Newspapers Accepting Ad's on Front Pages

Last Friday David Hiller (Publisher Los Angeles Times) announced, in a company wide message, that the second quarter of this year was the worst experienced by the Los Angeles Times. As a subscriber and thirty-five year pressroom employee at the newspaper, it was rather apparent advertising was off the mark by the smaller products we produce.

My feelings are mixed with the addition of advertisements on the front-page of the Los Angeles Times. A part of me does not want to see this happen, until I look at the twenty-seven percent drop in cash flow, which makes me agreed completely with this new way of generating revenue.

The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, and The Contra Costa Times have already begun inserting advertisements on their front pages, and the Tribune President of Publishing (Scott Smith) has announced that the Chicago Tribune will start accepting front page ad’s on three different sections this week. This will hold true at all Tribune Company newspapers, with the advertisements to be in full color at 1-½ inches deep across the bottom of the front page.

Funny how history repeats itself, newspapers in years gone by, always carried advertisements on their front pages, so this is really nothing new to the newspaper industry.