Newspaper circulations and advertising are dropping, so after layoffs, shrinking the page size and reformatting the paper to offer more charts, and less actual reporting, along with other cost-saving initiatives, what should newspapers do? Raise the newsstand price.
So if readers are feeling they’re receiving less value…the New York Times and Wall St. Journal are both raising their prices. Check out: “N. Y. Times to raise newsstand price to $1.50: Increase in Monday-Saturday newsstand cost will take effect Aug. 18.”
By the way, last week, the Wall St. Journal said it will raise its newsstand price to $2.00 — up from $1.50 — starting July 28. The reason: higher costs and new content. Not sure what the new content is, but the Journal also raised the annual subscription rate to its online version earlier this year from $49 to $59. Not sure what higher costs are impacting the online version — can’t be newsprint, gas for delivery vans, etc. Please let me know what the new content is…