hurting newspaper publishers as the contraction in supply puts upward pressure on already record high newsprint prices.
December 5
Gannett Cuts Will Reach About 2,000 - MediaWeek
The latest Gannett newspaper job cuts will end up eliminating about 2,000 positions across all of the company's 85 daily papers, except the Detroit Free Press and USA Today, according to Tara Connell, the company's vice president of corporate communications.
December 5
Ad losses send industry into a tailspin - The Denver Post
Across the United States, more than 30 daily newspapers are for sale, and buyers are scarce.
December 4
Bleak 2009 Outlook for US Traditional Media - Seeking Alpha
Looks like the traditional media could be in need of a bailout before too long. The secular decline in readership of print products is being compounded by the cyclical economic downturn. Fitch Ratings’ latest assessment is littered with negative outlooks almost across the board of traditional media sectors.
December 4
Ampersand eliminates weeklies in reorganization - San Jose Mercury News
Santa Barbara News-Press owner Ampersand Publishing LLC is eliminating its Goleta and Santa Ynez Valley weeklies in a reorganization of its news gathering operation. Seventeen jobs are being lost. Ampersand blamed newspaper industry economic woes for the moves.
December 4
Rocky Mountain News for sale - The Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado’s oldest newspaper, has been put up for sale by its parent company.
December 4
Science Journalism Implosion, CNN and Beyond - NYTimes.com
CNN is eliminating its seven-person unit covering science, the environment, and technology, saying its “Planet in Peril” programs do the trick. Curtis Brainard, who assesses environmental coverage for the Columbia Journalism Review online, in a comprehensive piece on the move, said: “[T]he decision to eliminate the positions seems particularly misguided at a time when world events would seem to warrant expanding science and environmental staff.”
December 4
London Evening Standard to drop edition from Monday - guardian.co.uk
The London Evening Standard will implement distribution changes next week, dropping from three to two editions a day and cutting the numbers of newsagents that sell the paper.
December 4
News-Press cuts 17 jobs, weekly - Daily Sound
Santa Barbara News-Press officials announced a round of layoffs yesterday that hit 17 people and eliminated the Goleta Valley Voice in what newspaper management termed a reorganization effort.
December 4
Sun cuts 13 positions - Jackson Sun
The Jackson Sun will eliminate 11 full-time positions and two part-time positions as part of a payroll reduction plan among newspapers owned by Gannett Co. Inc.
December 4
Courier-Journal lays off 51 in 'difficult day' - The Courier-Journal
The Courier-Journal has laid off 51 employees, including 17 who volunteered for a severance package, as part of a broader cutback across Gannett Co. Inc.'s newspaper division.
December 3
Radio Continues Downward Spiral, Online Only Hope - Marketing Charts
By the end of 2008, revenue growth in the radio industry is expected to have fallen 7%, the second year of negative growth for the medium, according to estimates in a report from from BIA Advisory Services.
December 3
Tucson Citizen, Arizona Republic lay off employees - Arizona Daily Star
The Arizona Republic has laid off 68 employees, while 29 employees accepted voluntary severance. The Tucson Citizen, was also making cuts, but Jennifer Boice, the paper’s interim editor, declined to discuss the numbers until Thursday.
December 3
S&S Cuts 35 Jobs - Publishers Weekly
In what has to be one of the grimmest days in publishing in recent years, Simon & Schuster announced today that it has eliminated 35 positions.
December 3
Jobs cuts at Rogers - Masthead Online
About 40 people at Rogers Publishing Ltd. had their jobs cut yesterday, sources say. Rogers Publishing employs about 1000 people, meaning about 4% of its workforce was cut.
December 3
'Several Cities' Could Have No Daily Paper As Soon As 2010, Credit Rater Says - Editor & Publisher
Newspaper and newspaper groups are likely to default on their debt and go out of business next year -- leaving "several cities" with no daily newspaper at all, Fitch Ratings says in a report on media released Wednesday.
December 3
15 jobs cut at News Leader - The News Leader
The News Leader slashed 15 positions Tuesday — including 10 employees who were laid off — as part of an across-the-board initiative from Gannett Co. Inc. that will see 10 percent of the company’s Community Publishing Division workforce eliminated.
December 3
Star Tribune asks unions for $20M in cuts - West Central Tribune
The Star Tribune has asked its labor unions to agree to $20 million in cuts by mid-January to address the newspaper's long-term debt. In a memo Tuesday to the company's 1,400 employees, chairman and publisher Chris Harte said "the survival of the company is at stake."
