Newspapers missed chances to slow their decline

In Costly Mistakes for the American Journalism Review, former newspaper reporter turned industry analyst John Morton argues that many of the steps U.S. publishers took to counter falling advertising revenues in the run-up to the recession only made things worse. His analysis is sharp and remains a must-read for anyone following the newspaper industry.

High margins, short horizons

Morton points out that corporate publishers demanded margins of 20 percent or more from their papers. This was unsustainable.

Family-owned papers had traditionally worked on closer to 10 percent margins, still a healthy return that brought owners influence and prestige along with profit. Owning a paper was lucrative, but the greater rewards were power and status.

Corporations, however, chased higher returns. To keep margins fat, they cut investment and hollowed out editorial quality. By the time the internet arrived, publishers assumed they could leverage their media assets into digital businesses and keep the money flowing. They were wrong.

Online struggles

As print declined, newspapers looked to the web for salvation. But online performance lagged badly. Research from NAA Nielsen found U.S. newspapers accounted for less than one percent of the time users spent online. While huge numbers of readers visited newspaper websites, few stayed long or read deeply.

Writing for Nieman Journalism Lab, Martin Langeveld said publishers needed to grow their online market share rather than erecting barriers. He argued that paywalls and fights with aggregators risked driving audiences away, further shrinking relevance.

Paying for loyalty

Paywalls may strengthen ties with a small core of loyal readers, but at the cost of scale. The risk is that newspapers swap mass reach for narrow influence, losing their role as central public forums.

The industry’s obsession with margins in print and its missteps online meant publishers missed opportunities to adapt. By prioritising short-term profit over long-term sustainability, newspapers undermined both their business model and their place in society.

Story updated 07 09 2025 to reflect its historic nature. Originally written 24 12 2010.