Coronavirus-Driven Downturn Hits Newspapers Hard as TV News Thrives

The coronavirus outbreak has had a major impact on the U.S. economy, wiping out five years of growth in the second quarter of 2020.2 The news media have responded to these financial pressures with new closings and layoffs, adding to those that have already occurred over the last several years -thoug...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2020
Main Authors: Barthel, Michael, Matsa, Katerina Eva, Worden, Kristen
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Industry
Pew Research Center
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:The coronavirus outbreak has had a major impact on the U.S. economy, wiping out five years of growth in the second quarter of 2020.2 The news media have responded to these financial pressures with new closings and layoffs, adding to those that have already occurred over the last several years -though the government's paycheck protection loans program may have provided some relief. But not all sectors, or organizations, have been affected equally. Newspaper companies have been hit especially hard. Among the six publicly traded newspaper companies studied -major chains that own over 300 daily papers -advertising revenue fell by a median of 42% year over year (i.e., comparing the second quarter of 2020 with the second quarter of 2019).3 By contrast, total ad revenue across the three major cable news networks was steady overall, but there were sharp differences between the networks: While ad revenue for MSNBC and CNN declined by double digits, Fox News Channel's revenue rose by 41%.