December 3
Wilmington newspaper laying off 31 workers - The News Journal
The newspaper announced Tuesday in an article on its Web site that 44 jobs, including 13 vacant positions, are being eliminated as part of a companywide effort by McLean, Va.-based Gannett Co. to reduce payroll by 10 percent. Another three Wilmington employees volunteered to leave.
December 3
Battle Creek Enquirer to cut 50 jobs - Detroit Free Press
The Battle Creek Enquirer plans to cut 50 jobs, or nearly half of its staff positions, as well as shut down the newspaper’s press and move printing to a Lansing facility.
December 3
Remain Wary of Newspaper Stocks - Seeking Alpha
It was all the expected culprits: newspapers' biggest category, retail, suffered an 11.7 percent drop. Classified ads dropped 30.9 percent, much of those ads likely moving online to the likes of Craigslist. And while local ads have suffered the most, even national ads took a hit-- that category down 18.4 percent in the quarter.
December 3
New York Times sees charge for unit closing - Reuters
The New York Times Co will cut 530 jobs and take a charge of up to $53 million for closing its City & Suburban unit, which distributes the company's namesake newspaper in the New York City area.
December 2
Star Tribune asks unions for $20M more in cuts - StarTribune.com
The Star Tribune asked its unions Tuesday for another $20 million in annualized cost savings beginning in January in a bid to have lenders forgive some of nearly $400 million in long-term debt. The request comes amid sharply declining revenues at the Star Tribune and other newspapers around the country.
December 2
Print Magazine And Newspaper Subscribers Plan Cutbacks In The Year Ahead - Forrester Research
The economic downturn is causing consumers to cut back even on small expenditures like print magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Forrester's data suggests that magazines will feel the pain more than newspapers and that consumer publications will suffer more than business publications. These cutbacks will precipitate an increasingly negative cycle for publishers — fewer subscribers will lead to fewer ad pages, eroding the primary source of revenue and profitability that publishers are counting on to sustain them as they build their online businesses.
December 2
Christian Science Monitor, McClatchy to share foreign coverage - AFP
The Christian Science Monitor and The McClatchy Co., which owns 30 US dailies, have agreed to share foreign news coverage in the latest cost-saving move by the ailing US newspaper industry.
December 2
What Zell Doesn't Understand about Newspapers - The Daily Beast
By now, it is clear that Sam Zell loathes the newspapers he acquired when he took control of the Tribune Company. In every interview, he is contemptuous of what he says has “historically been a non-business business. . . . I can tell you unequivocally that model is a failure.”
December 2
BBC Magazines revamps commercial team - Brand Republic
BBC Magazines is set to close its centralised sales team, handing more commercial duties to its individual titles and making 10 redundancies from its 100-strong sales team.
December 2
Unite Trade Union launchs digital magazine - PublicTechnology.net
As a pioneering first for Britain’s trade union movement, Howse Jackson Marketing will transfer Unite’s quarterly trade union in-house magazine, called United, into a page-turning digital version available on the internet. Unite have launched a digital version of United for a variety of reasons. Chief amongst these is the trade union’s wish to be become more environmentally friendly and save on printing and distribution of the hard-copy magazine. The digital software’s functionality also allows the trade union to bring an interactive component to their publications including interactive games and puzzles as well as videos.
December 2
Newspapers Prepare To Make Savage Cost Cuts - Silicon Alley Insider
The dean of newspaper analysts, Alan Mutter, says that demolished newspaper companies are finally preparing to make extreme cost cuts to save themselves. The level of these cuts will vary depending on the speed with which the companies' revenues disappear, but at least the industry appears to finally be moving beyond denial[.]
December 1
Huffington Post More Valuable Than Some Newspaper Cos. - Advertising Age
As long-rumored, The Huffington Post took $25 million in new funding at a $100 million valuation... The funding means Arianna Huffington's news blog is now considered more valuable by its backers than quite a few publicly traded newspaper companies, such as Lee Enterprises, owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and 52 other papers (market cap: $36 million), A.H. Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News and the Providence Journal (market cap: $35 million), and Media General, owner of the Tampa Tribune and Richmond Times-Dispatch (market cap: $34.6 million).
December 1
The Media Crisis - The Moscow Times
In the context of the global financial crisis, Russia's media business is experiencing two very distinct consequences: widespread layoffs and a string of business failures. It is primarily the most outdated and the most cutting-edge media firms that are going under. By outdated, I mean the uncompetitive, subsidized companies; by cutting-edge, I mean those that are the realization of the fondest desire of the majority of large, successful media companies during Vladimir Putin's presidency -- namely, to go public.
