Because of the clamor about the growth of e-media and its consumption of print profits, few people actually pay attention to some telling signs that print is still making money. Today's New York Times piece on Knight Ridder's upcoming auction is one such sign. Knight Ridder is one of the healthiest paper chains in the country, averaging 22% to 26% profitability on its publications. As the NYT points out, even pubs that have their shares of trouble, such as the Mercury News who suffered the burst of the tech bubble, earned a $20 million profit. Said one professor, "There's a fear that this is a dying industry, when in fact it's an industry that has an unrivaled mandate, a franchise, in hundreds of cities across the country and in local news, and it has some of the strongest brand names in the country." Newspapers are the oldest of print media and have been the primary target of the death-of-print alarmists. E-media, like any other advancement, is a complement to the media portfolio. It will just take time to settle into balance.
posted by Steve Ennen
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