Newspapers in both the United States and Europe are considering seeking public support as their print editions struggle with plummeting revenues, rising costs and declining circulations. Closures and lay-offs have gone much farther in the United States than in Europe. But European journalists, aware that it may be their turn next, are sounding the alarm before the tidal wave that is washing away U.S. jobs and newspapers rolls across the Atlantic.
On March 25 the EU Observer reported European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) appealed to leaders of the European Parliament to include ‘journalism survival’ in their campaigns for EU-wide European Parliamentary elections due in June. In their letter to the Parliament’s members, EFJ President Arne Koenig and General Secretary Aidan White write:
‘The debate must not focus only on communications policy or technical issues arising from the technological convergence of telephony, broadcasting, print and digital media. These are important, but the critical and historical challenge is to confront the future role of media in contributing to democracy, pluralism and public engagement in the political life of Europe.’
The EFJ specifically wants to meet leaders of pan-European parties to debate the future of journalism, the ways that media pluralism can be ensured and to try to ensure that the future of the media is included in new European Commission programs. The EFJ wants to draw attention to the issue now, rather than after financial strains have reduced the number and variety of European newspapers.
The European media face some different challenges from their American counter parts, not least because of substantial government funding for public television and radio. As ‘new media’ outlets expand, public broadcasters are putting their content in web-based portals that compete with private media for advertising. The BBC, for instance, which is largely financed by compulsory user fees in its domestic UK market, publishes competitive news online with paid advertising. Groups such as the EFJ and the European Publishers Council are concerned that commercial operators throughout Europe will be unable to compete for advertising revenues with heavily subsidized public broadcasters.
A recent report ‘European Newspapers Find Creative Ways to Thrive in the Internet Age’ in the New York Times describes a slightly less dire situation than the EFJ suggest. In fact, it reports that German Publisher, Axel Springer, which owns the biggest-selling newspaper in Europe, the daily Bild, has reported the highest profit in its 62-year history. The article says that European newspapers rely more on reader revenue than fickle advertising revenue and have been able to keep afloat by raising cover prices.
European companies have also been finding creative ways to thrive in a changing media environment. Norway’s VG Nett, which is affiliated with the popular Norwegian tabloid, Verdens Gang, rivals Google in Norway and has a profit margin of nearly 30 percent. It does this through charging for services such as a $90-a-year weight-loss club, a pay-for-upgrade social networking site and streaming soccer games. Newspapers in other European countries, such as Denmark and Belgium, have in various ways resisted the entry of Google News into their markets. In France some papers are kept alive by public subsidies. In the ultra competitive British market, the New York Times reports that local newspapers are disappearing at an alarming rate and that even the national papers are struggling to maintain and increase revenues.
In the United States, Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) recently introduced a Newspaper Revitalization Act that would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, to help avert “a real tragedy.” As quoted in a Reuters report published in the Washington Post, he says:
‘We are losing our newspaper industry…The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy.’
Cardin’s bill, aimed at preserving local and community newspapers, has yet to attract any co-sponsors, but has aroused plenty of interest in the media. The proposal would offer newspapers similar status to public broadcasting companies. They would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns, but they would be barred from making political endorsements. Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.
In recent months, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Baltimore Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle have ceased daily publication or announced that they may have to stop publishing. In December the Tribune Company, which owns a number of newspapers including The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times filed for bankruptcy protection.
Two newspaper chains, Gannett Co Inc and Advance Publications, announced employee furloughs in March – the second this year at Gannett – and the Christian Science Monitor is shifting to an online publication with one print edition per week. Further shrinkages around the country were reported in an AP dispatch published in the Washington Post: in Michigan, the Ann Arbor News is to shift to an online only format, while the Flint Journal, the Bay City Times and the Saginaw News will appear only three days a week. The Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) and The Charlotte Observer (NC) will together lay off 130 employees, a small portion of the 1,600 their owner McClatchy Co. plans to shed.
The following useful web page offers brief summaries of European media policies and finances, and major news outlets, on a country-by-country basis.
