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The price of paper has doubled this year and publishers are freaking out that their print magazines and newspapers are in jeopardy
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The price of paper has doubled this year and publishers are freaking out that their print magazines and newspapers are in jeopardy

Publishers are getting seriously concerned about the soaring cost of paper

Lara O'Reilly
Business Insider UK, 2022
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For the last decade, the media has offered abundant predictions that – given the rise and rule of digital communications – print would soon be no more. Despite this doomsaying, print publishing still contributes a significant share of revenues and profits to newspapers and other publishers. Now a scarcity of paper and its high price make the survival of publications a supply chain and cost issue, as Lara O'Reilly reports in the Insider. In the United Kingdom, print publishers are already lobbying the government for support. Any policymaker, print consumer or publisher should take note – if you can find a piece of paper.

Summary

Paper scarcity and high prices threaten the survival of print media.

Newsprint prices jumped in 2022 to about double 2021 levels. In prior years, even large price jumps were only a fraction as much as this recent one-year increase. To cope, newspaper publishers face the difficult choice of cutting pages, increasing prices or both. Some Gannett papers have shut down their print editions entirely in favor of digital versions. 

A strike in Norwegian paper mills further constrained supplies, exacerbating the problem in Europe. Meanwhile, the ongoing Russian-Ukraine hostilities boosted energy costs in Europe because Russia formerly provided about two-fifths of its natural ...

About the Author

Lara O’Reilly is Senior Correspondent covering advertising, media, tech and business at Insider Inc.

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