Who would ever have thought this question could be raised?  Forbes makes the point that newspaper circulation is in freefall with ad revenue tumbling alongside it, so newspaper editors have to slash their budgets. Witness the tussle at the LATimes.

Readers are moving online, says Forbes.  They get local and international news online – even the AP.  And it’s all free!  In August of 2006 AP made a delal with Google to license content.  “The deal could have implications for news organizations that have lost ad revenue to online “aggregators” such as Google and Yahoo,” said the WSJ at the time. 

A year later Google began to host the content from AP, Agence France Presse, The Press Association in the United Kingdom and The Canadian Press instead of sending traffic to newspaper and broadcast companies’ Web sites.

Editors at some of the major dailies have let the AP know that they think AP is not giving them the support they need in these tough times. AP Board Chairman Dean Singleton doesn’t see it that way. 

“I think the overwhelming majority of customers of the AP agree that AP does an outstanding job with the small amount of money it charges newspapers,” says Singleton

What the AP has done is move with the times.  In the 1990’s they started to diversify their revenue streams. Instead of relying on print revenue they branched out to video and online news.

While many in the print news industry are laying off staff, AP’s strategy has enabled it to keep its staff complement steady since 2000.  On the other hand one in four media jobs have disappeared since 2000 putting the industry at a 15 year low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since May 2002, when U.S. measured media spending began to recover from the last recession a majority (11 of 19) media stocks have fallen.

Newspapers account for half (82,800) of media jobs lost since 2000. One in four newspaper jobs have disappeared since newspaper employment peaked in 1990.

Internet media companies, including search engines and web portals, had a 13.4% jump in jobs last year.

It’s time for a hard look at the new face of news and your media relations strategy. There is a new narrative for PR on the horizon