With the emergence of COVID-19 in the United States, we, as a country, are experiencing a traumatic economic downfall. On March 13, President Trump declared the pandemic as a national emergency and since then, over 30 million Americans have lost their jobs and 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment. Our nation has not seen job loss levels on this scale since the Great Depression and our economy is shrinking at its fastest rate since 2008. The image below displays the US claims for unemployment insurance over the last fifty years, the spike in 2020 is extremely obvious.
Small businesses around the country struggle to find financial stability, and the local newspaper business is certainly no exception. In fact, while job postings in general have fallen by 24% since February 1, job postings in the media and news industry have fallen by 35%. Furthermore, an estimated 360,000 employees of US news media companies have either been laid off, furloughed, or had their pay reduced. Some sacrifices that news companies are making to stay afloat include:
-The Tampa Bay Times laid off 11 journalists and print only 2/7 days of the week
-The Stranger, a Pulitzer Prize winning paper, laid off 18 workers and discontinued printing altogether
-Buzzfeed cut pay between 5%-25%, depending on original salary
-Vox Media furloughed 9% of its staff
It is ironic that the newspaper industry is crumbling while the biggest news story in the world is exploding. News consumption is skyrocketing as Americans constantly seek out updates. So, this trouble in what should be journalism paradise is not stemming from a readership issue, but rather, a lack of financial support from advertisers.
Many local businesses are closed or on pause; therefore, they are unable, or don't deem it necessary, to pay for advertisements in local newspapers. Charging companies to advertise is one of the primary ways that newspapers make money. Without this financial security, newspaper and media outlets are forced to ask readers and viewers to donate. Even television stations, a media outlet considered to be extremely stable, are experiencing financial difficulties.
Americans are desperate for news updates but newspapers are unable to provide these updates, thus leading to a vicious lack-of-information cycle. I don't mean to imply that overall, newspapers aren't producing coronavirus updates, because that certainly is not the case. But, newspapers are not producing content at the rate to which they are accustomed. Many companies print only 1-2 days a week instead of the usual 7 days a week. Many companies have had to lay off or furlough workers, which slows down investigative and writing processes. Citizens are becoming less and less informed because there are fewer and fewer news outlets continuing to produce stories. Furthermore, the majority of news outlets that are stable are national news outlets that do not cover local affairs. So, what can be done to prevent the ultimate downfall of America's crucial news industry?
On April 19, many senators signed a statement demanding that local journalism be included in any future economic stimulus plans. Facebook and Google pledged $100 million in grants towards failing news companies in America. These grants were offered in the form of ad purchases. Additionally, some news companies have considered applying for federal loans that are designed to help small businesses. However, the news industry is hesitant to be reliant on the government.
Newspapers were created with the intent of remaining unaffiliated with our government, and for good reason. If journalists ,or journalism companies, feel that they are indebted to the government, who will be bold enough to hold politicians accountable? Who will challenge our government? Will media companies censor what sort of content their journalists are permitted to produce to secure financial backing?
The future of the news and media industry is grim, but this was an issue long before the arrival of COVID-19. Without the support of readers and advertisers, both local and national news companies will struggle to remain in business. Therefore, it is imperative that we, as American citizens, protect one of our most cherished rights: freedom of the press.
I found these facts and statistics really surprising. Knowing that the government aided large corporations at much higher and larger rates than small companies, do you think that if this hadn't happened, small companies would still be able to pay for add space and therefore newspapers might not be failing as much? I think it's really important to realize that newspapers can't run without companies paying for ad space, and that their success is largely dependent on the success of these companies.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good question and I'm not entirely sure if I know the answer. I do think that had the coronavirus never happened, yes small newspaper companies would be in a better financial state than currently. However, if we've learning anything from this class, it is obvious that the newspaper industry as a whole (especially print newspapers) have been struggling to stay afloat. I honestly think tat it a a little dangerous for newspaper to primarily receive their payments from outside companies (such as local businesses). But, I'm not sure how newspapers would make a profit in another way.
DeleteI found your article really interesting, specifically all of the statistics about the potential harm the newspaper industry might take from this pandemic. The point about how newspapers are not producing COVID-19 content at the rate the people may want, or at the rate that news stations or online articles are being published, is very eye-opening. I never realized how important ad space was for the newspapers and since all restaurants were closed at a certain point, the newspapers couldn't rely on these companies for them to make money. Overall, I really loved your topic and thought it was really well written!
ReplyDeleteYour article does a great job at explaining the perils local news outlets are facing during the pandemic, but I have to wonder, are national news outlets also seeing a decrease in advertisers and profits or is their surge in traffic making up for any losses in advertising?
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good question, I would be interested to know the answer. I feel like local newspapers rely so much on advertisement whereas larger national papers have a larger reader base and can fall back on that a little bit more and therefore they might be seeing greater increases from the pandemic than local newspapers. I also feel like people are turning to national newspapers over local newspapers for information about the pandemic... not sure exactly why that is, maybe because it feels like a national/international issue?
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