Newspaper Employment Slips Further

by allen85255 | April 14, 2008 at 02:43 pm
255 views | 12 Recommendations | 2 comments

The annual census from American Society of Newspapers Editors revealed some disappointing yet expected news about the current climate at American newspapers: fulltime professional staffs fell by 2,400 in 2007, a drop of 4.4 % to a current total of 52.600. This does not even take into account the sport of layoffs in 2008 from two incumbent stalwarts, The New York Times and the Washington Post.

In talking to newsroom staff over the past several months, it comes as no surprise that hiring at the online departments of newspapers was flat in 2007 according to the ASNE census. The myth that news operations can make up for print revenue with a greater online presence is currently being shattered at publishing companies as most have hit the wall  in monthly Web traffic and digital revenue.

The clock is ticking

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Amy Judd
Amy Judd
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:45 on April 14th, 2008

allen85255, I like this story. It's sad but true. The evolution of news is upon us.

Rob Peters
Rob Peters
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:18 on April 14th, 2008

I think traditional journalists' future role might include less breaking-news-gathering and instead more commentary on breaking news. Online media is better suited for the fast stuff, while traditional newspapers seem better suited for the more thoughtful, armchair variety of news commentary.

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