The Changing Face of Online Newspapers

Newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are sensing a major shift in advertising revenues online according to Businessweek. As one example, in 2006, bread-and-butter classified ad dollars grew to $5.9 billion online vs. $5.4 billion for newspapers. Sites like Craigslist and Monster are the reason for that shift.

As a result, online and print staffs are being consolidated with information regularly passed back and forth. The WSJ's approach is to publish breaking news online and reserve news analysis for its print edition. Of course, the latency of print news has already been felt since TV news networks like CNN started breaking news, and newspapers could only report the events a day later.

Newspapers may have to prepare for shrinking and even negative growth in the years ahead. The New York Times has been trying to fight this trend by trying to remain relevant by incorporating social media elements and building in more online features. That might not be enough to halt the losses. Consolidation has been listed as a possibility along with partnerships with online ad giants Google and Yahoo.

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