Newspaper share value fell $64B in ’08

Alan D. Mutter looks at the numbers from 2008:

In the worst year in history for publishers, newspaper shares dropped an average of 83.3% in 2008, wiping out $64.5 billion in market value in just 12 months.

Although things were tough for all sorts of businesses in the face of the worst economic slump since the 1930s, the decline among the newspaper shares last year was more than twice as deep as the 38.5% drop suffered by the Standard and Poor’s average of 500 stocks.

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Government aid could save U.S. newspapers, spark debate

Connecticut lawmaker Frank Nicastro sees saving the local newspaper as his duty. But others think he and his colleagues are setting a worrisome precedent for government involvement in the U.S. press.

Nicastro represents Connecticut's 79th assembly district, which includes Bristol, a city of about 61,000 people outside Hartford, the state capital. Its paper, The Bristol Press, may fold within days, along with The Herald in nearby New Britain.

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2009: The year media groups default on lending deals?

Analysts are predicting that 2009 will be the year that an increasing number of companies will default on their banking covenants - and there are already signs that newspaper groups could be among those to hit the rocks.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s predicts that at least 60 European companies will go back to their lenders and ask for more flexibility as revenues tumble and debt levels rise.

European newspaper publisher Mecom has already won a two-month reprieve from its lending banks and has until the end of February to get back within its covenants.

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KCK’s Kansan to go online, end print newspaper

General Manager Drew Savage said in an interview that switching to an online publication would save on overhead and allow for more investment in electronic media. In addition to eliminating the print publication, Savage said the paper would cut some of its staff of eight, but he declined to say how many employees would lose their jobs.

Despite those cuts, Savage said the Kansan would continue to thrive. Rather than see the move as the death of a newspaper, Savage touted it as the birth of a new medium.

“We thought maybe this is a trend that could be really viable,” he said. “It’s the wave of the future. … We’ll be launching a different platform. We’ll have a lot more content than we have ever had.”

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Newspaper publisher Lee inches toward default

Lee Enterprises (LEE.N) got some extra time to work out an agreement to pay its debt, even as auditors questioned the U.S. newspaper publisher's ability to continue operating, a violation of its borrowing terms.

In its annual report, filed on Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Lee said it does not have enough cash flow to meet its requirements for 2009 operation

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2008: The Year Newspaper Stocks became worth less than the paper they were once printed on

How bad was 2008 for the newspaper industry in the United States? E&P calculated the stock price movements, and massacre doesn’t fully describe it:

GateHouse, down 99.55%
McClatchy, down 93.6%
Lee Enterprises, down 97.3%
Journal Register Co., down 99.58%
Media General, down 92.47%

Gannett Co which owns non-newspaper assets as well as newspapers dropped 80% and the New York Times Company was the best performer losing only 59% of its value. Notably the Dow only dropped 36% for the year.

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St. Joseph News-Press enters new year on solid footing, but change is a certainty

Dennis Ellsworth writes:

Now in our 164th year, the News-Press is proud to be locally owned and operated. Our publishing ventures in St. Joseph and the surrounding region are built on service to local readers and advertisers; we believe this a critical difference that has positioned us for continued service for years to come.

It’s worth noting that in the middle third of the country, the News-Press ranks second in readership of its weekday editions and fourth for its Sunday editions. The News-Press is welcomed into more than 55 percent of the occupied homes during the week and into more than 61 percent on Sundays.

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Papers shrink or vanish in western Colorado

The newspaper downturn continues to deepen locally as several publications in western Colorado have shuttered or announced workforce reductions.

The Aspen Times cut its staff by 20 percent over the past two months and will stop publishing on Sundays after this week, according to a publisher's note on the paper's website Wednesday.

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AsianWeek to cease print publication Friday

AsianWeek, an influential force politically and culturally for San Francisco Asian Americans for 30 years, will publish its final print edition on Friday, another victim in the shrinking newspaper industry.

AsianWeek will continue to publish online, at www.asianweek.com, and produce special editions about Asian American business, professional development, heritage and other issues and will still host events, but the print edition is going away because of economic realities, Ted Fang, editor and publisher, said in an interview Wednesday.

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