Newspapers: struggling to keep afloat
Print newspaper publishing revenue in the United States halved in the last decade, and digital revenue is not growing quickly enough to account for the losses suffered via physical publications. Many papers are now owned by hedge funds, and figures on daily newspaper ownership showed that Alden Global Capital owned close to 70 dailies in 2022, including 30 percent of Tribune Media’s daily publications. Daily weekday newspaper circulation continues to fall each year and has been in more or less consistent decline annually since the 1980s, and weeklies have struggled, too. Data on U.S. newspaper closures revealed that the overwhelming majority of papers closed or merged between 2004 and 2020 were weeklies, with close to 2,200 affected during that time period.The digital arm of the news industry
Digital-born news outlets are also undergoing change and facing obstacles of their own. BuzzFeed News is a prime example of how going public can go wrong, with its stock market debut swiftly followed by further newsroom lay-offs and discussions about the need for downsizing to increase profitability.When it comes to digital news subscriptions and access, some major newspapers like The New York Times have managed to grow their online audience, though not all longstanding publications were able to adapt in time. Others are trying new methods to retain and attract readers, but with varying success. For example, the share of Washington Post subscribers accessing news via podcasts stood at less than 10 percent at last count. As far as web traffic is concerned, the latter two newspapers tend to perform well via their websites – both online news sites enjoy hundreds of millions of visits per month, though both are superseded by cnn.com and foxnews.com, which draw in significantly more viewers.
