Eastern Shore Focus - Show # 71: Are Newspapers Going to Disappear? (Pt. 1)

By WESM News / Stephen Williams

PRINCESS ANNE, MD –

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Show Information:

Show Number: 71
Guest(s): Greg Bassett - Executive Editor, The Daily Times
Subject(s): Are Newspapers Going to Disappear? (Part 1)
Original Airdate: Monday, April 20, 2009
Running Time: 29 minutes

Brief Synopsis:

The year 2009 has been a rough one for the newspaper industry. For several years now, newspapers across the country have been struggling to adapt to a new paradigm of Internet news, blogs, podcasts and other forms of digital media that are slowly but surely supplanting the role that newspapers once uniquely held.

Moreover, the economic collapse of 2008, and the recession that soon followed, have only accelerated the demise of many newspapers that were already struggling to stay afloat.

And the sense of panic in the newspaper industry is not unjustified. Already, as of April 2009, a few major market newspapers have either switched entirely to the Internet, shutdown completely ... or are threatening to do so.

For example, the Tribune Company -- which owns the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune and other newspapers -- is itself fighting to stay alive. Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in December of 2008, after drowning in $13 billion dollars worth of debt.

In addition, the Gannett Company, Inc. -- which owns more than 80 daily newspapers, including the top read USA Today and the Salisbury, Maryland-based The Daily Times -- reported in April 2009 that its profit has plummeted by 60 percent during the first quarter of 2009. And its stock was down almost 90-percent compared to the same time just a year earlier.

Indeed, the outlook is bleak for the newspaper industry. But as it reels from the effects of a global recession and competition from the Internet - is there possibly any light at the end of the tunnel?

To examine this topic more deeply, I invited Mr. Gregg Bassett, the Executive Editor of The Daily Times, to apprear on the program. He'll talk about the current state of the newspaper industry, how it's affecting his paper in particular, and what the future may have in store for the industry as a whole.

This is Part 1 of our discussion, recorded on April 10, 2009.

Additional Links & Information:

Eastern Shore Focus - Show # 72: Are Newspapers Going to Disappear? (Pt. 2)
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wesm/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1498960

The Daily Times
618 Beam Street
Salisbury, MD 21801
Phone: (410) 749-7171
Website: http://www.delmarvanow.com/

Gannett Company, Inc. [Parent company of The Daily Times]
7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22107
Phone: (703) 854-6000
Website: http://www.gannett.com/

Today's Front Pages [Newseum]:
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

Newspaper Association of America
4401 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 900
Arlington, Va. 22203-1867
Phone: (571) 366-1000
Fax: (571) 366-1195
Website: http://www.naa.org/

Poynter Online [Journalism Resource]:
http://www.poynter.org/

Questions or Comments?

E-mail us: wesm913@umes.edu
Or call 410-651-8001