December 1
Newspaper Q3 Ad Revenue Sank 18.1% In Worst Quarterly Performance Ever - Editor & Publisher
Print and online newspaper advertising revenue plunged 18.11% in the third quarter of this year -- the worst decline by far in the nearly four decades the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has been tracking quarterly performance.
December 1
Of course we'll have newspapers. But will there be any news in them? - Nieman Watchdog
James O’Shea, ex-editor of the LA Times, sees pandering to readers as a current danger and says newspapers aren’t going to solve their problems by lay-offs or closing bureaus. Journalists need to persuade people that we “once again are a public trust,” he writes.
December 1
Time May be Running Out for the NYTimes - LEAPSInvestor.com
The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) shares may be trading at historic lows, but it could be awhile before things improve. The traditional newspaper industry is shrinking at an alarming rate in the United States... The good news is that the firm will save more than its 2009 projected savings of $230 million as it cuts jobs, increased newsstand prices and narrowed pages.
November 30
Univision, Time Inc. Suffer Wrath of Slowing Market - Advertising Age
In signs of a slowing market, Univision Communications' financial results are slipping each quarter, Time Inc. is closing one of its two Spanish-language titles, and the best holiday party in the Hispanic market, thrown every December by Vidal Partnership, is drastically downsizing this year from 600 guests to only the agency's staff in keeping with the more-somber times.
November 30
Thousands of media jobs likely to go - Gulf Times
Media companies could cut tens of thousands more jobs in the coming years as the economic downturn hits an industry already ravaged by the Internet revolution.
November 30
The Mail/Indy office share will not be the last peculiar pairing - The Guardian
The climate for newspapers in the UK at the moment is bitingly cold. Last week another torrent of redundancies flowed from all parts of the industry - 50 more jobs to go at the Telegraph, which had only recently completed phase one of a restructuring, 60 jobs to go at the Independent and an office-share scheme with the Daily Mail to further save costs, and Trinity Mirror losing another 78 jobs from its regional divisions. The misery, it seems, never ends.
November 30
Understanding the fall of newspapers in revenue numbers - The Inquisitr
Things aren’t looking great for newspapers, and although the quarter to quarter decline not year on year isn’t as bad as some of the headlines, the fundamentals are weak, and getting worse. The numbers show that newspapers will fold, and consolidation and market contraction are ahead for the sector, at least in the short to medium term. Whether enough newspapers get smart enough to drop their print editions and follow the lead of the Christian Science Monitor is yet to be seen, but nothing short of radical change can possibly save the industry now, at least in any substantive way.
November 30
A Generation of Local TV Anchors Is Signing Off - NYTimes.com
Across the country, longtime local TV anchors are a dying breed. Facing an economic slump and a severe advertising downturn, many stations have cut costs drastically in the last year, and veteran anchors, with their expensive contracts, seem to be shouldering a disproportionate share of the cutbacks. When station managers are forced to make cuts, hefty anchor salaries are a tempting target.
November 29
The Zell Smell
Recently Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Jarvis have blamed reporters and editors (journalists) for the demise of the newspaper industry, now [Sam] Zell is blaming the salespeople. Who's next, circulation managers?
November 29
Magazine Publisher Rodale to Cut 10% of Work Force - WSJ.com
Rodale Inc., the publisher of Men's Health, Prevention and Runner's World, is cutting 10% of its work force.
November 28
Moffly Media Cutting Staff and Production Schedule - Westport News
Hurt by what it termed slumping advertising revenues and a weakening economy, the publisher of Greenwich, Westport and New Canaan-Darien Magazines has laid off 35 percent of its work force and will scale back its publication schedule.
November 28
Newspapers: The Final Days - BNET
We, in the media industry, are living in a period of severely disorienting change. These figures indicate just how serious the situation is for newspapers nationwide. So, as the newsprint versions of these vital community resources disappear, which from an environmental perspective is not necessarily a bad thing, the main issue is how will new media companies fill the void?
November 28
Be happy and keep reading - Petoskey News-Review
When I accepted the position of staff writer last year, no one could have foreseen what a hit the newspaper industry would take in the proceeding months. Fortunately, I am still here at my desk writing articles that I hope people are learning from or becoming inspired by. But the truth of the matter is that I am worried — not only worried about my own career, but I am also worried about the future of the newspaper that has been a community staple since 1953 when the Northern Michigan Review merged the Petoskey Evening News.
