Continuing decline at LA Times

We've written often here on the decline of traditional media, largely due to media fragmentation. One of the major players that is in particularly desperate shape is the Los Angeles Times. Crain's Chicago Business reports here on the efforts of Tribune Company to salvage its biggest property.

In our previous comments, we've noted that newspaper ad revenues (and rates) have continued to climb, even as circulation has dropped, and wondered how long that can continue. If anecdotal data can be believed, it may have something to do with the Times' problems:

"Our ad revenues grew 8% last year and our movie category grew, too," says LA Weekly Publisher Beth Sestanovich, a former advertising director at the Times. "We've got a lot of advertisers defecting from (the Times) and sending a piece of what they were spending there to us."

Ms. Sestanovich attributes the Times' advertising problems to ad rates that have become more expensive relative to the Times' sinking circulation.

Ad buyer Kathy Gardner of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Palisades Media Group shares those pricing concerns: "I don't think the circulation justifies what they charge."