Journalism vs Advertising at the LA Times

Tribune owned LA Times recently announced layoffs, just after winning a couple of Pulitzer prizes according to this story by Jacques Steinberg.

"Look at USA Today; how many Pulitzers have they won?" Mr. Janedis added, singling out the flagship of the Gannett chain, which has yet to win one. "But they sell a lot of advertising and get good rate increases."

The article also compares major publisher cashflow margins (from Banc of America Investment Securities):

• Tribune's publishing division: 25.9%
• Gannett: 31.3%
• Lee: 27.4%
• Journal Register: 27.3%

Lee publishes the local Wisconsin State Journal and co-owns the federally sanctioned monopoly (newspaper joint operating agreement: whereby overhead and advertising are shared among two or more "competitors"): Capitol Newspapers.

Posted by James Zellmer at June 14, 2004 9:46 PM | Subscribe to this site via RSS:
Posted to Business | Media