by Gwendolen Bennett

Created on: February 06, 2011   Last Updated: April 10, 2012

Since the Internet became became a prime source of information, print news has suffered considerably. Profits have fallen considerably, and many newspapers have closed their doors. The recession has only made the problem worse. This caused over 120 newspapers to close and many others to slash their budgets. Some, including the The Irish Times and the Christian Science Monitor, which have become primarily electronic sources due to such cuts. So how have newspapers come to this rather disturbing point?

The source of journalism’s problems is not because the younger generation is no longer interested in news. Contrary to popular belief, this new generation is not the “dumbest” generation as some believe. In fact, the youth are better educated than previous generations, with the majority of them having gained at least some college education. Studies also show that they are just as engaged in their communities as their predecessors and, as a whole, are not obsessed with becoming rich and famous. The younger generation will most likely be a group of individuals who care about the well-being of their communities, and will therefore be as interested in the media as their elders. In fact, the readership of newspapers has actually risen since they have made their content available online. Clearly, falling readership is not the problem.

However, newspapers are in danger because their business models based on ad revenue no longer works as well as it used to. While readership of newspapers have actually risen over the years, newspapers have lost revenue from classified ads. Classifieds, which once made up from 40-50% of newspaper revenue, have declined since the advent of websites such as Craigslist and eBay. These websites have made it possible to post classifieds for free or very low prices. Even though many newspapers share their stories online, ad revenue from their websites is significantly less than what they once earned from the classifieds. Furthermore, newspapers also post their articles online, often with at least some of them available for free. However, it is also difficult to charge for their content, such as through the use of paywalls, when the same content can often be found somewhere else without that fee. While paywalls have made some money, the profits, again, fail to compare with those made in print subscriptions. Advertisers are even less attracted to online advertising since online articles do not attract the same loyalty and attention

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