The erosion of the local newspapers as a news source. Managing the crisis: letting go or fighting back?

This study examines the erosion of local newspapers as a news source. The context of a worldwide economic and editorial crisis caused both by the paradigm shift from analogic to digital media and by the financial depression is considered. The paper consists in a review of wide-ranging global trends, a national market overview and a narrowed, exploratory study, focused on regional dailies. The applied study focuses on three important media outlets from Iaşi, the capital of the Romanian Moldavian region: “Ziarul de Iaşi”, “Evenimentul” and “Bună Ziua Iaşi”. It examines the dimensions of the local Romanian newspapers’ crisis as depicted by the editors-in-chief and as a result of print and online stats analysis. Managerial and journalistic challenges in times of downturn are also considered. The paper highlights the impact of the scarce newspapers resources on meeting their ultimate mission, i.e. to serve the public interest. Moreover, it reveals the divergent and inconsistent trends in the local market and it discloses that the regional dailies are concerned by the global tendencies. Nevertheless, the accommodation process reflects that readers’ attention sells, while the quality content no longer finds its enthusiasts.