The New York Times saw their 2016 profits drop nine million dollars adjusted for operating costs, a decline of almost 20%. The Wall Street Journal offered all of its 1500 news employees a six month buyout and will begin layoffs soon as they adjust to dropping profits. Reuters, a London based news agency, laid off 2,000 employees and cut 250 million in costs in 2016. Local, smaller news companies have struggled as well. Our own San Francisco Chronicle almost shut down in 2013 after years of losses but was able to pull through due to cost saving decisions and management overhaul. According to the Pew Research Center, almost 200 U.S. newspapers have closed for good since 2004, and many more are providing online only content after closing their print operation. Physical newspapers have been on the decline for years as internet news surges, and it is finally catching up to news organizations around the world.
This transition to online news and media is remarkable, but it has not been nearly as profitable for news organizations compared to the success that they enjoyed with print for years. As consumers expect free content online, most companies rely heavily on online advertisements, which don’t generate the type of revenue that print ads were able to produce. The prevalence of Ad-blocking software and studies on the limited effectiveness and success of online advertisements have significantly hurt newspapers’ online marketing success, even as their online popularity grows. 2015 saw 2% declines in online advertising revenue despite some dramatic shifts from the print to the digital world.
News agencies across the world are in a very precarious state and will need to adapt to the harsh reality of the online world find and solutions in order to remain profitable. Many companies have attempted to find success with online subscriptions to replace their loss of physical newspaper subscribers. For example, The New York Times offers internet users to access 10 free articles per month in order to entice readers to subscribe, but this limitation can be easily bypassed by using multiple browsers or by launching an “incognito” window. The Wall Street Journal has a different approach to reaching readers, offering certain articles for free and some articles to subscribers only. Other news organizations, like USA Today, rely solely on online advertising and print subscriptions, hoping that they get enough viewers to satisfy advertisers and make profits without offering an online subscription.
As companies struggle to survive by cutting costs and desperately looking for viewership, one of the consequences is diminished journalistic integrity. Poorer and less responsible media outlets have turned to “clickbait” articles that usually lack substance and are designed to entice the viewer to click on them to generate revenue. These articles are often sensationalized and can compromise the truth with incomplete investigations or misleading, even inaccurate headlines. Some clickbait articles may be accurate, but they offer no real substance other than basic entertainment or amusement. With the public relying heavily on the media to stay informed and engaged with current events, clickbait is a dangerous method of survival for media outlets hoping to stay pro table. Clickbait compromises the media as a whole; clickbaiters value the truth and vital information as secondary to the need to make money. In the midst of an unprecedented presidency, which both accepts and wields “fake news” to undermine legitimate data, important investigative work, and truthful articles, the future of journalism is extremely important, and it appears to be in a compromised state. Also bleak is the future of National Public Radio, a standout in hard-hitting, investigate journalism and reporting since its founding in 1970. The federal funding NPR needs to continue its work is in jeopardy, as potential budget cuts under the Trump administration threaten the organization’s future and may force the organization to downsize, privatize, or shut down completely.
