Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette Decline of the Newspaper Publishing Industry

Declining Circulation and Revenue

Status of Leading Newspapers

Reasons for Decline in Circulation and Revenue

Economic Factors

Political Factors

Demographic Factors

Technological Factors

Porter's Model

Strategies adopted by different Companies

Steps to be taken by the Chronicle Gazette

Form a Website

Minimize Cost and Increase Efficiency

Organization Structure

Adopt Digital Technology

Susan Feiman is the publisher of The Chronicle Gazette, which is one of the most prominent newspapers of the United States. It has gained huge popularity among the people and is being circulated at high levels. This newspaper is recognized as a top class newspaper and the work of its writers has been highly appreciated. However, there has been a great decline in the circulation and subscription of the newspaper for the past few years. In the past eight years, the subscription of the newspaper has fallen to a great level and because of this downfall in the subscription of the newspaper; the advertising revenue has also declined. This decline in the subscription and revenues is affecting the entire publishing industry. Even the great newspapers such as the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are suffering.

Goal of the Report

The basic goal of strategic planning is to be aware of the external environmental changes such as the economic, political, social and governmental changes, which can affect the newspaper industry and prepare the organization to deal with these changes. At this age of rapid change, the business industries should take necessary measures and adopt certain strategic policies which could help them survive in the changing environment.

Another important goal of strategic planning is to provide useful suggestions and steps to the Chronicle Gazette so that it can improve its subscription and circulation. It will go through the current and future position of the United States newspaper industry and will also focus on the points that have led to the downfall of the industry. It will provide the detail on what strategic policies different companies are adopting in order get over the losses they have faced by considering both the external and internal factors which are affecting the industry and the circulation of the newspapers. The paper will provide The Chronicle Gazette ways through which it can improve its position and circulation.

Decline of the Newspaper Publishing Industry

The newspaper publishing industry is facing a severe decline in its subscription and circulation due to the internet revolution. The newspaper publishers are facing serious challenges due to destabilizing consequence because of the growing popularity of the internet. One of the major reasons for this downfall is that the news that was traditionally controlled by the newspaper industry is now freely available to the public through online websites. The people are no longer interested in buying a newspaper as they can get all the information and news through the online websites without any charges.

Declining Circulation and Revenue

The newspaper industry is declining faster than any other industry in the United States. This decline of the newspaper industry is due to the internet revolution and the advancement in technology that has diverted the people's attention from the out of date newspapers to the online websites providing latest news and information.

The major reason for the crisis that the newspaper industry is going through is due to the immense decline of the nation's economy which has highly affected the distribution and circulation of the newspapers. The total advertising revenue of the newspapers fell 16.6% in 2008, due to the increasing trend of online advertising. All the profits of the newspaper depend on the sales and distribution of the newspaper. In order to increase the profits, the newspaper industry should come up with some creative and beneficial strategic policies.

Over the past few years, the readers of the newspaper are more attracted to the online websites. A large number of people are using internet free of cost to get access to news and information. Due to the increasing demand and popularity of the internet people are able to reach almost anything they are looking for without even paying any charges. The news about anything and everything is easily available online. The majority of these sites do not charge any fee for providing news online. As a result, people are more attracted to these online websites and the number of people willing to pay for the newspapers is decreasing which is badly affecting the newspaper industry.

The rapid following of the internet has severely affected the circulation of the newspapers. People are no longer interested in buying newspapers as they can get all the news and information through online websites. The rate of decline in the circulation of the newspapers was 2% in 2002 which increased to 7% and the situation became worse in 2008. Due to this major decline in the advertising and circulation of the newspapers, many newspaper publishers have taken steps to get over this downfall. Most of the newspapers have made their own websites and are publishing all the news content on these sites. They have changed their policies according to the new trends in the market. They also publish news online but some of it is not for free. News on sports, entertainment or political issues is easily accessible by anyone without any charges but these online websites do charge some fee for some articles, journal or editorials. The internet websites of the newspapers has gained a lot of costumers as almost all the newspaper content is available on the website so the people give preference to the free online websites where everything is easily accessible without any charges. These are the major reasons which have contributed to the popularity of internet as a source of news and information.
(Lardinois, 2009)

Status of Leading Newspapers

Among the most famous newspapers of the United States are The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal stands among the highly circulated newspapers. It was published by Dow Jones & Company and is owned by the News Corporation. This newspaper has changed its strategies according to the growing popularity of the internet.

USA Today is also one of the major newspapers of the United States that is owned Gannett Company. The newspaper has also been circulated at the international level. The U.S.A. Today had a huge circulation in 2010 but it faced an immense decline after this time period and the number of customers decreased to a great level.

The New York Times is also considered as an important newspaper of the United States. It was published and owned by the New York Times Company. This newspaper also had a huge circulation on daily basis as well as on the weekend basis. Its circulation also declined to a great extent because of the emergence of the internet technology which sidelined these newspapers.(Young, 2011)

Reasons for Decline in Circulation and Revenue

The major reason for the downfall of the newspaper industry is the growing interest of the people in getting all the latest news and information through the internet. There has been a major shift in the newspaper following in the United States. This shift in the newspaper following has contributed to the worries of the publishers, which has eventually damaged the whole publication of the newspapers.

Economic Factors

Due to the accessibility and low costs of these online websites, different companies are giving preference to online advertising rather than print advertising. Another major reason for the loss of costumers and circulation is that the publishers have increased the costs of their newspapers. Some of the publishers have adopted the policy to supply their newspapers to those areas only which are more profitable to them and from where they could get maximum benefit. They have limited the circulation of the newspaper to far off places due to high delivery charges. The advertisers are also contributing to the downfall of the newspaper industry in a way that they are lenient towards managing the cost that is spent on the printing and publication of the newspaper. This effects the economic position of the company to a great extent. The smaller newspapers suffer to a large extent which eventually forces them to shut down the newspaper.

Political Factors

The ownership and governance of the newspapers in the United States is controlled by the major cities. Even the government is not playing fair with the newspaper industries. All the political parties are giving preference to the online websites for their campaigning and advertisement and are not very supportive towards the newspaper industry.

Demographic Factors

The major demographic factor for the downfall of the newspaper industry is that the youngsters have gone for the online websites and are no longer interested in the printed news. A number of websites are available online which can provide them any information that they are looking for. Even videos related to the news are available on these online sites which is the major source of attraction for the youngsters. Moreover, women are also no longer interested in reading newspaper which has been a major setback for the…