Former Newseum Director Peter Pritchard Sees Downward Spiral for Dailies

Former editor of USA Today, and recently-retired director of the Newseum, Peter Pritchard will speak Tuesday evening at the Wadsworth Mansion in the first Party with a Purpose of 2009, sponsored by the Middlesex County Community Foundation. I spoke with Pritchard Saturday, and the entire interview will be featured on Eye on the Air, Friday January 29, WESU, 88.1 FM (wesu.org) from 1-2 PM.

Pritchard is not sanguine about the survival of daily print newspapers.  As a former editor, and longtime journalist, he sees a downward cycle in which loss of readership and advertising, creates loss of staff and coverage, which in turn results in lower readership and less advertising.

"The transition to digital delivery is just wrenching," Pritchard said.  "The problem is economics. They just can't get enough revenue from their digital products to replace the revenue from their print products.  That's the main problem and I don't see it getting better anytime soon."

Pritchard sees the loss of traditional sources of advertisng as being a major factor for local dailies.  He points to the merger of retail chains as being a loss, as fewer stores meant fewer ads.  In addition, the creation of Craigslist meant that a regular, and profitable revenue stream was gone.

"They lost unbelieveable amounts of revenue that they used to get from classified advertising," Pritchard said.   "At one point it was almost 40% of overall revenue for some newspapers.  They also have a problem because they never charged enough for the actual print edition.  As a result they never had enough revenue from circulation.  They should have started raising prices years ago."

Pritchard sees the result of web-based news sources, and the resulting loss of revenue as a tsunami that has touched virtually every newspaper in the country.

"Everybody is suffering to some degree.  It's hard to find a newspaper in this country that isn't smaller than it was ten years ago," Pritchard said.

Pritchard is quite certain that the hunger for information will not disappear.  He thinks we will be less likely to get that information from a general interest source like a daily newspaper, and instead find it in a variety of sources, some which will be linked to our partisan leanings.

"We could be heading for a future where there are a multitude of electronic sources, very little print on paper situations and people will get their news from all kinds of electronic distribution sources, and all kinds of views," Pritchard said.

To hear more of Peter Pritchard's thoughts on the demise of the newspaper, attend Party With A Purpose at the Wadsworth Mansion Tuesday, and listen to Eye on the Air, WESU-FM, Friday.