November 28
ABC Moves Closer to Counting Any Paid Circ - Editor & Publisher
As it stands now, individually paid circulation is broken out on the FAS-FAX and publisher's statement in two categories: copies sold at 50% or more of the basic price and copies sold between 25% and 50% of the basic price. Those categories will no longer be a part of the reports.
November 28
UK media set for thousands more job cuts-analysts - Reuters
British media companies could cut tens of thousands more jobs in the coming years as the economic downturn hits an industry already ravaged by the Internet revolution.
November 28
Newspaper Death Spiral Continues - Ads Down 18% Y/Y - Seeking Alpha
The newspaper industry in the U.S. continues to shrink at an alarming rate. According to the Newspaper Association of America, total industry advertising (both print and online) in the third quarter was $8.9 billion, down 18 percent from the year before. The online portion of that was $750 million, down 3 percent. So far in the first three quarters of 2008, the industry’s total advertising revenues have shrunk by $5 billion to $27.8 billion.
November 28
Rapid advertising decline leads Telegraph to slash 10% of workforce - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic
Telegraph Media Group is the latest newspaper owner to announce massive job cuts, amounting to 10% of its editorial staff, a move that will put about 50 journalists out of work.
November 28
Battered U.S. media prays for its bailout - The Globe and Mail
Some parts of the industry - particularly local U.S. media - have seen their sales fall off a cliff and their long-term viability as business models called into question as a consequence of the shakeout in the financial services companies and car makers, two of the largest advertising categories. "It looks like 2008 will be the first year in 48 years that TV-station advertising will decline in a presidential election and Olympic year," said Michael Nathanson, media analyst at Sanford Bernstein.
November 27
'Print it!' is giving way to 'Digitize it!' - Evansville Courier Press
As the Web has prospered, print media (this newspaper included) has begun to feel the pinch as advertising dollars go digital. People are getting their news in real time via computers, smartphones and PDAs. By the time a magazine gets to you, news is already several days or weeks stale.
November 27
Traditional Media has 5 years left: PWC Analyst - The Inquisitr
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Analyst Marcel Fenez has told the World Association of Newspapers readership conference that traditional media has 5 years left until the death clock kicks in.
November 27
Print advertising melts down - Business Standard
November may turn out to be the cruellest month for India’s print media industry. If AdEX data on advertising volume between 1st and 7th November is any indication, print media advertising (in column cms) has fallen by a dramatic 60 per cent from its peak during the Diwali week.
November 27
Pulp Magazines Struggle to Survive in Wired World - PBS MediaShift
The figures displayed in this year's Locus Magazine roundup were, as usual, not promising. Analog, the best performing of the three, had fallen to a paid circulation of 27,399, while Asimov's dropped 5.2% to 17,581. But the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction saw the sharpest decline -- 11.2% from the previous year -- to a paid circulation of 16,489.
November 27
Newsquest axes editors and publishers at northern titles - Press Gazette
NUJ northern regional organiser Chris Morley said in a statement: "We are seeing a wholesale withdrawal of local newspapers from communities across the north-east of England.”
November 27
The Newspaper for English-Speakers in France - The Connexion
French papers are among the least profitable in Europe, in a sector where advertising revenue has plunged 40% since 2000. A recent study from the Direction du développement des médias (DDA) showed that over the past eight years, turnover for the national daily press has regularly declined. Sarkozy has declared the internet a “considerable” problem, asking how people could be expected to buy their papers if they could get their news free online.
November 26
Guild Claims 500 AP Staffers Signed Petition Against Contract Proposal - Editor & Publishing
"The petition notes that AP staffers have worked hard to expand their skills as AP adapts to the new journalism landscape," the release said. "AP workers previously embraced training and cross-platform work in the current labor agreement that is set to expire Nov. 30. The union is proposing even more widespread training to make sure AP remains relevant to the company's clients."
November 26
Newspaper Jobs Threat - Whitehaven News
Thirty jobs could be lost at publishers CN Group as it undergoes a restructuring exercise triggered by the effects of the economic downturn... The company portfolio also includes The Cumberland News, the North West Mail in Barrow, The News & Star, The Times and Star and The Hexham Courant.
November 26
Unhappy employees in the newspaper industry - American Thinker Blog
Nobody likes working for a company in decline. So we should not be surprised at outbreaks of unrest in the newspaper industry.
