• June 19, 2001

(AP) - Media executives issued somber predictions Monday on newspaper advertising prospects for the rest of this year, with most forecasting continued weakness amid uncertainty over the direction of the economy.

In the first day of a midyear media conference sponsored by Gannett Co. Inc., executives of three leading companies said they saw no end this year to the advertising slump. A fourth said he believes the downturn has reached its lowest point and that advertising could pick up in the third and fourth quarters.

Also at the conference, Knight Ridder, the nation's second-largest newspaper publishing company after Gannett, said its previously announced plan to cut costs would mean eliminating 1,700 jobs.

The conference got under way three days after North America's largest newsprint manufacturer said it will trim its price by $25 a metric ton, effective July 1.

The announcement by Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. marked its second $25 cut in recent months, reversing a series of price increases by newsprint makers that began in late 1999.

While media executives said they were encouraged by the newsprint price drop, their concerns about the advertising decline dominated the first day of the conference.

"This year the downturn is caused by the economy," said Tony Ridder, Knight Ridder's chairman and chief executive.