As circulation and advertising figures slide at the Washington Post Co., management is probably wondering why --- and the Internet is not wholly to blame, notes Grumpy Editor.
The Post reports print advertising skidded 12 percent in the 2012 fourth quarter, to $67.5 million. The Post also cites average daily circulation in 2012 declined 8.6 percent to an average of 471,800, while average Sunday circulation fell 6.2 percent to 687,200.
What’s behind advertising and circulation drifting lower at most newspapers?
When businesses, large and small, envision less money to spend, advertising is one of the first things slashed.
Daily news reports are loaded with uncertainty, especially with predictions --- and scares from the nation’s capital --- of economic messes ahead.
A heavy flow of new business/personal rules, regulations and taxes coming out of Washington plus the confusing financial wake looming from ObamaCare and the upcoming sequestration are among key contributors to the wide-scale uncertainty.
For businesses, that’s not conducive to boosting advertising.
Thus, the constant negativity running in news columns triggers less advertising space sold, putting a major dent in the bottom line of newspaper publishers.
Eventually, and sadly, this also results in newspapers’ periodic staff trimming, among other measures.
With circulation, when readers find their favorite newspaper is more of a lap dog rather than a watchdog --- echoing information, especially fuzzy math and misleading facts, fed from the White House and some lawmakers without newspaper fact checking or solid investigating --- they move on to other news sources.
Getting back to the Washington Post: Seeking to highlight a bright spot in the company’s glum 2012 financial figures, the Post cited: “One benefit of the paper’s woes: lower newsprint costs,” down 10 percent.
AP okays ‘husband,’ ‘wife’ for same-sex couples
Updated in the Associated Press Stylebook, used by most newsrooms:
Regardless of sexual orientation, use of husband or wife is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally-recognized marriage.
Spouse or partner may be used if requested, adds AP.
In case you missed these…
Time magazine runs the longest article in its 90-years of publishing with a 24,000-word piece on “Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” by Steven Brill…The New York Times Co. is putting the “for sale” sign on its Boston Globe which also includes the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette…CBS News’ Bob Schieffer will receive the National Association of Broadcasters distinguished service award on April 8 in Las Vegas…David Axelrod, former White House senior adviser and senior strategist for President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, joins NBC News and MSNBC as a senior political analyst…Los Angeles Times scrubs its daily prime time television schedule from the newspaper’s Calendar section starting tomorrow…CNBC acquires the long-running Nightly Business Report from PBS and will move production from Miami to CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. on March 4…Generally overlooked in coverage of the wide-scale manhunt for rogue ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner, who later died in a Big Bear (Calif.) cabin fire, was the early-morning shooting in Torrance, Calif. of two L.A. Times delivery women by eight LAPD officers who mistook them for Dorner. The injured women’s attorney says he counted 102 bullet holes in their blue Toyota Tacoma…Comedian Conan O'Brien, who hosts a nightly show on TBS, will emcee the annual White House Correspondents Dinner on April 27, airing on C-Span…Journal Register Co., which owns --- and plans to sell --- Michigan dailies The Oakland Press, The Macomb Daily, Morning Sun and Daily Tribune, says it plans to lay off more than 840 employees, with hopes that the new owner will rehire them.
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