Five daily newspapers lose print and Web readers

Today we examine five metro daily newspapers featured in our first YouTube episode as publications lacking stable readership both online and in print. All five of these newspapers are losing print readers and seeing drops in online readership. The five newspapers are the San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Dallas Morning News, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Chicago Sun-Times.

What follows are brief recaps of recent industry news involving these five newspapers that are performing poorly according to our monthly power rankings system. Scooping the News is not saying all five newspapers will shut down or go online only. Instead, we are predicting that one of these five newspapers will become the nation's next big metro daily to close or move to an online-only format.

1. San Francisco Chronicle (a Hearst newspaper) -- Hearst is in the process of trying to figure out whether online access fees can save the newspaper. This comes after an announcement by Hearst that the newspaper may close or be sold unless it can cut expenses. Earlier this year, stories appeared about this newspaper maybe going the non-profit route. That fad is over.

2. The Philadelphia Inquirer (a Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC publication) -- Much like the big three automakers in Detroit operated up until recently, this newspaper is giving its executives big-time bonuses and wondering why it's experiencing such massive financial problems. This newspaper's owner spent part of this year in bankruptcy court.

3. Dallas Morning News (an A.H. Belo newspaper) -- This newspaper's owner is laying off employees and cutting the salaries of those that remain. Former Dallas Morning News reporters are now applying for jobs at weeklies, which is opposite from the path many journalists used to take in their newspaper careers. Weeklies used to see their reporters leave for jobs at dailies.

4. The Atlanta Journal Constitution (a Cox Newspapers, Inc. publication) -- This newspaper announced earlier this spring that its cutting 30 percent of its full-time news staff and ending distribution to at least seven counties. This newspaper recently kicked off a new marketing campaign that says its superior to local media. How will this increase readers and revenue?

5. Chicago Sun-Times (a Sun-Times Media Group newspaper) -- This newspaper's owner is also in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Newspaper employees are seeing their wages cut and participating in unpaid furlough days. The bottom line is this newspaper is losing readers and advertising dollars to other online news sources.