Now, news organizations, as all industries, face a new economic threat. But this time, local publishers are without the last leg they had to stand on in advertising dollars from local businesses now forced close to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Gannett, among the largest local newspaper owners in the country, announced today that it would not pay workers making more than $38,000 for one week per month through June; The Tampa Bay Times is reducing its print schedule to two days per week while its newsroom continues to aggressively cover the virus; and alt-weekly owners with publications in multiple cities, like Euclid Media Group, have had to lay off huge chunks of their staff.

“The industry was in a weak financial position before COVID-19,” said News Media Alliance president and CEO David Chavern. And then whole advertising categories—like travel, local restaurants and local theater “completely disappeared,” he added. “This is not advertising that necessarily national publishers get. It’s what still sustains local news publishing.”

This is now the fourth week of the coronavirus squeezing the U.S., and publications at the local level—alt-weeklies and newspapers—are starting to feel it. These are the business models on the front lines of tragedy.

Overall employment in U.S. newsrooms decreased by about 25% between 2008 and 2018, according to Pew Research. Local newspapers saw the greatest decline in that period with a 47% decrease in jobs.

“Before this public health crisis, most local news organizations were struggling with the massive disruption to their business models resulting from digital transformation. Now, a number of these local news organizations—both legacy ones and digital startups alike—are in even greater peril, with advertising and events revenue plummeting because of the coronavirus crisis,” said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean and professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

This crisis has led to a surge in traffic to many publishers’ websites, but without a real pathway to monetize that traffic.

Despite this, some local news organizations like The Seattle Times, The Tampa Bay Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Chicago Tribune are seeing an uptick in digital subscriptions, according to an analysis by the Local News Initiative, an effort to “reinvent the relationship between news organizations and audiences” led by Franklin at the university.

But bumps in digital subscribers, Chavern said, are not making up for the losses in ad revenue, which local publishers are forecasting to decrease by 30% to 50% this quarter.

“We’re going to have to do two things: We need to figure out how to get our way through this COVID-19 crisis, and then we need to relook at how we rebuild a business model for the long term,” he said.

Cleveland Scene, an alt-weekly with news coverage that competes with the Advance Publications-owned publication in town, The Plain Dealer, generates 75% of its advertising from places where people gather, like music venues and restaurants.

Ohio’s aggressive move to ban large gatherings cut off the outlet’s advertising pipeline, putting a chokehold on its events business. For example, it was just days away from a brunch tasting with 30 local restaurant partners, selling more than 800 tickets, when the coronavirus swept in. Cleveland Scene had to postpone the event and give refunds to ticket holders, and has stopped printing with its newsroom now down to just three journalists, after its parent company had to (hopefully) temporarily lay off about 70% of staff among its alt-weeklies in five states.

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