The newspaper industry is facing tough economic times. 

You would have to been living on planet Mars not to have noticed the slimmer pages that wrap the murder and mayhem that passes for news. 

When I blogged about it some two weeks ago, one of the country's best wordsmiths and columnist, Lennny Grant, reminded me that it was difficult to sustain the Digicel/Bmobile ad war and the massive spending in the last election and  that what was going on globally in the industry was bound to catch up.

Well, it has.

Last week the community news station, Gayelle, closed its newsrooms, citing lack of advertising spend. Today, the Daily Express announced a price increase.

According to management, " the cover price increases are the first since 1999 and are being introduced due to the decline in advertising demand coupled with the significant increase in raw material costs, chief among them, the cost of newsprint."

They said it was about survival. 

What seems  price 'wise' to management may  really be  pound foolish. The newspaper may see a temporary increase in sales next week ( I mean who is not going to want have a copy of the newspaper when Obama comes to town) but after that what? Where's the audience to sustain it? Is it the middle class who can turn on their  Internet and get the same news for free, or the poorer folks who have much more to do with their shrinking dollar than buy a newspaper and who can easily revert to  localised, village centric 'ole' talk as a way of getting by.

Ironic too that the announcement was made on the very day, the Express declared, "119 steel workers retrenched" on the front of its pages.