A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

Last Paper Standing chronicles the history of competition between the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News—from both newspapers’ origins to their joint operating agreement in 2001 to the death of the News in 2009—to tell a broader story about the decline of newspaper readership in the United States. The papers fought for dominance in the lucrative Denver newspaper market for more than a century, enduring vigorous competition in pursuit of monopoly control. This frequently sensational, sometimes outlandish, and occasionally bloody battle spanned numerous eras of journalism, embodying the rise and fall of the newspaper industry during the twentieth century in the lead up to the fall of American newspapering. Drawing on manuscript collections scattered across the United States as well as oral histories with executives, managers, and journalists from the papers, Ken J. Ward investigates the strategies employed in their competition with one another and against other challenges, such as widespread economic uncertainty and the deterioration of the newspaper industry. He follows this competition through the death of the Rocky Mountain News in 2009, which ended the country’s last great newspaper war and marked the close of the golden age of Denver journalism. Fake news runs rampant in the absence of high-quality news sources like the News and the Post of the past. Neither canonizing nor vilifying key characters, Last Paper Standing offers insight into the historical context that led these papers’ managers to their changing strategies over time. It is of interest to media and business historians, as well as anyone interested in the general history of journalism, Denver, and Colorado.

This comprehensive Handbook provides a synthesis of current work and research in media management and economics. The volume has been developed around two primary objectives: assessing the state of knowledge for the key topics in the media management and economics fields; and establishing the research agenda in these areas, ultimately pushing the field in new directions. The Handbook's chapters are organized into parts addressing the theoretical components, key issues, analytical tools, and future directions for research. Each chapter offers the current state of theory and scholarship of a specific area of study, and the volume contributors--all well established in their areas of specialty--represent domestic and international scholarship. With its unparalleled breadth of content from expert authors, the Handbook provides background knowledge of the various theoretical dimensions and historical paradigms, and establishes the direction for the next phases of research in this growing arena of study. The Handbook of Media Management and Economics will serve to stimulate future thought and research in the media management and economics disciplines. As such, this volume will be a required reference for students, professors, and industry practitioners for years to come.

The concentration of private power over media has been the subject of intense public debate around the world. Critics have long feared waves of mergers creating a handful of large media firms that would hold sway over public opinion and endanger democracy and innovation. But others believe with equal fervor that the Internet and deregulation have opened the media landscape significantly. How concentrated has the American information sector really become? What are the facts about American media ownership? In this contentious environment, Eli Noam provides a comprehensive and balanced survey of media concentration with a methodical, scientific approach. He assembles a wealth of data from the last 25 years about mass media such as radio, television, film, music, and print publishing, as well as the Internet, telecommunications, and media-related information technology. After examining 100 separate media and network industries in detail, Noam provides a powerful summary and analysis of concentration trends across industries and major media sectors. He also looks at local media power, vertical concentration, and the changing nature of media ownership through financial institutions and private equity. The results reveal a reality much more complex than the one painted by advocates on either side of the debate. They show a dynamic system that fluctuates around long-term concentration trends driven by changing economics and technology. Media Ownership and Concentration in America will be essential reading and a trove of information for scholars and students in media, telecommunications, IT, economics, and the history of business, as well as media industry professionals, business researchers, and policy makers around the world. Critics and defenders of media trends alike will find much that confirms and refutes their world view. But the next round of their debate will be shaped by the facts presented in this book.

Technology in the 21st century has redesigned most editorial jobs and extended the potential reach of any publication, no matter how small . In effect, not only the individual business models but also the overall industry competitive model has changed. No longer confined to serving a physically defined environment, individual newspapers can set their own goals, both for news distribution and for advertising reach, without concern for physical restrictions. And the continual sales of newspaper properties result in mergers, increased clustering and other types of group alliances. The newspaper industry is also affected competitively by employee recruitment and retention, the non-daily market, other news-related media and non-news carriers of advertising. The industry-related technology has in effect exploded, reaching every news medium in some way. Within the framework of the exploding technological environment, the country's economy and changing demographics have created increased challenges for an industry so dependent on advertising revenue and reader reach. This volume explores the competitive issues as they relate to the industry at this time.