All the News That Fits

You get what you pay for, right? Not necessarily in the newspaper business.

The New York Times announced today that its newsstand price will rise to $1.25 from $1 beginning in July. Its Sunday edition will jump to $4.00 from $3.50, and home delivery rates will increase as well.

The paper says the price hikes will add between $14 million and $16 million in additional annual revenue.

And what will the reader get in exchange for that 25 percent daily price increase? A smaller paper. Beginning in August, the Gray Lady will shrink by an inch and a half in width. The new size means smaller photos, shorter stories, and tighter headlines.

All for an extra quarter a day.

Paying more for less might seem ill-advised in any other industry with a shrinking customer base, but this is the newspaper business we're talking about.

In January, Dow Jones & Co. sliced off three full inches from the Wall Street Journal, losing an entire column of content from the formerly wide-bodied version.

And how does Dow Jones reward the readers who have stuck with it through all the changes? By increasing prices by a full 50 percent, to $1.50 a copy at newsstands from $1.

Less for more. Time will tell if such moves will attract the coveted young readers ignoring newspapers today.

So far, the very audience that should welcome the news seems unimpressed by the strategy: Shares of the New York Times Co. slipped in afternoon trading.

by Megan Barnett