”There is no commercial, viable model for local news,“ American Journalism Project co-founder John Thornton says
Local newspapers are taking a beating as the novel coronavirus rips apart the American economy and ways of life — with some facing an existential crisis as the duration and severity of the pandemic and its aftermath remains unknown.
Just in the past few weeks, numerous local papers have folded, laid off staff or cut back operations as advertising — the foundation of papers’ revenue — has disappeared with the closures of local restaurants, bars, shops and event venues.
Continue reading
Join WrapPRO for Exclusive Content,
Full Video Access, Premium Events, and More!
St. Louis’ Riverfront Times laid off nearly its entire staff last week because of dwindling advertising and a loss of revenue from now-canceled events. California’s Monterey County Weekly, meanwhile, laid off one-third of its staff. C&G Newspapers, a Michigan publishing group, suspended the publication of 19 of its print papers, while D.C.’s Metro Weekly and Las Vegas’ Gaming Today suspended their print editions. And Pennsylvania’s Trib Total Media laid off staffers and combined two Pittsburgh-area editions in what president Jennifer Bertetto called “a temporary adjustment in reaction to extraordinary circumstances.”
Even before the pandemic began, many local papers had struggled to stay afloat following “deep cuts in staffing, in circulation and in advertising,” said Joshua Benton, the director of Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. According to a 2018 study done by the University of North Carolina’s journalism school, almost 1,800 local papers have shut down since 2004.
But now, facing a global pandemic, Benton said that these “temporary savings” — the furloughs, temporary salary cuts or, in the worst cases, layoffs — may be “as good an option as they have,” since the alternative would be to shut down a publication entirely.
Also Read: BuzzFeed to Reduce Employee Pay, CEO to Forgo Salary Due to Coronavirus Pandemic
“Local papers were in much more robust shape heading into the last financial crisis than they are today… There aren’t a lot of good choices for newspaper owners right now. They’re facing a shock decline in advertising revenue, up to 90% in some cases,” Benton said. “A major shock to the system, like coronavirus, could certainly be what leads some owners to think there isn’t a profitable or sustainable way forward and shut things down.”
For John Thornton, the co-founder of the American Journalism Project and the Texas Tribune, the plight of local papers during this pandemic offers further proof of the deep flaws in the advertising revenue model that has funded most papers for decades.
“The newspaper industry has been addicted to advertising for 150 years,” Thornton said. “It’s been sort of a happy accident for 150 years that the newspapers that we relied on as a democracy had been able to run based primarily on advertising. That just is no longer true.”
Also Read: Trish Regan Out at Fox Business After Coronavirus Comments
Though some papers have turned to a reader subscription model as an alternative revenue source, Thornton cautioned that this wasn’t the best option for most outlets.
“The problem with subscriptions as a replacement is, number one: About a dime for every dollar in advertising that gets lost gets gained back in subscriptions,” Thornton said. “Number two: The information that people really need in a situation like this should not be placed behind a paywall anyway, because everybody needs access to coronavirus information. So if in your proposed solution to the disappearance of advertising is, ‘Well, we’ll just charge people for the information,’ this crisis is just showing how little sense that makes.”
Addressing the growing desert of local news outlets, Thornton said, will require rebuilding “a civic news infrastructure that is truly funded by the people” that would be a combination of membership programs “a la public radio,” corporate underwriting and philanthropy. “The key component, we believe, is these got to be thought of as civic organizations, not commercial organizations,” Thornton said. “There is no commercial, viable model for local news.”
Also Read: More Than a Quarter of Big Newspapers Had Layoffs in 2018
But before this transformation occurs, what can consumers do to help more immediately? Thornton suggested becoming a member of a public radio station — many of which are doing well in “these communities where newspapers are going away,” he said — and donating to a program like NewsMatch, which pools together local and national donations to support roughly 200 nonprofit newsrooms.
Benton, meanwhile, said subscription purchases are still the way to go.
“If someone wants to support their local newspaper, the single best thing they can do is buy a print subscription. Newspapers still make the majority of their money off the print product, even though that’s the part of their business declining the most quickly,” he said. “The next best thing would be to buy a digital subscription, which is usually significantly cheaper but helps a paper get further along in the digital transition they all need to make. Besides that, read it, support the advertisers who help fund it and share their good work with your friends — both so they can gain value from it and so they might be convinced to subscribe as well.”
Assistance may come from outside help. On Monday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged $100 million to help support news outlets who have seen their businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Zuckerberg said the company wants to emphasize assisting local news outlets in particular, and has committed $25 million in “emergency grant funding.” Details on how news organizations can apply for the grant funding have not yet been made.
20 Movies With Extremely Happy Endings to Make You Forget All About the Pandemic (Photos)
-
Hey, uh, are you all OK? Because we know it's not a relaxing time, what with the ever-worsening coronavirus pandemic and everything being locked down. But if we're gonna make it through... however long of isolating at home with our sanity intact, we need to stay positive. And we have just the thing for that! Just watch one of these movies with extremely happy endings, every single one guaranteed to leave you feeling so upbeat and genuinely awesome that you'll forget all about covid-19. Coronavirus, schmoronavirus, we say!
