Signs of The Times

If the New York Times is the indicator of the health of our industry, falling ad revenues are sign that the worst is yet to come. No paper is immune to the decline in both readership and economic health the country is experiencing. Just a few years ago, it seemed all people wanted to talk about was how to get more individuals to read the news. Now the Internet has provided us with all the news we can swallow, but the discussion has turned to how to keep the news that is important coming.

A talk at the newspaper I am interning at yesterday announced a buy-out for retirement age workers in an attempt to reduce payroll costs. The paper simply can't sustain the cost to revenue ratio, like many others have already found. It was somewhat surprising to me that this was the first talk that had been given, the first offer to retirement age or almost retirement age employees to leave their posts for sunnier climates.