Is The Sky Really Falling for Newspaper Companies?
Newspapers are not dying, although some newspaper companies may fail, Kromer said. Many newspapers, particularly medium and smaller ones, still generate healthy profits. At the same time, some newspaper companies are failing because of debt assumed in the last 5-10 years during “poorly timed acquisitions and expansions.” Kromer said that corporate failures to promote innovation, maintain adequate levels of employment, and offer enough pertinent local information have exacerbated the declines. Kromer argued that newspapers do not have an audience problem but they have a revenue problem. Although daily and Sunday newspaper circulation peaked in 1990, newspaper readership has remained steady by some measures, with 86 million people reading a newspaper on an average weekday and 98.4 million reading a Sunday newspaper. Nonetheless, said Kromer, newspapers are in for a bumpy ride when it comes to advertising revenues, which have fallen from $48.2 billion in 2004 to $37.9 billion in 2008. Whi
