UK: Glover: Investors are overreacting - the newspaper is not dying

Posted by Liam Berkowitz on July 7, 2008 at 10:04 AM

Stephen Glover of the Independent does not deny newspapers' bleak economic condition, but believes the industry is "not as troubled" as some think it to be.

Glover opens with a stream of negative information concerning newspapers: plummeting profits, battered circulation numbers, and increased layoffs. He says, however, these numbers are more fairly attributed to cyclical economic conditions rather than to the decline of the newspaper.

"No one could deny that there are problems ahead but my message is that the whole picture for newspapers is not as dire as fevered minds in the City appear to believe," Glover writes.

As proof Glover offers examples of several newspaper organizations experiencing financial success, such as News International and Pearson. These organizations, he says, "should not be tarred with the same brush."

And though Glover admits some papers "have structural problems", he insists investors are overreacting.

"The sudden level of panic is hardly justified," he writes.

Source: The Independent