The Pew Research Center’s latest study of newspapers once again provides us with an image of an unfolding disaster. Reporting for Pew, Michael Barthel wrote that “for newspapers, 2015 might as well have been a recession year.”
From Pew’s research:
• Weekday newspaper circulation fell 7% and Sunday circulation fell 4%, both showing their greatest declines since 2010.
• Overall advertising revenue experienced its greatest drop since 2009, falling nearly 8% in 2015.
• Digital advertising revenue fell 2% and non-digital advertising revenue dropped 10% in 2015.
• We’re still waiting on final employment figures for 2015, but in 2014 newsroom employment declined 10%, more than in any other year since 2009.
• The American Society of News Editors reported last year that daily newspapers in the U.S. employed 32,900 journalists. That was 24,000 (42%) fewer than the peak of 56,900 in 1990.
• The industry continues to shrink, with Editor & Publisher’s DataBook listing 126 fewer daily papers in 2014 than in 2004.
So, as you may have guessed already, the writing is on the wall.
More and more people want news from specific niches and they want it delivered faster than print. These trends are the reason CTNewsJunkie was launched in 2005, followed a few years later by our supplementary email editions.
We are here to fill the information void left by the newspapers and broadcasters who eliminated their capitol reporters to reduce costs.
The good news is, we are in our 11th year as a small business. Growth has been steady, but slow. This is because we don’t use clickbait or shiny object nonsense to lure in readers. We report the news clearly, concisely, and professionally. But we’re not being stubborn in the face of fundamental changes in the marketplace. On our business side, last year we launched a directory of political firms – Directory.CTNewsJunkie.com – and it has been an early success so far. Our marketing team helped many of our member firms and their clients create great campaigns to reach their legislative goals.
If you own or work at a firm that works in the political space, consider joining and let us help you improve your company’s profile at the capitol. You won’t regret it. ()
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