MASON CITY – A new report out this month lists newspapers as a dying industry in today’s economy.
In the tumultuous business world, times change, industries come and go – nothing lasts forever in a free market society. Observing those trends, 24/7 Wall Street this month listed America’s 25 Dying Industries. Videotape and disc rental, bookstores, recording studios, and libraries all are on the decline. Not surprisingly, newspapers were ranked 11th on this dubious list. Few industries have taken a bigger hit from the rise in digital media than print newspaper publishers, the article says.
“Once the preferred news medium, newspapers nationwide have been losing advertising and subscription revenue over the years as cable television and web-based news platforms have gained favor,” 24/7 reports. “As a result, dozens of publications across the United States have gone out of print or have dramatically reduced output over the past decade. The industry, which employed nearly 350,000 Americans as recently as 2007, now employs only about 177,000 people.”
In light of this revelation from 24/7, locally, some wonder how long the Globe Gazette and other nearby newspapers can hold on. It was announced last year, for example, that the Globe Gazette threw in the towel on Monday newspaper distribution. Other questionable business decisions may hasten the inevitable. Back in 2014, the Globe announced it had spent a whopping $2 million on a used printing press, apparently to fix up the blurry newspaper pages it was delivering. Now, those newspapers are getting smaller and will be delivered much less often. This month, the owner of the Globe, Lee Enterprises, revealed it was using lower basis newsprint (lighter paper) to deliver the news. In response, NIT readers have listed numerous complaints about the delivery of their newspapers, with some saying they canceled their subscriptions altogether, with one person saying “Just cancelled my subscription today.” Lee also has revealed it is cutting back on employees and cutting pay, just as the 24/7 report says is an industry trend.
One review on Glassdoor.com of working for Lee Enterprises says, “Negative environment due to several rounds of layoffs and ceasing to publish several of their smaller publications. The new idea to centralize different key departments company wide across the US to save on cost has caused a drop in the quality of the remaining publications and caused huge stress to the downsized workforce struggling to put out a semblance of the quality product they used to put out. The place has been gutted and has no culture left. Decisions are handed down from the corporate office in Iowa with no care for the consequences it causes to long-time, loyal employees.”
Nationally, newspapers have shamelessly become purveyors of leftist propaganda disguised as news. The AP is a major offender.
I agree 100% with the person who said the Globe is dead and they just haven’t figured it out yet. I dropped my subscription a year ago. The price was getting absolutely outrageous for what a poor product it had become. Raising prices while at the same time cutting a day out and the paper becoming thinner all the time, half of which is simply ads. I also believe next to nothing in the Globe especially when it comes to crime. They are on the verge of becoming called “fake news” which seems to be all the rage now. I have seen adults and minors have their names or pics plastered in that paper who have done absolutely nothing wrong. One minute you see the Globe says it is not their policy to print the name of a minor and then the next day you see the name of a minor. It is pathetic. How about when a person is found innocent because they were falsely accused and/or arrested in the first place they plaster the name of the accuser and the arresting officers in the paper as well. The Globe is a joke of a newspaper. I would like to see a report on how many subscribers they have lost the last few years. I know the number is extremely high. It is just a matter of time and that paper will be out of business.
This article has been brought to you by Captain Obvious.
The most important thing for a news organization to do is to report the news. The Globe (for all its faults) still does this. NIT has yet to do a story on the recent council’s approval of the Gatehouse agreement.
That’s true. Most of what we get from this site is a collection of grievances from the owner and crime reports from near and far – if a non-white is involved.
There was no Gatehouse agreement. The agreement was with G8.
A daily paper that doesn’t print a Monday or holiday edition and has to charge $5 for their ad-spectacular editions and now prints on paper so thin you can read both sides at the same time, isn’t dying. They are already dead and just haven’t figured it out yet!
99% of media is liberal left wing. People are sick of that!
I’m betting that if Blodgett was given a choice to submit editorials to either NIT or the GG (if the current editor moves on), he would select the GG.
That’s Mr. Blodgett to someone like you.
Man-crush?
Pussy!