• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 5, 2008

The round of bad news from big newspaper publishers' fourth quarter and January results continued this week with the announcement by E.W. Scripps that its newspaper division saw revenues fall substantially in 2007. Total newspaper revenues--including joint partnerships--fell 8% to $659 million, compared to $716 million in 2007. In 2007, newspaper revenues accounted for just 26% of the company's total revenues, down from 34% in 2005.

In its form 10-K filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Scripps summed up the industry's woes, noting that "our traditional media businesses face substantial competition for advertising revenues with non-traditional digital media," and adding "we may not be able to protect intellectual property rights upon which our business relies."

Indeed, Scripps has plenty of company in the newspaper business doghouse. In recent weeks, the Washington Post Company reported an 11% drop in print ad revenues in the fourth quarter of 2007 to $129.6 million, compared to the same period of 2006. The company's full-year ad revenues dropped 13% to $496.2 million. The company's Newsweek division saw ad revenues fall 13% to $288.4 million.

McClatchy said that revenues declined 14% in January 2008 to $176.8 million, compared to the same month in 2007. The decline was due mostly to a 16% drop in advertising revenue. Looking ahead, CFO Pat Talamantes said: "We were disappointed in our revenue performance in January, and foresee similar performance during the rest of the quarter."

Gannett said January revenues fell 7.5% to $575.4 million compared to 2007, as newspaper advertising revenues fell 9.2% to $371.4 million. The company's broadcast division also suffered a 6% decline in revenues.