The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News are officially bankrupt. If the newspapers go out of business, who will be there to report on the doings in the halls of power?
Advertising revenue is declining as businesses cut back because consumers are cutting back, and what money is spent is going to Internet ads. Everyone's on line, and the adverts must follow. Less ad revenue for newspapers means the papers suffer.
Reporters cost money, and investigative reporting is expensive. The problem is, there's no one on the Internet doing the sort of probing that keeps politicians (relatively) honest. How are we to know that friends of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley are reaping the profits of his political control of the city if not for investigative newspaper reporters finding out the facts and then publishing them?
Newspaper publishing companies are struggling with debt that can't be paid off as once expected because no one expected revenues to plummet.
In Philadelphia, the two newspapers will merge what departments they can to trim costs, which means some people are going to lose their jobs. There won't be any big salary increases or generous bonuses any time soon, but who ever said there was money to be made in writing?
No comments:
Post a Comment