01.08.2014 01:22 PM

The most shocking paragraph you will read today

. In the United States, newspaper advertising revenue – the main source of economic support by far – was $63.5 billion in 2000. By 2012 it had fallen to $19 billion. (During the same period, advertising revenue at Google went from zero to $46.5 billion.) Employment in the American newspaper industry fell by 44 per cent between 2001 and 2011. In the European Union, newspaper revenue is falling by more than 10 per cent a year. In the UK, newspaper circulation has dropped by more than 25 per cent during the twenty-first century. It would be hard to think of another industry that is going through such a sudden collapse.

Man, is that ever hard to read.

16 Comments

  1. patrick says:

    Have you heard of this Gutenburry thing.
    Ah, yes. Yes, terrible. Ugly thing.
    Impersonal.
    Without flair. No personality.
    Anybody can use it.
    I know. Can you believe that.
    I pray for cursive. I pray.
    It may not be not enough brother.
    Anybody. ANYBODY can use it I tell you!
    Yes, everybody.
    It’s just shocking.
    The world is at it’s end.
    Truly.

  2. patrick says:

    Oh yeah, and who was the first idiot that believe it was worthwhile to put their papers on line for free? And the business geniuses, the one’s who should rule our countries and interests without question or regulation, all followed the first idiot like lemmings.

    • Swervin' Merv says:

      So Google itself picked up the equivalent of the $45 billion lost in newspaper ad revenue.

      Another important test is whether the pay walls now adopted by the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and the Toronto Star, following the lead of the New York Times, will help retain any subscriber revenue. I’m still not inclined to pay for access limited to one digital publisher.

      More newspapers might have to go the way of a broader subscription vehicle like Next Issue for magazines.

  3. Mark says:

    This post made me think of the politician who compared nurses to hula-hoop manufacturers (which went out of style.) Couldn’t remember who that was, so I did some searching. (It was Mike Harris.)

    As a result, I discovered that there is, in fact, still a thriving business in hula-hoop manufacturing, (now sold as “exercise equipment.) The point is, I found that more surprising than WK’s “Most Shocking Thing.”

    Maybe some of these newspaper companies can get into hula-hoop manufacturing.

  4. Pipes says:

    Question-Where do journalists go to die?
    Answer-Our senate. We are going to need a bugger one.

    Sorry, a bit of levity in an otherwise sad reduction in one of our most important democratic conveyances.

    Weird thing though, I get most of the news on the internet because I don’t want to buy the papers, and I hate the pay walls, so what the hell I am going to do! Probably buy the papers again, if there are any.

  5. Iris Mclean says:

    It is sad to watch the demise of the local papers around my area. However, I refuse pay for and bring home a paper full of mindless sports stories and asinine “opinion pieces” by the likes of Esra Levant.

    • JH says:

      Ezra ain’t alone, but you’re right. When’s the last time you read a straight forward report on a political event in this country? Everybody shades it to support their point of view and I’m not talking about commentators or columnists, I’m talking about straight news reporters. When’s the last time you read a serious in depth assessment of anything for that matter from a non-partisan point of view. There used to be serious journalists and folks paid to read them. Not anymore and the wounds to the various medias bottom lines are self-inflicted. I’ll take what I can get free online from them but I’m not paying for ‘ if it bleeds it leads journalism’ and certainly not for scandal-a-day, gotcha! tabloid fare, which is the usual menu du jour.

    • Matt says:

      Ezra Levant has never claimed to be a journalist.

      Like Mr. Kinsella he is paid to give his opinion. Hence his columns appear in the comment/opinion section of the paper, not the news section.

  6. Justin says:

    That’s okay warren, don’t worry. Joe Schlub knows better. He and his partisan blog is the way of the future!

  7. david ray says:

    Berners-Lee who invented the web often bemoans the fact that he changed his original design which mandated micro-payments to displaced enterprise by ISP’s as part of their license. Too late now and very sad.

  8. David says:

    It looks like you better look into getting an Adsense account. Quick.

  9. graham watt says:

    If newspapers go who will we get to mislead us?

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