November 26
The Paperless Town - Forbes.com
Many readers turned away from newspapers long ago. In the Internet age, information overload, rather than starvation, is the main lament of most news consumers.
November 26
Catalyst Paper to cut production in Christmas period - Reuters
"Advertising and publishing activity slowed in key North American paper markets in November and is expected to remain weak for some time yet," Chief Executive Richard Garneau said in a statement.
November 26
Newspaper Loses Its Editorial Board to Buyouts - followthemedia.com
We’ve been covering for some time the goings-on at New Jersey’s Star-Ledger – the publisher threatening to close it down unless the unions toed the line, and then a buyout scheme accepted by 151 editorial staff -- about 45% of the newsroom. It now turns out that means the entire editorial board except for the cartoonist accepted the buyout.
November 26
Roger Alton feels 'personal failure' for Independent's decline - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic
Roger Alton, editor of The Independent, said he feels a "terrible personal failure" for the newspaper's struggling performance but has ruled out a sale in the immediate future.
November 25
Has Solving The Newspaper Crisis Really Come Down To This: "If I Could Do Anything, Literally Anything, To Reverse It – I'd Saw Off My Right Forearm – I Would" - followthemedia.com
The editor of the UK’s Independent national newspaper describes market conditions as “horrific” because “the combination of free newspapers, free content on the Internet, coupled with this most astounding recession, makes it a very, very inhospitable time for newspapers.”
November 25
Tough Times at a North County Newspaper - voiceofsandiego.org
While Sunday readership has stayed steady, its newspapers have lost some 200,000 daily subscribers. At its peak in 2004, the company's combined stock value was more than $2 billion. On Friday, Lee's combined stock value was $64 million -- teetering on the brink of being de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange.
November 25
Bankruptcy, Exodus at Creative Loafing Magazine - Atlanta Progressive News
Creative Loafing magazine in Atlanta is in distress as its parent company is making its way through bankruptcy proceedings.
November 25
Radio's Audience Grows, but Not Its Revenue - NYTimes.com
CBS Radio reported a revenue drop of 12 percent. Citadel Broadcasting’s revenue dropped by 10.9 percent. CC Media Holdings, which owns Clear Channel Communications, said radio revenue was down 7 percent. Cox Radio revenue fell 6.2 percent; Emmis Communications’ radio revenue decreased 1.5 percent; and Radio One revenue was down 2 percent.
November 25
Magazine circulation dips 8.6% - ProPrint.com.au
Magazine circulation is continuing to decline, according to New Direct Distribution (NDD) audit figures released this week. The audit covers 16 quarterly-audited publications from industry heavyweights such as ACP and Pacific Magazines, and painted a grim picture with 14 of the 15 titles surveyed showing weaker year-on-year circulation figures.
November 25
Lawmakers Fight To Keep New Britain, Bristol Newspapers Alive -- Courant.com
Seven state legislators are trying to save the New Britain Herald and the Bristol Press from possible closure at the hands of their owner, the Journal Register Company... Faced with a huge advertising decline at papers nationwide and the slumping state and national economies, the Journal Register has announced it will close the papers soon after Christmas if a buyer is not found.
November 25
Atlantic Records Says Digital Sales Surpass CDs - NYTimes.com
Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones... With the milestone comes a sobering reality already familiar to newspapers and television producers. While digital delivery is becoming a bigger slice of the pie, the overall pie is shrinking fast.
November 25
Times Shuts Down Sports Magazine - NYTimes.com
The New York Times has shut down its quarterly sports magazine, Play, officials at the paper and its parent company said on Monday. First published in February 2006, Play won many accolades for in-depth reporting and vivid photography, and this year it was a finalist for the prize in general excellence at the National Magazine Awards.
November 25
Death of a Newspaper: The New England Blade - EDGE Boston
The offices of the New England Blade at 450 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South end are now vacant, while bundles of the October 3rd issue of the newspaper remain stacked up outside the door. A message on the Blade’s web site says that the print edition of the publication is "on hiatus". That message first appeared nearly seven weeks ago.
November 25
Bulletin magazine goes all-digital in 2009 - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Beginning in January 2009, Bulletin subscribers will receive the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists magazine in its new digital format only. To save on the steeply rising costs of paper and postage, the Bulletin will no longer produce a print edition of its magazine.
November 25
Endangered Species - American Journalism Review
As newspapers grapple with the ever-growing pressure to cut costs, more and more of them come to view Washington bureaus as luxuries they simply cannot afford. During the last three years, newspapers – including those in San Diego, Orlando, Los Angeles, Toledo, San Francisco, Des Moines, Pittsburgh, Denver, Newark and St. Louis – have eliminated more than 40 Washington regional reporter positions through layoffs, buyouts or attrition.
