Dallas News, Star Telegram to combine sports coverage....

[huskerpony]

That was spot on. Classified ads are getting HAMMERED by craigslist, and it is the main reason for all of the newspaper struggles.

Yes, circulation has been down across the board, but every major newspaper has a website which still provides ad revenue. (Most of them haven't quite figured out how to run a decent website properly, but in theory this should actually help their revenue streams--increased readership, ability to track ad viewership, ads before videos, etc. etc. Plus, the overhead is way less. Cheaper to run a website than print off and deliver 1-2 million newspapers every day.)

This consolidation is happening all over the country. The Denver Post is consolidating with the Rocky Mountain News; the paper where my father worked just fired 51 people and is consolidating all of their in-state coverage with other newspapers; the Chicago Tribune and New York Times are both basically bankrupt right now. (The Trib had a lot of its holdings in real estate--smart move on their part!) I would expect we will see this at most major news services across the country. The Associated Press is supposedly in a lot of trouble as well.

[PoconoPony]

Thank you HuskerPony for your considerable insights into this whole issue. Times are a changing and the newspapers need to really move quickly in order to adjust and stay in line with our technical age, revenue streams, overhead costs and public demands.

[ozfan]

Thank you HuskerPony for your considerable insights into this whole issue. Times are a changing and the newspapers need to really move quickly in order to adjust and stay in line with our technical age, revenue streams, overhead costs and public demands.

Does this mean that both SMU and TCU will now have poor sports coverage?

[Pony81]

Think about what happens to the 3rd estate when revenue dries up and they fail:
1. Investigating reporting - gone. (I don't believe your internet blogger has the same cred as a daily paper - they do find things that the daily paper investigates and then legitimizes)
2. The power of the press is compromized.
3. The constitution is weakened as a "free press" exists in name only.

I don't know about you but losing a well funded press is frightening.

[gostangs]

Huh? No more frightening the losing the Model T. The Press is going nowhere - but the printed press is dead - it just has not had the plug pulled yet. For the most part - good riddence.

[Mexmustang]

Newspapers have been dying or consolidating to defer it for twenty years. We saw that here in Dallas with the Times Herald, wordwide we saw it as NewsCorp absorbed some of the biggest names (London Times)and consolidated printing and distribution--only defering the inevitable.

Unfortunately it still continues.

Thanks for reminding me it is not just dollars and cents, but a potential social issue. For those of you who didn't read the prior post about professional sports and their concerns that without newpapers, they will have no longer be able to interest or "grab" the casual fan who simply doen't seek out the numberous "blogs" available as the avid fan does. It scares me that phenomena will also hold true for subjects such as economics, world affairs, and politics. We will become a nation of literate, illiterates. Can you immagine that the only investigative news information we have access to is to "60 Minutes"? Network bias and all.

[couch 'em]

How is the Observer doing? Free papers with unique content seem like the only viable alternative for print media.

[Mexmustang]

Never have seen the numbers, although the healthiest part of the industry is "suburban" or "community" papers. Typically they come out twice a week, 3/4 of the paper is the same over a wide area and then a specific community section and front page are personally tailored. For instance, there might be almost a generic paper for all of North Dallas, including a large sports section for high school sports. But a community section and front page tailored to a single community, say Plano, leading the subscriber beleive that it is a Plano paper.

[George S. Patton]

Exactly MexMustang. The community paper has thrived and even grown in some places because the internet has yet to create sites or come up with an idea to make the local stand apart.

I love reading them. When the major dailies misread the impact of the internet and how it could chew away revenue, they signed their own death sentence.

In a related event, the Minneapolis-Star-Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday. It was a move that was widely expected.