54,200 newspaper, magazine jobs gone since 2003

Newspapers and magazines have lost 54,200 newsroom jobs since 2003, according to Pew Research. Newspapers lost 16,200 full-time jobs; magazines were hit harder, axing 38,000 jobs.

Blame it on a reader shift to digital media, which newspaper owners failed to get in front of while clinging to century-old strategies. That contributed to the evaporation of classified and display advertising, the heart and soul of newspapers’ existence.

When I retired from the Beacon Journal, there were 200 or so in the newsroom. Today, about 60 jobs have survived, and cutbacks to even that sparse supply keep happening. 

Worse, the most valuable and experienced reporters and editors are the ones to go, because they cost the most.

More than half the media Washington bureau jobs are gone, which must make politicians delirious. The watchdogs slinked away, whimpering.

While 54,200 were slashed from newspapers and magazines, internet-based news jobs added less than 5,000. So nearly 50,000 journalists went elsewhere, or just went away.

To read the article, click on http://washingtonexaminer.com/pew-54200-newspaper-magazine-jobs-axed-since-2003/article/2549876