Russ Steele
The Union has joined an ad campaign to promote newspapers over more interactive online sources.
This was posted by Jeff Pelline: Guess who gets 1.6 billion hits a day? Newspapers, not Google
Though newspapers are in the communications business, they've never been very good at telling their own story. Nowadays it's popular to bash the industry as one that's going the way of the dinosaur. Not so, I've been telling you, trying to dispel some of the myths. Now the industry is awakening from a Rip Van Winkle-like marketing slumber and making its case. The World Association of Newspapers, a non-profit group founded in 1958 and representing 18,000 publications worldwide, is providing a fact-based discussion about the industry, poking a little fun at Google and its doomsayers.
You can read the rest here, then consider these facts:
Here are some facts for your consideration, there has been 6,490 layoff/buyouts so far in 2008 according to Paper Cuts, a web page that highlights the newspaper layoffs and buyouts across the county on a interactive map. Click on the pin and you get the details.
If these trends continue newspapers may soon join the dinosaurs so feared by Editor Pelline. But, then again I might just be one of those fact driven doomsayer. I will let the reader decide.
Update #1: Here is some more food for thought why newspapers are going in the tank. Many of the liberal papers have adopted the going green to save the planet hogwash. Magazines that have adopted the green mantle have seen their green issue circulation decline, details at Green Fad Finally Running Out of Gas. Could it be that newspaper readers are tired of reading bogus global warming sermons and the comings, and goings of Al Gore. Just a thought.
