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‘USA Today’ Loses Publisher amidst Falling Revenue, Circulation

USA Today president and publisher Craig Moon is stepping down, effective April 17, at a time when advertising and circulation is down significantly for the newspaper - and papers across the country are in crisis.

Ad revenue at the Gannett paper fell 18.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period the previous year, according to Editor & Publisher.

USA Today has lost about 100,000 subscribers from the slowdown in travel alone, reports the Wall Street Journal. The paper has lost more than 7% of the number of copies it distributes through partnerships with hotel chains such as Marriott - and those partnerships account for more than half its circulation: for the six months ended Sept. 28, USA Today’s circulation was 2.3 million, with 1.3 million of those distributed at hotels, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Moon is leaving the newspaper, after 23 years with Gannett, to explore investment opportunities in the media industry at a time when values are way down. He does not view his departure as a rat deserting a sinking ship because he believes the paper continues to have the workings of a successful business.

Despite that optimism, Gannett expects ad revenues to fall as much as 35% in the first quarter.

The newspaper industry is facing an absolute plague of challenges. Ad revenue, already declining, has plummeted as the recession takes firmer hold on the country. Newspaper groups like Tribune Co., Journal-Register Co. and the Philadelphia Newspapers group, unable to meet their large debt payments, have announced bankruptcy at a steady clip since the end of 2008. The Sun-Times Media Group, parent of the Chicago Sun-Times, is the latest bankruptcy victim.