WASHINGTON - Sometimes, the dark hour in America’s vast newspaper industry feels like a moment of regeneration.In Georgia, a 155-year-old newspaper with 60,000 subscribers is grasping for a new lease on life. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution believes it can pick up half a million new digital subscribers within the next three years, a bold gamble riding on an investment of US$100 million .
Declining revenues – from over US$50 billion in 2005 to around US$20 billion today – have led to massive job cuts. Newsroom employment has fallen almost 60 per cent, with staff photographer jobs declining by 80 per cent. Although this is the largest single philanthropic commitment to journalism, it does not go far enough. The Boston Consulting Group estimated in 2023 that it would take about US$1.75 billion to bail out local news.
Four years on, the paper has only 550,000 paying digital subscribers. But southern California’s largest newspaper continues to expand its footprint with more diverse audiences, targeting the growing Latin-American community in the city. For the Gannett, the raison d’etre came from Mr Ralph Nader, 88, the four-time presidential candidate and consumer activist. He said the news hole in his hometown needed to be fixed; the last local daily there folded in 2017. Besides, he said, he is convinced his neighbours there are sick of electronics and miss feeling the newsprint in their hands.
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)