November 25
There'll Be No Bailout, But That Doesn't Mean That Much Of The Newspaper Industry Isn't One Step from Bankruptcy - followthemedia.com
One participant got real close to the problem. “We don’t have a crisis of audience,” he said referring to the fact that if you take newspaper print circulation and add the page views from newspaper web sites that readership is probably at an all-time high. “The crisis,” he said is “a crisis of revenue.” And by that he pointed out the major flaw in the current business model thus far—that for every $1 a print ad earns, the same ad on the Internet earns around 15 cents.
November 25
Glamour warned over target circulation - B&T
News Magazines’ new launch Glamour will find it hard to hit its target circulation when it launches early next year, according to media analyst Steve Allen.
November 24
The Newspaper Guild's New Pitch: Survival - Forbes.com
When the Newspaper Guild can't keep its own newspaper going, there's a problem. Late last month, it announced The Guild Reporter would be reduced from a monthly to bimonthly publication. In a sign of the times, the publication is saving some money by shifting more of its attention online.
November 24
Time Magazine sacks Australian writers - The Daily Telegraph
Journalists at Time Magazine Australia are to be sacked as the magazine's owners close editorial offices around the globe. "They told the journalists they are are going and that our edition is closing down,'' Mr Waterson said. "The Times international edition that goes through Europe and Asia, that will be brought down here but basically we won't be producing it in Sydney anymore,'' he said.
November 24
Book Publisher Suspends New Acquisitions - NYTimes.com
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of authors including Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien, has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, a company spokesman said Monday.
November 24
Virginian-Pilot to cut 10 percent of work force - CNNMoney.com
The Virginian-Pilot will cut at least 125 positions, about 10 percent of its work force, mostly by laying off staff and closing or selling affiliated publications. The Norfolk newspaper company will run its business section on Sundays only; shutter its 2-year-old free daily, Link; close or sell three out-of-state military-base newspapers; and trim the flagship paper's size by at least 40 pages a week.
November 24
TV Nets May Be Forced to Make Drastic Changes - Media Buyer Planner
As television viewership continues to fall and advertising is predicted to slump, TV may need to make some drastic changes in coming months, according to Variety.
November 24
Cumulus Pres: Half of Radio Companies to Die in Three Years - Media Buyer Planner
Half the radio companies in business today will be gone within three years, predicts Cumulus Media president Lew Dickey Jr.
November 24
Smaller publishing firms 'may go under in economic crisis' - Gulfnews
Job losses and the downfall of smaller print and publishing outfits is on the cards for the regional media sector as it begins to feel the pinch of the worldwide financial meltdown in the months to come.
November 24
Moody's reads newspapers - Reuters MediaFile
Moody's thumbed through the newspapers of the United States on Monday and concluded what many of us know: the outlook is negative. The summary: ad revenue falls, less money comes in, newspapers have to cut back to survive and it gets harder to pay their debt.
November 24
McClatchy Reports October 2008 Revenues - The McClatchy Company
The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) today reported that consolidated revenues in October 2008 decreased 17.8% and advertising revenues were down 20.4% compared to revenues in October 2007. The Company noted that the declines in print advertising were partially offset by a 12.4% gain in online advertising revenues in October 2008 compared to October 2007.
November 24
USA Today to cut about 20 newsroom jobs, five per cent of staff - The Canadian Press
USA Today, America's largest newspaper, plans to cut about 20 newsroom jobs early next month. [...] The cuts will eliminate about five per cent of jobs from a newsroom that employs about 450 people.
November 24
Anna Wintour's Daughter Fears She Won't Get Hired in the Publishing Industry | wowOwow
Talk about troubles in the publishing world. Anna Wintour — the editrix at American Vogue since 1988 — has a daughter who’s worried about getting a job in the industry upon graduation in the spring.
November 24
Northern Echo cuts - nebusiness.co.uk
North-East, publisher of the Northern Echo, has announced proposed redundancies and district office closures as a result of the economic downturn. Staff have been told up to 17 editorial posts are at risk and more redundancies are planned in the advertising department.
November 24
Jobs axed at Lion Hudson - theBookseller.com
The largest Christian publisher in the UK Lion Hudson has confirmed that it is to cut 10 jobs in an effort to weather the growing economic storm. The publishing house said that three members of staff would face compulsory redundancy, with another five posts being cut through voluntary redundancy. Two vacant roles will now no longer be filled.
