This is an article about a very successful private wealth manager (his company controls over $30 billion in assets) who is quite confident that Newspapers will do well.  He has large stakes in many of the companies (Gannett, Knight Ridder, NYTimes Company), valuing multiple billions of dollars.  This article explains why he is confident that they will survive the new challenge coming from the internet (and other media), and the financial returns that he hopes to realize.  Although not the focus of this article, many journalists have been quick to point out that newspapers play an important social role--especially on the local level--and they have such prestige that it will be difficult for them to be replaced.  Indeed, names such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal are some of the strongest, most reputable brands in the nation.

This article talks about job cuts at the Tribune Company’s papers. More broadly, it outlines the problems currently facing the aging media companies and how they are reacting to new challenges and market pressures. Perhaps one of the most interesting issues that this article brings up (written in the form of a dialogue) is the fact that even though newspapers are profitable, and their profits generally continue to grow, since they are seen as ultimately on headed towards demise, investors are not flocking to them. Rather, they head towards internet and other new media sectors, which they see as ultimately taking the place (financially, if not socially) of newspapers. The article, however, doubts that newspapers are own their way out.

This article is very informative on the workings of the newspaper industry.  It mentions that what distinguishes Knight Ridder from other newspaper companies is that the founding family does not retain control through supervoting stock, as is the case at companies such as The New York Times, Belo, and McClatchy.  According to the article, many Wall Street analysts believe that print newspapers are slowly dying, under relentless pressure from new media companies such as Google, which offer advertisers more efficient and cost effective ways of reaching their target audiences.  The article also alludes to the pressures that Wall Street puts on newspapers to cut costs; for some editors within the position, this has been anathema to them, for they argue that news content will surely suffer if given fewer resources.  This is the standard problem for publicly traded media companies: those in charge of business operations want to maximize profit, whereas those in charge of editorial content want to great the best product possible.