Worrying About The Newspaper

Like several other newspapers across the country, the local daily paper has announced another round of staff cuts. The move will probably help the paper’s bottom line, but it will do little to improve morale on Tucker Boulevard.

Circulation and advertising are flat — or worse. Shares in the newspaper’s parent company are trading near their lowest levels in a quarter century. It is no longer unthinkable that there might come a day without a daily printed newspaper in St. Louis.

This is a bad trend — for the newspaper’s many employees and their families, for the region’s image and business, and for people who read newspapers to understand what’s going on. This trend is certainly not unique to St. Louis. Daily newspapers are struggling almost everywhere. But, the Post-Dispatch is a major downtown employer and it has my attention.