From reading the reports of fresh rounds of pre-Christmas layoffs, I thought the Q4results must be very bleak. But what is worse, as your chart shows, is that the slide in revenues is getting worse. Some prominent economists now are talking of a recession lasting well into 2010, and many of these newspapers are not going to be able to hold on for that long. The first to go, I predict, will be Billy Dean Singleton's Media News, followed by Tribune, Blethen, Media General and McClatchy. Even Gannett's decision in September to take out $1.2 billion in new long-term debt has put that Depression-survivor in question. The lesson from this experience for the corporate boardrooms thas to be that newspapers that take on crushing debt cannot survive.
The worst of them still take in too much money for my taste.
ReplyDeleteInteresting especially that online sales revenue is dropping. It would seem that no one wants them in the alternative to print, either.
Very interesting, though as a journalism student it is also very depressing.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading the reports of fresh rounds of pre-Christmas layoffs, I thought the Q4results must be very bleak. But what is worse, as your chart shows, is that the slide in revenues is getting worse. Some prominent economists now are talking of a recession lasting well into 2010, and many of these newspapers are not going to be able to hold on for that long. The first to go, I predict, will be Billy Dean Singleton's Media News, followed by Tribune, Blethen, Media General and McClatchy. Even Gannett's decision in September to take out $1.2 billion in new long-term debt has put that Depression-survivor in question. The lesson from this experience for the corporate boardrooms thas to be that newspapers that take on crushing debt cannot survive.
ReplyDelete