Newspapers

From a base line of 43,000 newsroom employees in 1978, the numbers steadily rose to a high of 56,900 in 1990 and hovered at about 55,000 until 2008 when they dropped to 52,600. The 2009 census results of 46,700 newsroom hands indicates a genuine decline, but the loss of newspaper jobs has had more to do with the shrinking of most daily newsrooms than the closure of newspapers.

Of course you could argue that it should have grown in proportion to population, but that kind of ignores the realities of competition from other media and advertising vehicles, doesn't it?

But, sigh, as usual, Jack Shafer at Slate promises more than he delivers on the state of jouralism today. Oh, well.