1. The Newspaper Industry in a State of Flux -- 1. The Newspaper Business is Alive -- 2. The Changing Newspaper Industry as Research Topic -- 3. Research Question -- 4. The Research Project -- 2. The Economic Fundamentals of Newspaper Publishing -- 1. Newspapers: Economies of Mass -- 2. Economies of Scale and Cost Structures of Newspaper Firms -- 3. Minimum Efficient Scale and Concentration of Newspaper Ownership -- 4. Circulation and Advertising Markets as Mass Markets? -- 5. Pricing and Revenue in Newspaper Markets -- 6. Drivers of Newspaper Profitability -- 3. The Industrial Context of Newspaper Firms -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Suppliers -- 3. Technology -- 4. Distribution -- 5. Labour and Unions -- 6. Financiers -- 7. Newspaper Economics and Government Policy -- 8. Competition in Circulation -- 9. Competition in Advertising -- 10. Potential Competitors -- 11. Summary -- 12. The Business Model Under Pressure -- 4. Vertical Integration and Horizontal Mergers and Acquisitions -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Business Definition -- 3. A Framework for Mapping Ways of Expansion -- 4. Vertical Integration -- 5. Horizontal Integration/Concentration -- 5. Expansion Strategies of Newspaper Firms: Diversification and Innovation -- 1. Diversification Activity of Newspaper Companies -- 2. Concentric (Print-Related) Diversification: Weekly Newspapers, Shoppers etc. -- 3. Conglomerate Diversification I: Broadcasting -- 4. Conglomerate Diversification II: Cable-Related Diversification -- 5. Innovation and New Business Development -- 6. Conclusion -- 6. Change of the Newspaper Firm in the 1990s (and Beyond) -- 1. Current Status of the Newspaper Industry -- 2. Rebuilding the Newspaper Publishing House -- 3. Issues Concerning Strategic Change -- 4. Barriers to Change -- Epilogue -- Appendices -- A. Data Gathering -- • List Of Interviews -- • Methodological Note -- B. Topic List Interviews -- C. Economies Of Scale: An Empirical Investigation In The Netherlands -- D. Local Newspaper Markets In The Netherlands -- E. Minimum Efficient Scale In The Netherlands -- F. Diversification Of Newspaper Companies -- G. Interview Extracts.

Newspapers: A Lost Cause? describes the recent history of newspaper firms in the United States and The Netherlands, and attempts to assess the chances of survival of the printed newspaper. The changing competitive media landscape and the challenges of today's newspaper organisations, including the impact of the Internet on the news industry, are described and analysed. The author argues that although the printed newspaper will not be replaced overnight by (new) competing media, the traditional business model of newspapers is being eroded slowly but steadily. A healthy newspaper industry and prospering newspaper firms can only exist, if management - including journalists and marketeers - focus their attention on changing the newspaper organisation and capitalise more intensively on its core assets and skills.