November 24
Condé Nast cuts frequency of Portfolio, Men's Vogue - Crain's New York Business
Condé Nast Publications on Thursday followed in the footsteps of media companies that include Time Inc. and The New York Times Co., announcing it will cut the frequency of its fledgling Portfolio magazine to 10 issues from 12, and reduce publication of Men’s Vogue to twice per year.
November 23
D Magazine, People Newspapers lay off 19% of staff - Dallas Morning News
D Magazine and People Newspapers...laid off 19 percent of their combined staffs Friday and Monday, the latest casualties of declining advertising revenue in the media world.
November 23
Newspaper declines bad in Denver, worse elsewhere - Denver Business Journal
Denver’s daily newspapers reported steep circulation drops again Monday, but there’s a sliver of good news in the numbers: The Denver papers’ declines no longer lead the nation.
November 23
Circulation Seesaws at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Riverfront Times
The local daily is losing weekday subscribers but gaining Sunday takers of the paper, according to figures released yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. For the six months ending September 30, weekday circulation at the Post-Dispatch declined 9.1 percent, to 240,796. Sunday subscriptions registered a slight increase -- 0.8 percent -- going up to 423,588.
November 23
South Africa: Newspapers Circulation Down, Consumer Mags Still Down - allAfrica.com
Almost 70% of South African daily newspapers have experienced circulation declines, with the exception of the Daily Sun, which delivered the largest growth at over 7613 copies, according to the third quarter year on year analysis released this morning, Thursday, 13 November 2008, by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
November 23
Union-Tribune Circulation Slips - San Diego Business Journal
The San Diego Union-Tribune’s carriers have fewer papers to throw on doorsteps these days. Its paid weekday circulation slipped 3 percent to 269,819 on Sept. 30, from 278,176 the same year-ago day, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Oct. 27.
November 23
Washington Post Co. Earnings Plummet in Third Quarter - washingtonpost.com
The Washington Post Co. today reported an 86 percent decline in third-quarter earnings compared with the same period last year, as a significant loss at the flagship newspaper offset gains at the company's education and cable divisions.
November 23
British media crisis deepens - Sydney Morning Herald
The Press Gazette industry publication recently estimated about 140 jobs per week have been cut in daily newspapers since July, with regional papers hardest-hit. All the national dailies have announced staff cuts, while broadcasters plan to shed thousands of jobs: 3000 at the BBC, 1000 at ITV and 150 at Channel Four.
November 23
Indicator confirms crisis in newspaper industry - Medill Reports
Only one publicly-traded newspaper company is in a safe financial situation, according to a statistic designed to measure a company’s chance of failure.
November 23
Newspaper, magazine circulations fall on tough times - Business Day
Almost 70% of daily newspapers have seen circulation dropping since last year, according to the third-quarter figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
November 23
Newspapers' Circulation Declines Faster in Past Six Months - Advertising Age
The decline in newspapers' paid circulation is accelerating, according to new statistics today from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Papers' average weekday paid circulation fell to 38.2 million copies across the six months ending Sept. 30, down 4.64% from the equivalent period a year earlier.
November 23
Hug your newspaper - Jerusalem Post
These are tough times for those of us who are passionate about newspapers. Yediot Aharonot, the biggest Hebrew-language tabloid, is reportedly planning to cut its budget. The circulation of Ma'ariv has fallen below that of Yisrael Hayom, a free handout. Ma'ariv's management is said to be planning yet another round of cuts. The combined weekday circulation of America's top 500 newspapers now averages 38 million - 4.6% below last year.
November 23
State's dailies lose circulation; Monitor ceases publication - Cape Cod Today
U.S. newspapers reported sharper circulation declines in the latest figures released by an industry group on Monday, pointing to more glum times ahead for publishers already racked by falling advertising revenue.
November 23
Ripple Effect: Newspaper Cuts Hit AP, Newspaper Guild - MediaPost
The collapse of the newspaper industry is taking a toll on businesses and organizations closely associated with newspapers, including the Associated Press and the Newspaper Guild. Last week, both announced substantial cutbacks in parallel with the struggling medium they serve.
November 23
Beecher: Can Fairfax survive? - Crikey
Over recent weeks, a very sensitive question has been circulating through the media industry and among investors: can Fairfax Media survive in its current form?
