Across the field of media and especially the newspaper industry, jobs are being lost; plain and simple. This phenomenon is not just local however, it’s across the globe. From Seattle’s historically well known paper, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cutting 165 jobs down to 20 to a 40% slice in employment at the Western Mail and Echo group in the United Kingdom, times are a changing and the way we get our news is as well.
“You read about the great names — the Baltimore Sun, the Boston Globe, the San Jose Mercury News — as if reading the obituary page. Rich cities like San Francisco can no longer support a profitable daily paper” ( Timothy Egan, The New York Times).
Sales of newspapers have dropped more than 10% this past year, forcing the restructure of the papers themselves and leading to job losses. In addition the price of computers and its software have dropped, at the same time as in increase in internet accessibility. Though print news has been the backbone of mass media their numbers are fading, and fast. So, who exactly has been affected?
- The Rocky Mountain News stopped press in Februrary , 2009, forcing 230 employees out of jobs. The RMN’s lost 16 million in 2008 alone. It had been in existence for over 140 years.
- The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cut their employment numbers from 165 to 20.
- Journal Constitution in Atlanta, GA cut by nearly 30% in August, 2008
- News and Records in Greensboro, NC cut 25 jobs in April, 2009
- Garnett Co. Inc, cut 1,000 jobs over 80 newspapers with 600 direct layoffs in 2008
This list could go on forever.
Who or what is to blame? Many critics say that our struggling economy is the main factor.
“The Web is the future. And yet, because online advertising accounts for only about 10 percent of total ad revenue, newspapers are hemorrhaging money “(Timothy Egan, The New York Times).
Though the economic situation has put a stranglehold on advertising funds and other areas of newspaper revenue, I do not see this as the main contributor. The fact is our society cares about speed and convenience. Whether that is morally right or wrong, it’s merely a fact.
“I don’t know anyone my age who has time in the morning to read a newspaper,” said Chris Olivier, 37, a retail manager who said he gets his daily news from dozens of Web sites and a few niche publications circulating in specific Denver neighborhoods. “It’s sad to see such a huge part of our state’s history lost, but the market is moving, and newspapers haven’t moved with it. They don’t get the Web.”
What are the dangers of such as change? Other members of my group have touched on it brilliantly; our “news” is not news anymore. Furthermore, a loyal reader of the deceased Rocky Mountain Times in Denver, Colarado says,
“I’m afraid of the echo chambers that are emerging because more people are choosing to get their news only from sources that reinforce what they want to believe,”.
“They want headlines only and graphs that summarize everything without going into a lot of analysis. And they feel entitled to even the most complex and sophisticated news coverage for free.”
At this point we know the problem. Hopefully we understand the butterfly-caterpillar evolution of social media which we are currently experiencing. Now what? What are our options, and are there any solutions? One writer from the New York Times suggests we could move toward the National Public Radio Model. Newspapers could be bought by socially responsible non-profits and operate them as a trust. The second option is to fold up shop and accept the situation. Our culture will inevitably choose what they want to read.
Personally, I love the newspaper but also enjoy the convenience of the internet. Only time will tell if the newspaper will make a rise from the ashes, or simply fade further away.
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I saw a few weeks ago where the Chicago Sun Times might possibly be filing for bankruptcy. I was astonished at the idea that such a benchmark in news-press could go down with the rest of us. It's hard to say where everything will go from here because of the state of our economy. Sure plenty of newspapers will be shut down, but I could see them reopening in a few years time. Simple pleasures like that internet though might have to be done away in many homes though soon enough due to the fact that we all must save money somehow. I know internet access is not that expensive to begin with, but for those who do not have the luxury of having the internet within convenience, it's nice knowing they can revert to the good ole' newspaper. We will see...
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