Opinion: Greenslade on the US newspaper crisis

The first piece quotes a recent report by Deloitte about the "downward spiral" for newspapers.  Within the next year, one in 10 print publications could be facing closure, moving entirely online, or reducing publication frequency.

The "difficult" situation for newspaper publishers, the report's co-author Howard Davies said, "is going to get much worse as the advertising market deteriorates."

A piece on the slump in ad revenue finds that "deterioration has accelerated" over the past two years, and likely only to get worse.

Bringing in the recent filing for protection from bankruptcy by Tribune Co., the third piece Greenslade quotes finds that the recent move of owner Sam Zell will likely be "copied around the industry."

The fourth and final piece, Greenslade writes, finds that collaboration between newspapers is occurring to increase online revenues, which have been found to not support the cost of a newsroom.  In the US, 800 newspapers have made a deal with Yahoo, for example, and publishers are pooling together to gain national advertising.

The analysis and timing of these pieces, Greenslade suggests, prove that "the newspaper industry is not only in crisis, but things will get worse."

Source: Guardian.co.uk