As the Big Newspapers Founder, Small Community Papers are Growing Despite the Economic Decline

The Christian Science Monitor reports: " ... The National Newspaper Association (NNA) last month reported on a study that showed community newspapers were far less affected by the challenging economy than the industry in general (or the economy in general, for that matter). The Suburban Newspapers of America and NNA's reporting group showed 2008 fourth-quarter advertising revenue of $428.7 million, only a 6.6 percent decline from the same quarter in 2007. The Glennco Consulting Group estimate was much worse, however, for the overall newspaper industry. There it showed decline in fourth-quarter advertising expenditures of 21 percent, according to the NNA. So while advertisers cut their spending by 21 percent across the industry, the impact to community newspapers was less than 7 percent.

"In addition, 26 percent of the SNA/NNA reporting group launched new products in 2008. Indeed, many community newspaper companies are growing. The fact is that gains among progressive community newspaper companies are offsetting a large part of the massive losses being suffered by the staid, big newspaper companies. ... "

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0506/p09s01-coop.html