Ad Revenue and circulation is falling and people are suggesting that the Barclay Brothers, owners of The Daily Telegraph are going to sell up. The Daily Mail has made 400 employees redundant and people are continuing to deny the need to sell. However there aren't many buyers out there. The Mail reported a 19% fall in print ad revenue while online ad revenue soars. The Brothers are continually trying to save as much money as possible but a growth in revenue seem almost impossible. Crowdfunding for Journalism has also seen a rise in the US.
o The Mail reported a 19% fall in print ad revenue
o The Telegraph still makes between £45 - £60m a year.
I think that Proprietors are still failing to see what is happening to the print news industry, may are leaving it to late to sell the companies and make a profit while they can while giving someone who can potentially help the company build more of an online base, which would be extremely difficult given how late to they game they will be. Furthermore there is a failure on both sides, the institutions and the audience, to recognise the fact that journalism cannot solely be free. Audiences need to understand that in order to get quality news stories, professional paid journalist have to be paid, it can't just be a hobby. On the other hand the institutions need to understand that due to the news being free since the rise of the internet, they cannot just use paywalls, because people simply won't pay for the same content that they can get for free, especially when the unique and exclusive aspect is not guaranteed. The reason they are finding it hard to sell newspapers to both customers and newspapers is that people can consume the content elsewhere and business owners know that the industry is in a decline.
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