The Dallas Morning News this week laid off another 43 writers,editors, photographers and newsroom personnel as the industry as a whole continues to see drops in print advertisements and circulation.
At least 36% of the largest newspapers across the United States experienced layoffs between January 2017 and April 2018, according to Pew Research Center.
Some insist newspapers are not dead, but the way they've done business for 100 years is.
“You're only really seeing that in the biggest papers and the big chains who are struggling with funding pensions, funding healthcare, servicing debt and making investors happy,” says Wanda Cash, journalism professor at University of Texas-Austin.
Cash says the trick for publishers is keeping up with digital media while continuing to add daily subscribers.
“Why are we paying for it? Because we want journalism. And we can't get journalism unless we pay for it,” she says.
“Somebody has got to pay for the reporters who are going out and bringing us the stories that we need to know about that affect our lives and our pocket books.”
She says many of those laid off from big city papers are now taking positions at smaller, hometown outlets which are somewhat immune to the 24-hour news cycle.