Happy Monday

Worst year ever?

If you're a newspaper company, it just might be. The New York Times looks at the numbers and talks to the analysts and finds rot everywhere it turns:

For newspapers, the news has swiftly gone from bad to worse. This year is taking shape as their worst on record, with a double-digit drop in advertising revenue, raising serious questions about the survival of some papers and the solvency of their parent companies.

-snip-

“It’s going a lot worse than anybody predicted, and if we have double-digit ad declines for two years, some newspapers will be in real financial jeopardy,” said Edward Atorino, an analyst at the Benchmark Company. Even with less severe losses, “You’re going to see structural changes: papers could drop a day or two per week, they could outsource printing.”

There's also more talk of bankruptcies and this mind-blowing factoid: The San Francisco Chronicle is losing $1 million a week.

Grab a stiff drink and read the rest of the story here.