Antique Media Quagmire: Major Newspapers Struggle, May Need Stimulus Package

The inexorable death march toward irrelevancy for the old-guard media continues apace, as several major outlets that exist to try and influence you to vote Democrat continues to sink into the morass.

Naturally, they blame it on the economy, but some of these papers, the New York Times in particular, have been hemorrhaging readers and money for years, even when the economy has been robust, which is basically the past six years.

The New York Times Co. (NYT) and two other newspaper companies reported weaker revenue for the fourth quarter Thursday as an economic slowdown continued to hammer classified advertising.

Media General (MEG) and E.W. Scripps Co. (SSP) also posted weaker results as lower political advertising revenue from broadcasting and a particularly bad economic slump in Florida hurt both companies.

The Times swung to a net profit of $53 million from a loss of $648 million a year earlier, when it recorded a big charge to write down more than half the value of The Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which have been hit by regional economic weakness and the consolidation of key advertisers.

But the Times' revenue also fell 7.1% in the quarter, or 1.7% without the effect of an extra week falling in the year-ago period, to $865.8 million, missing analysts' expectations. After posting gains in October and November, revenue weakened in December, Chief Executive Janet Robinson said, mainly on poor results in classifieds as well as retail.

Excluding one-time charges in both periods, the Times' earnings came to 44 cents a share, down from 46 cents a share a year ago.

What they don't report is readership continues to plummet, meaning fewer eyes for the advertising and classified, thus those looking to but the ads and classified are turning to other outlets more, be it television, radio or (gasp!), the Internet.

H/T NJDhockeyfan.