{"id":13599,"date":"2015-05-22T10:26:02","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T15:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/the-declining-value-of-u-s-newspapers\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:20:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:20:07","slug":"the-declining-value-of-u-s-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/05\/22\/the-declining-value-of-u-s-newspapers\/","title":{"rendered":"The declining value of U.S. newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past two decades, major newspapers across the country have seen a recurring cycle of ownership changes and steep declines in value.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The San Diego Union-Tribune was the latest example of this, as it <a href=\"http:\/\/investor.tribpub.com\/investor-relations\/press-releases\/press-releases-details\/2015\/Tribune-Publishing-Company-Completes-Acquisition-of-The-San-Diego-Union-Tribune-And-Its-Portfolio-of-Nine-Community-Weeklies-and-Related-Digital-Properties\/default.aspx\">officially changed ownership hands<\/a> Thursday for the third time in six years. This most recent purchase came from Tribune Publishing Co. for the amount of $85 million (including nine community papers). Still waiting for a buyer is the 96-year-old New York tabloid the Daily News, which owner Mort Zuckerman put on the sale block this spring. But there seems to be far from a stampede of interested buyers.<!--more--><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Steep revenue and circulation declines across the newspaper industry have left many newspapers struggling. Over the past decade, <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2015\/04\/29\/newspapers-fact-sheet\/\">weekday circulation has fallen 17%<\/a> and ad revenue more than 50%. In 2014 alone, three different media companies decided to spin off more than 100 newspaper properties, in large part to protect their still-robust broadcast or digital divisions.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos may have stunned many with his $250 million purchase of The Washington Post, which was last sold at auction in 1933, but other recent sales of major papers show dramatic devaluation and suggest a tough road ahead for the newspaper industry.<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/05\/22\/the-declining-value-of-u-s-newspapers\/pj_15-05-20_newssales_rev6\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-270079\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f1f0f0\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f1f0f0;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"1248\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/05\/PJ_15.05.20_newsSales_REV6.png?resize=480,936 480w, https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/05\/PJ_15.05.20_newsSales_REV6.png?resize=640,1248 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" class=\"wp-image-24979 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/05\/PJ_15.05.20_newsSales_REV6.png\" alt=\"Newspaper Sales\" ><\/a><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past two decades, major newspapers across the country have seen a recurring cycle of ownership changes and steep declines in value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"apple_news_api_pending":"1713063798","relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[332,349,346],"bylines":[987,983],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[527],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-13599","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-media-industry","category-newspapers","category-state-of-the-news-media-project","bylines-amy-mitchell","bylines-katerina-eva-matsa","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-journalism"],"label":"Short 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