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November 17, 2008

Newspaper publishers waking up to 'crisis'

Thomas Lifson
The newspaper industry death spiral is becoming obvious even to the top leadership of some of the biggest newspaper publishing companies. Editor & Publisher, the industry's left-leaning trade paper, covers a weekend summit closed door "crisis summit" held by the American Press Institute, whose attendees include some of the biggest names in the industry.

Jennifer Saba of E&P writes:

The all-day session was described as part "group therapy" and "part business-school class" as participants took in three segments on financial forensics, management tactics for new strategies, and best practices swaps.

The summary of the summit also provided some views of participants keeping their comments anonymous.

One lone person thought the current crisis was due to cyclical force and that heavy cost cutting should do the trick until the economy recovers.

There were a few calls to "radically rethink newsrooms." One person suggested the hiring of experts such as actual scientists or bank regulators to replace some reporters.

The API said that attendees agreed to reconvene in six months and concludes the report with this unnamed executive who said, "Why can't we be the disruptors? We have nothing to lose."

It has taken industry insiders too many years to wake up to their dire straits. AT has long been pointing to the danger signs. The seriousness of the crisis facing the industry is no longer deniable when reports like this one  surface. Mark Fitzgerald of E&P writes:

Citing The McClatchy Co.'s high debt and shrinking revenue, a Morningstar report declares that the chain's slumping stock "could be worthless."

Tom Corbett -- the Morningstar analyst who this summer similarly dismissed GateHouse Media Inc. shares as having a "fair value" of zero -- said debt from McClatchy's 2006 acquisition of Knight Ridder, added to declining revenue, means that the company will look to satisfy its creditors rather than its shareholders.

AT has written extensively about McClatchy's destruction of value.

Meanwhile, serious journalists like David Carr of the NYT pontificate on what management is doing wrong: laying off people like David Carr, and even a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Hat tips: David Paulin and Ed Lasky

Posted at 11:14 AM | Email | |

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