Financial information recently obtained and analyzed indicates several newspaper publishing corporations are in deep trouble and face default within several months. Dramatic declines in advertising revenues may force several noteworthy newspapers to go into bankruptcy and possible cease publishing as early as the opening months of 2009. Among the newspapers reportedly in serious financial hardship include such longstanding famed publications as the Chicago Tribune, the San Jose Mercury-News, the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and, here in the Mountain Time Zone, the stalwart Denver Post. Having been a reader of the Denver Post for over a quarter of a century, it is quite evident the newspaper is in serious decline. Leadership of the paper under editor Greg Moore has been seriously wanting and staff defections and departures are an almost daily occurrence. Content has been cut noticeably, local news has become more limited, and investigative indepth journalistic reports have all but disappeared. The number of pages in the news and other sections has seen a steady reduction, as entire sections have disappeared or been merged into other sections. The decline in the number of pages in the classified section has been overwhelming, as it can be estimated to be in the area of more than 6o % most days, particularly on Sundays, the big day for classified advertising content. The only part of the classifieds that seems to have held up is the motor vehicle portion.=
These developments are not surprising, as newspapers nationally have seen a stark decline in circulation in recent years with the rise of the internet and other alternative media. Classified advertisements have moved over to websites that are much less expensive and often free, as is the case with the Craigs List website which offers a detailed variety of classified advertisements for all kinds of goods and services for every city of any size, all 50 states, and international locales. Readership is almost exclusively limited to persons over the age of 45, as one never sees a youth or younger adult with a newspaper anymore. It will be interesting to follow these developments in the coming months and see if the worst case scenarios and ramifications eventuate.
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