The frontrunner for the Most Depressing Media Post of 2009 easily belongs to PaidContent and its assertions that U.K. newspapers are going to bear a brutal year.
The old business model is dead, it asserts. Rather than sensible belt-tightening, 2009 will be a year of consolidation and closings and the clear shift of a permanent shrinkage of the business. Digital is small and stalling, print advertising is evaporating, and synergies are hard to find.
Yes, Happy New Year.
