THE print media in USA, arguably the strongest in the world, is passing through a rather gloomy period. Financially they are all very solvent. But the people involved with the industry do not visualise a bright future. Every newspaper in the country is trying to digitise its contents with websites, blogs, video and podcast, New York Times (NYT) in an article said last Monday. A recent survey revealed that average Americans spend more time online, on the phone, and on radio than they do on sleeping. A paper is static product. It does not move 24 hours a day as other media do, updating incidents as they occur. The wind of change has started to catch on the print media. Print media together have announced 700 job cuts in the coming days. The papers which will bring down the number of staff strength include such major dailies like the Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, the Philadelphia Daily News, the Baltimore Sun and Newsday. The Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have eliminated jobs. The problems worrying the news industry are credibility gap, the stagnation of revenue, drop in circulation and costs going up. The circulation has shrunk by 30 per cent in many newspapers. The future of the print media is being blocked rapid expansion of the internet. The newspapers stock in the Wall Street is sliding downward. Papers are bolstering their web sites, building internet offerings and produce audio feeds. Newspapers maintain some inherent advantages. Despite a drop in circulation they still reach a wider audience. About 52 per cent of adults read newspapers and 39 per cent watch prime time tv. Newspapers still continue to be profitable and 12 major newspapers posted 21 per cent operating margin.
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