Book Review: “-30- The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper” edited by Charles Madigan

“-30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper” is a collection of 16 previously published articles and essays which document the steady decline of the print newspaper industry. Journalists, social commentators, and industry experts provide background on the history of newspapers, the forces that have contributed to its near demise, and what the extinction of this industry would mean to the American citizenry.

In the introduction, editor Madigan (2007) asks the question, “What is killing the big-city newspaper?” (p. 5). Madigan (2007) explains that the purpose of the book is to determine why the print newspaper industry is in such dire straits and why it should be considered an American tragedy. All 16 contributors offer distinct and decisive viewpoints on how to answer that very question.
Articles by Neiva (2007), Hickey (2007), Shapiro (2007), and Wolff (2007) explain how changing tax laws and the shift from family-owned to publicly traded companies initiated the downward trend in which Wall Street analysts exert tremendous pressure on newspapers to increase their profits to satisfy shareholders each year. This pressure to increase profit and lower costs results in layoffs, buyouts, the closures of foreign bureau offices, and, in some cases, a lackluster editorial product.

The popularity of radio and television in the 1960s and direct mail advertising cutting into print newspapers’ advertising base are the main topics in Meyer’s (2007) article. Edmonds (2007) writes about how classified advertising, the economic engine of the print newspaper has declined considerably and shifted toward the Internet, specifically Google, Craigslist, and Monster. Smolkin’s (2007) piece about the New York Times and its sister property the Boston Globe covers how both papers merged their print and online newsrooms as a result of both declining circulation and advertising revenue. The article by New York Times columnist Carr (2007) describes how the combination of classified advertising’s shift to the web and the sale of its parent company has led to massive layoffs at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, his hometown paper. Auletta (2007) writes about how the Tribune Company’s purchase of the Los Angeles Times led to constant cost-cutting, outsourcing, and a decline in quality news reporting.

Shafer (2007) cites the migration of residents from the city to the suburbs who tend to gravitate to more local suburban dailies, changes in work and commuting patterns, and the waning quality of the editorial product as reasons for declining national newspaper readership and circulation. Plothow (2007), editor and publisher of Idaho Fall’s Post Register contributes a brief piece about how small town dailies are surviving and doing innovative work in both their print and online editions.

In an article about the Tribune Company, Smolkin (2007) notes that while circulation for print newspapers continues to decline, competition from the Internet continues to mount at an alarming pace. Epstein (2007) explains why America still needs its print newspapers and examines how the Internet and the blogosphere have been shaping the news.
Nichols’ (2007) commentary highlights the important role that print newspapers still play in politics, especially at the local and state levels. Nichols (2007) admits that the web devotes much more attention to politics than print newspapers do but reminds the reader that most of the political articles found on the web are written by former or current print reporters.
Mindich’s (2007) article offers several solutions on how to engage young people by using the Internet to promote the importance of reading the news. Some of Mindich’s (2007) suggestions range from petitioning the federal government to insist that computer manufacturers and web developers add news portals to computers desktops to news consumption and political involvement becoming a requirement to admission into the National Honor Society.

All 16 articles are concise, very well written, and provide critical input about the state of the print newspaper industry from many different perspectives. Every article cites statistics that are depressing yet it is the passion of the contributors that leaves the reader with the impression that the industry is in a state of emergency and immediate action must be taken to save it. Each article has a short preface that provides background on the author, which provides a framework for the article and helps the reader understand the author’s perspective. Since the articles are written by reporters, the tone of the pieces are more journalistic than academic which makes the reading engaging for people who know very little about the industry.

The contributors prove Madigan’s (2007) argument that the decline of the print newspaper industry is an American tragedy by detailing the history and decline of newspapers, citing gloomy statistics, and reminding readers how American papers have been and remain a critical part of our democracy.

This volume of work thoroughly explores every mitigating factor that has contributed to the decline of the American newspaper. The articles not only answer the question that Madigan poses in the introduction but, a few pieces also offer solutions and a glimmer of hope for an industry that is on the brink of extinction.