-
"Babe" (1995): Ugly cry-smiling when James Cromwell says "that'll do, pig" doesn't boost antibodies, but if does make you feel damn good.
-
"Back to the Future" (1985): Marty fixes his life and his parents' lives with time travel. Then we get a SUPER DOPE sequel hook. And then comes Huey Lewis and the News at their artistic and commercial peak to make you feel so good you won't care about a statewide lockdown.
-
"Bridesmaids" (2012): New friendships made, old friendships saved, a romantic comedy romance for our heroine, then the cast lip syncs to "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips and it rules so much you don't mind sheltering at home for a month.
-
"Bring It On" (2000): The Compton Clovers win the tournament, Isis (Gabrielle Union) and Torrence (Kirsten Dunst) become friends, The Toros' second-place finish still feels like a win because they did it without cheating, and then the cast mimes a cover of "Hey Mickey" that's so much fun who cares if society is crumbling.
-
"Chef" (2014): This is a great movie if you want to remember the Before Times, when we could still leave our houses and eat street food. You also get a dance party in the closing credits. Take that, end times anxiety.
-
"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" (2009): Tim FINALLY shows real affection for his son and then Flint and Sam kiss. No, I'm not coughing I'm crying.
-
"Dora and the Lost City of Gold" (2019): Nothing makes the pandemic blues fade like a great movie that also does an affectionate parody of "Dora the Explorer" tropes, then ends with an amazing musical number that basically recaps everything we learned.
-
"Fast Five" (a.k.a. "Fast & Furious 5") (2011): "Come on, baby. Don't be mean." Cue millions of dollars and a montage of our heroes living THAT life set to Don Omar's "Danza Kuduro." THEN Dom and Brian do a street race set to Omar's "How We Roll." Hell yeah, we roll like this!
-
"Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" (1993): Wait, the two dogs and their kitty friend make it home alive and Chance learns to love his family? Shut up! I'm not crying; you're crying. I SAID SHUT UP! I AM NOT CRYING!
-
"Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!" (2018): It's already one of the greatest movie musicals of all time before the ending turns into a totally insane sing along to Abba's "Super Trouper" featuring the older characters dancing with their younger selves, the ghost of Meryl Streep, and CHER!!!!
-
"Pitch Perfect" series (2012-2017): All three of these perfect movies are perfect but the third in the series ends with a staggering performance of George Michael's "Freedom '90," and then the romantic loose ends are tied up in the credits. Pandemic depression cured!
-
"Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping" (2016): The criminally underappreciated masterpiece from The Lonely Island is nonstop hilarious, and then Michael Bolton shows up at the end to sing "Incredible Thoughts." Also, the picture here is the world's cutest kitten just hugging a dog, which you'd know if your brain was a genius.
-
"The Princess Bride" (1987): That really was the best kiss of all time.
-
"Ratatouille" (2007): You know this movie is great and you know the end is great. Seems like now would be a great time to watch it again, doesn't it?
-
"School of Rock" (2003): "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n' Roll)" by AC/DC is indisputably the best rock song ever recorded. And Jack Black and the kids play it at the end of this great movie.
-
"Shazam!" (2019): By far the best movie not called "Superman: The Movie" to be based on a DC Comic. If you didn't yell "Hell Yes" and embarrass yourself in the theater when the thing depicted in the image above happened, you need a hug.
-
"Sing Street" (2016): Awesome songs, a great coming-of-age story, then we end with a truly cathartic bittersweet moment of hope for the future and the successful pursuit of one's dreams. For instance, I dream of being able to leave the house again.
-
"To All the Boys I've Loved Before" (2018): This is a pretty good kiss, too.
-
"Trolls" (2016): When Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick sing "Can't Stop the Feeling" to turn the Bergens into happy dancing party people your mood will be dramatically improved, and I know because in November 2016 I saw this three times in the theater because, for some reason, I needed cheering up.
-
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971): "Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted." "What's that?" "He lived happily ever after." Just like we will once this whole thing is over.
Self-quarantine more like self-quarantastic
Hey, uh, are you all OK? Because we know it's not a relaxing time, what with the ever-worsening coronavirus pandemic and everything being locked down. But if we're gonna make it through... however long of isolating at home with our sanity intact, we need to stay positive. And we have just the thing for that! Just watch one of these movies with extremely happy endings, every single one guaranteed to leave you feeling so upbeat and genuinely awesome that you'll forget all about covid-19. Coronavirus, schmoronavirus, we say!
Lindsey Ellefson
Media reporter • lindsey.ellefson@thewrap.com • Twitter: @ellefs0n
J. Clara Chan
Media and politics reporter • jclara.chan@thewrap.com • Twitter: @jclarachan