Relatively stable newspapers?

I think the Democrat-Gazette head honchos feared people would drop subscriptions if they told the subscribers they're giving iPads to that they're raising rates. It's enticing to say "You keep subscribing at your current rate and we'll give you an $800 iPad." $36 a month is pretty reasonable I think for a strong newspaper that's still a fairly good size every day.

 

At many papers one/third of the subscribers are 70 and over. The median 2016 income for households for Americans 65-74 was $47,432. For Americans 75 and above it was $30,365. So a newspaper that costs approximately $36 a month is one percent of the income of seniors. And given the proclivity of publishers to increase circulation rates every year the bite is going to get bigger. Newspapers are pricing themselves out of existence.

I acknowledge the price increases are a form of triage and that the papers are dying anyway.

 

With that kind of annual expense, readers better get the best reading experiences and stories.

 

N.C. State, baby!

 

8 p.m. deadline, baby!