The Slow Death of the Old Media


 

Editor's note: Gary North's article “The Slow Death of the New York Times” is yet another reminder of the media transition period that we're in. An excerpt from his article is below with a link to the full piece.

 


 

The Slow Death of the New York Times

By Gary North

 

What's black and white and red all over?

Answer: the balance sheet of the New York Times.

 

That was a two-liner that appeared in The Daily Show's torpedoing of the New York Times. You can see it here.

 

That segment was run two years ago. I found it interesting that Newsweek, which subsequently went bankrupt, jumped on it like a dog on red meat.

 

Both the segment and the Times' responding Q+A are pretty darn funny – but, given the paper's $74.5 million loss last quarter, laughing makes us feel more than a little guilty. Isn't this like shooting a fish in a barrel? …

 

And so it goes, newspaper by newspaper. Young people no longer read them. With Craigslist free or cheap, people wanting to buy or sell through classified ads no longer pay newspapers. Local advertisers pay less in ad rates because paid subscriptions are declining so fast. Once-fat newspapers are emaciated shells of their 1990s-era selves.

 

No metropolitan newspaper has made the complete transition to digital format. They are still dependent on paid subscribers to printed, day-old news.

 

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