Print Media Gone in 10 Years?

The other day on "Montana Talks" I mentioned this story from Last Best News, and how the parent company of The Billings Gazette and other major Montana newspapers has been forced to let go of even more employees.

But, as I shared the story on the show, I forgot to mention what I thought was the most interesting nugget in the story.

Per Last Best News:

The move would be a further geographical reduction for a newspaper that once boasted of having the largest circulation area of any daily newspaper in the United States, in terms of papers delivered directly by carriers.

The proposal, reportedly, is to draw in the boundaries of its home-delivery system, no longer providing that service in Wyoming, and in Montana going no farther west than Columbus or farther east than Glendive. Some subscribers in outlying areas also would lose home delivery two days a week.

Why do I find this interesting? Cutting services and increasing rates- sounds like liberal government!

It seems these newspapers, whose own editorial boards typically lean to the Left, are making the same decision many Left-leaning politicians would make. When faced with declining revenues, their natural response is to try and increase rates. The Left-leaning politicians want to raise tax rates, and the Left-leaning papers want to increase subscription rates.

Conservatives know that if you lower tax rates, you actually increase revenue due to the expansion of the economy.

Speaking of newspapers, apparently the CEO of The New York Times says print journalism could be dead in 10 years (h/t The Drudge Report).

As CNBC reports:

"I believe at least 10 years is what we can see in the U.S. for our print products," Thompson said on "Power Lunch." He said he'd like to have the print edition "survive and thrive as long as it can," but admitted it might face an expiration date.

"We'll decide that simply on the economics," he said. "There may come a point when the economics of [the print paper] no longer make sense for us."