The ongoing threat to world health posed by COVID-19 has had some unexpected impacts on the health of the U.S. news media, according to new figures. And they track well beyond the economic impact on the economy, which saw five years of growth wiped out in the second quarter of 2020 alone.
Newspapers saw ad revenue plummet 42 percent in q2 2020 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Circulation dropped by 8 percent. National TV news, however, moved largely in the opposite direction. Ad revenue for the nightly network newscasts grew by 11 percent. Cable news was a case study in extremes, with a 27 percent decline in revenue at MSNBC more than offset by a 41 percent increase at Fox News Channel. Courtesy The Pew Center.