With a new digital age where news can be accessed through a phone, the black and white dailies are losing readership and moving to the Internet.
Some papers may have to make the tough decision of budget cuts and newspapers are feeling the crisis. The San Francisco Chronicle and the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado are two of many daily newspapers that are being sold as a result of the economic downfall.
According to a January article in the New York Times, The Gannett Company furloughed over 30,000 employees in order to prevent lay-offs.
The FSView & Florida Flambeau, Florida State’s newspaper and an affiliate with Gannett, was affected by the furlough, where during the month of March, the staff writers were advised to take an unpaid week off due to budget cuts.
“Being owned by Gannett, we are subject to the furlough program,” said Chris Lewis, general manager for the FSview. “Luckily, spring break was a great time to take some time out of the office,”
San Francisco serves as the 14th largest city in population, the San Francisco Chronicle is ranked the 12th largest newspaper in the country.
“Newspapers have been losing ground with readers in the United States since the 1960s,” said Bob Gabordi, executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat. “There was a steady decline in both the number of newspapers and overall readership.”
According to the New York Times article, the San Francisco Chronicle is one of many major papers facing closure.
The Capital Outlook, a local Tallahassee newspaper, has had to cut down expenses on their production costs, but has not lost any readers in the community.
“Most of our readers are African- American, so our readership is steady, but with the economy on the decline, we have to increase our cost to pay for printing,” said Roosevelt Wilson, editor-in-chief of local newspaper, the Capital Outlook.
Recently, Capital Outlook has increased the cost of their newspaper from 25 cents to 50 cents. To subscribe yearly, the cost has increased by $10, totaling $40.
“We have cut down the newspaper size to reduce the amount of spending,” said Associate Editor of the Capital Outlook Stephanie Lambert. “There is no more B section and we have cut down the word count to fit in more articles.”
With the increased price of newspaper, loyal newspaper readers are exploring alternative ways such as reading news online.
Local resident Angela Ward, 45, said she does not purchase newspapers anymore.
“I prefer to read the newspaper online because you don’t have to pay for a hard copy, I can check it at my desk in the morning without having to stop at the newspaper stand everyday,” Ward said.
College students also like the idea of the accessibility of online newspapers and blog sites.
“Newspapers are a thing of the past because they aren’t interactive,” said Charles Rollins, 22, from Jacksonville. “People today want to have two-way communication with the reporters, the network, and the other bloggers.”