PRINT MEDIA CAN'T BLAME IT ALL ON THE INTERNET

There's been a lot of talk lately about how the Internet is hurting traditional print media. But this story tells something different. In the first nine months of the year subscription revenue was down only 3.6% but ad revenue was down 27%. More significantly, the Post's online income was down 12%. That's not the Internet's fault. You can't even blame it on Craigslist which has been going a lot longer than nine months.

Washington Post - Third-quarter profit at The Washington Post Co. rose 68 percent compared with the same period last year, as the flagship newspaper trimmed losses and the company's education and cable businesses kept growing. . .

The company's newspaper division, which includes The Post and several smaller papers, lost $23.6 million in the quarter, bringing 2009 losses to $166.7 million, compared with losses of $178.3 million through the first nine months of 2008. Like most newspapers, The Post was hit hard by the recession, which further eroded advertising revenue, already in decline for years.

Ad revenue at The Post was down 28 percent on the quarter, from $97.2 million in the same period last year to $70 million this year. Over the first nine months of the year, print ad revenue at The Post was down 27 percent.

Revenue at The Post's online division, mainly Washingtonpost.com, was down 18 percent on the quarter, from $27.4 million in the same period last year to $22.6 million this year. Over the first nine months of this year, online ad revenue was down 12 percent.

Daily circulation at The Post was down 3.6 percent for the first nine months of the year, and now stands at 600,800. Sunday circulation was down 3.7 percent and is now 840,100.