CHART OF THE DAY: The End Of Newspapers (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Silicon Valley Insider ^ | December 30, 2009 | Jay Yarow and Kamelia Angelova

[abb]

Newspapers had a nice run from the 1970s to the 1990s. Unfortunately, as this chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes clear -- by way of Marketwatch -- it's over.

Newspaper employment has utterly collapsed in the last 15 years, with employment numbers now around where they were in the mid-1950s.

The good news: It's a great opportunity. The next decade will give birth to new forms of reporting, more in tune with today's technology and news consumption habits.

[Tribune7]

The Stories Missed By The Dino Media In '09

[behzinlea]

The collapse perfectly coincides with the rise of the Internet.

The print media has long been a virtual monopoly controlled by the left. Oh, there were many, many newspapers but the choice was always between mere varieties of left-wing agitprop.

When people are free to choose the news they read, they overwhelmingly reject the news they were forced to read.

[nwrep]

Some of the decline in the late 80s was due to the invention of Quark Xpress and newer forms of digital layout/typesetting. But it is a great graph which shows the decline, and more importantly, flags the peak of the industry. This also corresponds with the peak circulations of the big newspapers - I think the NYT had its all-time high circulation around the early 1990s.

[behzinlea]

Local papers have school sports, local ads, and other items that maintain readers.

Including obituaries. Elderly readers are likely to subscribe to a print newspaper for the obituaries if for no other reason.

Unfortunately for the print media that anchor reader group is disappearing for the same reason that it kept its subscriptions in the first place.

[SanFranDan]

God Bless you ABB and happy New Year!!!!

[abb]

When you really, really step back and look at the Big Picture, you realize that the (Dinosaur Media, State-Run Media, Drive-By Media, etc. - pick one) always only told us what THEY wanted to tell us - or NOT tell us.

What if “And that’s the way it is...” never really was?

[behzinlea]

My father was a printer’s devil in his teens at a small town newspaper in the 1940s. When I was young he took me back to his home town, showed me the the press machinery and explained how it all came together and worked. I can still remember the smell of the ink and newsprint and in my mind’s eye I see a hunch-backed little old man in an ink-stained apron setting type. I remember looking at the lead type and noticing that it read backwards when set. It was a marvelous experience for a young boy.

[abb]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/30/AR2009123002444.html
Washington Times lays off top editor, dozens of staffers

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/
My un-predictions for 2010

[VOA]

bump

[abb]

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/the-end-of-theconservativescom-wash-times-site-appears-dead.php
The End Of TheConservatives.Com: Wash Times Cancels Site

[abb]

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1403890.html
Miami Herald land sale uncertain

http://newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=16094
News That Fits into Place

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/31/times-announces-newsroom-layoffs/?feat=home_headlines
Times announces newsroom layoffs

[RayChuang88]

And Apple's much-rumored iSlate tablet computer won't save the MSM much, either--mostly because the tools to create content for this new device are likely going to be dirt-cheap (all you need is an iMac and likely a web hosting service to bring stuff up to iTunes, with none of the expensive overhead of entire "dead tree" printing process).