A very long time ago, when I was an editor at the Rapid City Journal, the publisher called a staff meeting that included all departments. That was a very rare thing. In the meeting, the publisher described the rising cost of newsprint, declining circulation and declining advertising rates. As a consequence, profits were down slightly, he said. There would be no Christmas bonuses that year. Two people in the newsroom got the axe. People who retired, plant wide, were not replaced. Management memberships at Arrowhead Country Club, were maintained, however.
Today, Lee owns the newspaper and they've posted a whopping profit for the last quarter. But the reality is that the trend is a continuing decline in advertising revenue and circulation. Read it here.
The Internet has proven to be a formidable problem for newspapers around the country and Lee's papers are no different. One wonders what would happen to today's newspapers if they actually contained objective journalism.
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