November 23
For Laid-Off Journalists, Free Blog Accounts - NYTimes.com
The TypePad Journalist Bailout Program offers recently terminated bloggers and journalists a free pro account (worth $150 annually) on the company’s popular bloggingplatform.
November 23
Long dominant public broadcaster falls on hard times - followthemedia.com
Caught between rising costs and falling ad revenues, broadcasters are cutting wherever they can. With this financial trap exacerbated by the wave of far broader economic woes, cutting services is next. If that isn’t enough to quell the mounting red ink, selling assets is all that’s left.
November 23
The Last Page - Advertising Age
Our continuing farewell to magazines that quit print under pressure from recession and digital media. Some brands continue online, but many do not.
November 23
Do Magazine Publishers Still Believe in Publishing? - Advertising Age
That big publishers can't manage to sell enough print ads, in a post-print media economy shadowed by a larger economic meltdown, is not exactly shocking. What is shocking, though, is that they're essentially saying to scrappier, upstart online competitors: Take our business, please!
November 23
Newspaper circulation shrinks yet more - San Francisco Chronicle
Circulation at the nation's newspapers, including The San Francisco Chronicle, kept sliding this spring and summer, as readers turned to the Internet for news.
November 23
Circulation drops for Southern California newspapers - PE.com
The newspaper industry sold about 2 million fewer copies on average each day in the last six months, compared with the same period of time a year ago, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
November 23
Stora Enso to Close Down Baienfurt Mill and Paper Machine at Kabel Mill in Germany - MarketWatch
The Supervisory Board of Stora Enso's German holding company's has decided to close down Baienfurt Mill and Kabel Mill's coated magazine paper machine (PM) 3 with annual capacity 140 000 tonnes by the end of the year 2008
November 23
Eight Michigan newspapers cut jobs, 10 others could be sold - The Detroit News
One newspaper publisher is cutting jobs at eight papers and another is putting as many as 10 of its Michigan publications on the block as the ad downturn in publishing worsens in the face of the increasingly grim economy.
November 22
Pensions frozen at Random House Inc. - The Associated Press
The country's largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its current employees and eliminated them for future hires, the latest cuts in an industry hit by declining sales and anticipating, at best, a difficult 2009.
November 22
Journal Communications October Revenue Slips - Editor & Publisher
Media company Journal Communications Inc. said Thursday that revenue for its publishing and broadcast segments dipped 2.8 percent in October, as publishing ad sales declines continue to weigh on the industry.
November 22
Copley Puts Last Remaining Paper on the Block - Editor & Publisher
The Copley Press is putting up for sale its last remaining paper, the bi-weekly Borrego Sun located in San Diego County.
November 21
Tribune Co. Troubles Grow - Portfolio.com
Tribune Co. has rewritten the rulebook for its newspapers, but where are all the new readers? (Not to mention the ad revenue.)
November 21
AmEx Publishing Cuts 4% of Staff - Media Week
Parent of luxury lifestyle titles like Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine and Departures, announced it is laying off 22 people, or a little more than 4 percent of its staff, as the market’s ups and downs take a toll on the publishing house.
November 21
For Two Celebrity Mags, a Reality Check on Readers - WSJ.com
Celebrity gossip magazines Life & Style and In Touch are lowering the number of weekly readers they promise to advertisers, a move that reflects the magazine industry's slump.
November 21
Another gloomy week for publishing - Reuters.com
November 21
American Community Newspapers Inc. Reports 2008 Third Quarter Financial Results - MarketWatch
Total revenue was $16.3 million, down 12.3% from total revenue of $18.5 million in the prior year quarter. The decline was primarily due to the macro-economic weakness nationwide and the resulting soft advertising environment...
November 21
SI Latino Closes - Market Intelligence
November 21
Mourning Old Media's Decline - Advertising Age
November 21
Christian Science Monitor To Drop Daily Print Publication, Go Online Only - Advertising Age
November 21
Playboy Cuts Jobs - Advertising Age
November 21
Maxim in Restructuring Talks - Advertising Age
November 21
NYT Slashes Dividend; Analysts Ask If It Can Still Compete - Advertising Age
Slashes Dividend as Analysts Fret Over Its Ability to Compete
November 20
Why A Magazine Is Like A Record - A Photo Editor
November 19
Totally Over - Last Squeals for TRL' - NYTimes.com
A mass-culture TV icon loses out to the YouTube era.
November 19
Times Shuts Down Sports Magazine - NYTimes.com
The end of a well-designed glossy newspaper insert.
November 19
Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs - NYTimes.com
Online-only citizen journalism in San Diego.