The Catalyst Code

The New York Times surprised analysts Thursday with a small loss instead of the anticipated roughly $24 million in quarterly profits. Today’s Wall St. Journal paints a miserable picture for the graying lady as well Media General and the Tribune on Page B1 (subscription only, see http://online.wsj.com for related news).

For anyone, including the billionaires who were thinking of buying these properties, this should make it pretty clear that the traditional newspaper industry really is going into a death spiral. These results expand the problems we discussed last month when a survey showed that people don’t read newspapers anymore.

Something will survive of this old industry, but it is becoming increasingly less clear just what. See “Tomorrow’s News Today: Strategies for Survival” for more thoughts on what can be done.