Which is a bigger problem for newspapers: the advertising decline or the rise in newsprint costs?
Sturm: The fact that both are going on at the same time puts considerable pressure on newspapers’ margins, and we’ve all seen the results of that, as papers around the country attempt to contain costs. Still, this is a very resilient industry that has lived through obstructions in the past. My firm belief is that we’ll make it through again and actually be more productive when the upswing inevitably comes. IWM: What do you expect will be the chief issue at the NAA convention? Sturm: I’m hoping the spotlight will be on a major project we’re doing with the Northwestern University Media Management Center on readership in the industry. And that’s the biggest challenge facing the newspaper industry overall — how to deal with what has been a long perceptive decline in newspaper readership over the last decade or so. Northwestern has produced the largest set of research studies ever done on how consumers read and use newspapers. We’re going be looking at what this data really means. IWM: Is
