Extra! Extra! US newspapers fight to survive paper tariff

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03:10

Under verbal assault from the US president - and now financial assault from tariffs. American newspapers - already struggling with declining readership - are fighting to stay in print. As CGTN's Dan Williams reports, this latest financial challenge could be the final nail in the coffin for some.

The latest copy of Chicago newspaper, the Daily Herald, whirs into production. But the newspaper industry in the U.S. is under threat after the U.S. Commerce Department announced it will proceed with tariffs on imported paper from Canada, though it did agree to lower them. The extra costs are a further blow to an already vulnerable newspaper industry.

SCOTT STONE, PRESIDENT & CEO DAILY HERALD "We are already dealing with technology revolution in our business. Newspapers are struggling. Advertising is declining, going to different places, certainly to the internet. Readership is down, people are reading more on the internet, reading different things. To have this on top, it just seems like the government is giving us another push."

At the Herald's editorial meeting, a discussion on how to tell the story. The newspaper has already passed some of the costs along to its readers.

DAN WILLIAMS CHICAGO "The printing press remains one of the great sights of journalism. At its peak, this facility can print 60,000 newspapers an hour. But there is a real fear that if the tariffs stay in place, many printing presses across the country will simply grind to a halt."

Behind the tariff decision is a U.S. paper manufacturer in Washington state that accused Canadian companies of unfairly benefiting from government subsidies.

The tariffs went into effect in January. In Mayville, Wisconsin, Andrew Johnson, owner of the Dodge County Pionier and President of the National Newspaper Association, is preparing his next newspaper. He cannot understand the reasoning behind the tariff decision.

ANDREW JOHNSON 'DODGE COUNTY PIONIER' PUBLISHER "The weekly newspapers alone have let go almost 10,000 people because of this. 10,000. If the tariff continues, it is our professional estimation that half the newspapers in America will close."

It's not just jobs that are at stake. Those at the Pionier and at the Daily Herald agree the impact on U.S. communities will be far-reaching.

SCOTT STONE, PRESIDENT & CEO 'DAILY HERALD' "What happens if there is not a newspaper in these communities to cover the local news. Some of these communities would be unchecked. There would be no watchdog. And then what would happen It would be devastating."

ANDREW JOHNSON 'DODGE COUNTY PIONIER' PUBLISHER "All those freedoms are represented a lot in a little community newspaper. And if this little community newspaper is taxed so high that it cannot offer that to this community then it is truly taking away those freedoms. It is destroying democracy at its core."

There's still a chance the tariffs might be overturned. The International Trade Commission is set to make a final decision on their fate next month. Journalists across the U.S. will be hoping for a good news day.

Dan Williams, CGTN, Chicago.