Newspapers Need News To Make Money: So That's Why They're Called Newspapers

We here at The Measurement Standard are always interested in news about the news media, and when that includes research and some ironic conclusions -- well, it hardly gets better than that. A new edition of This Is True arrived a couple days ago, featuring this gem:

DEPARTMENT OF THE OBVIOUS: A study by the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism finds the reason newspapers are losing money is they've cut too much of their newsroom staff. "If you invest in the newsroom, do you make more money? The answer is yes," said Prof. Esther Thorson. "If you lower the amount of money spent in the newsroom, then pretty soon the news product becomes so bad that you begin to lose money." (Reuters) ...Unfortunately there are so few reporters left, no one was able to go more in depth on this story.

(Reprinted with permission from the weird news publication This is True with permission from the author. Copyright 2007 Randy Cassingham.)

You can read more about this research and Professor Thorson at this page on the Missouri School of Journalism site. And if you find yourself longing for more bizarre-but-true news of the ironically humorous variety, This Is True has got plenty of it, featuring author Randy Cassingham's pithy and opinionated commentary.