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Newspapers face circulation inflation conflagration

In a way, broadcasters are lucky. A station may wish to wring the necks of the good folks at Arbitron, Nielsen and Eastlan when facing a decline in audience, but at least someone the temptation to take matters into their own hands are nonexistent. They can't physically count the tune-ins occurring in the market.

However, a newspaper knows how many papers it printed and shipped, and it knows how many came back unsold. And the industry is suffering because it seems several have succumbed to the temptation to cook the books.

Reuters reports that companies which have stayed above the fray are now taking extraordinary measures to make sure they maintain that lofty position. Hollinger, Tribune and Belo are three of the fallen.

According to Reuters, at least one industry analyst expects another high-profile implosion within the next few months, although nobody can predict who, where and how big it will be.

In general, the US economy is growth-driven. Unfortunately for newspapers, their readership has been trending in the other direction.

RBR observation:

We'd go a step farther and say unfortunately for America, newspaper readership is trending in the wrong direction. TV and radio are important sources of news, but they cannot possibly get into the nuts and bolts of a story in the same way that a good newspaper can. It is disheartening that fewer and fewer of the people who enjoy the benefits of our free and open society care to make any attempt to understand what's actually going on.

Newspapers face another problem - - the availability of news and info on the Internet. Of course, most newspapers have established a major presence there of their own - - they've been forced to, but that very presence almost has to put downward pressure on circulation figures. It offers great opportunity, but the economic models necessary to make it an important cornerstone of the business are still, for the most part, under construction.

There will still be ferocious competition between print and broadcast. But, bottom line, newspaper's problems are broadcasting's gain. The scandals are another arrow in the quiver for broadcasting's street forces.