 "Photo: Steven Gold")
The journalism industry has been a collateral damage victim of the current economic situation. In an attempt to cut costs, companies have significantly reduced advertisement spending, the lifeline of all newspapers and magazines, by 2.6 percent in 2008. A further 13 percent reduction is predicted for 2009, according to The Wall Street Journal. This, in conjunction with decreased paper circulation and increased online usage, has made it harder for publications to keep afloat.
This national trend is becoming more locally visible.
Michael Pollock, editor in chief of Out and About Magazine, based in Wilmington, said his publication has found it hard to attract advertising from new clients.
"Every month is a challenge to just hold on to the clients that we have already advertising," Pollock said.
Since the magazine is free, advertisement is vital. While the publication is always looking for ways to reduce fixed costs, it has not yet had to go through cutbacks.
The Newark Post has not been as lucky. Mark Corrigan, assistant editor, said in an effort to alleviate the amount of money the newspaper was losing, staff was cut.
"As of present there are only two reporters in Newark, the chief editor and myself," Corrigan said.
The newspaper is planning to run advertisement specials and have promotions to increase the subscription rate. It will also do everything in-house to keep costs down, as freelancers can be more expensive at times.
But the newspaper may have trouble retaining its paper circulation. Pollack said more and more people are going online and getting the content for free. This in itself would not be a major problem if advertising was as equally distributed in print as online and had the same value.
"You just don't have the same impact on advertisement as you have in a paper edition," he said. "You don't have full-page ads or half-page ads, you just have banners."
Pollock believes some type of business model has to be established to make revenue.
"As an industry we have been so slow to react, trying to wish the Internet away," he said.
Matt Sullivan, general manager and editor of Spark Weekly, produced by The News Journal, agreed.
"Online is a faster medium, but the advertising world hasn't quite caught up to that yet in terms of value," Sullivan said.
Pollock said advertisers still view print ads as better, despite the fact the online ads could potentially reach a greater audience and be more effective at communicating their information.
Thus, publications are left without an ability to effectively tap into this new market and get the much-needed revenue from advertisement spending. Despite these difficulties, publications acknowledge the importance of having a presence online and integrating their Web sites with their paper editions. Spark already offers more content on its Web site than in the magazine.
"Our photo galleries in print may have 10 photos, whereas online, they may have 40," Sullivan said.
He also points out the online version of the paper incorporates searchable databases, links and maps as well as direct feedback from the readers - features impossible to recreate in print editions. Because of this, their online circulation attracts thousands of readers each week.
"All people need information - it's just a matter of how they're getting it," Corrigan said. "So there will always be a need for qualified people to gather that information, put it into a coherent form and distribute it."
Pollock agrees and believes this creates a venue for trusted news sources.
"The Internet has created more garbage to sift through," he said. "Anyone can say whatever they want."
Pollock also points out the similarity between the journalism and music industries. He believes they are both art forms that suffer from weak business models. With 99-cent songs and free articles on the Internet, the people who create each respective art form are finding it hard to sustain themselves.
"Bands aren't making as much money from albums as they used to," Pollock said. "But that doesn't mean there won't be any more bands."
He believes it is the same with journalism - it won't die out as an art form. The business side of it will just need to be restructured.
Sullivan, in turn, views things from a historic perspective.
"People have been writing about what happened last week since writing started," he said. "So journalism will survive millennia past the point we're all dead."
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