Coronavirus: How the media is suffering through the crisis

Analysis: Even with readers increasingly turning to news about the pandemic, the outbreak is still taking its toll on Fleet Street, writes Jasper Jackson

Newspapers are particulary vulnerable to economic shock of the crisis (AFP/Getty)

On the face of it, newspapers should be far from hardest hit by the lockdown measures required to contain and beat the coronavirus. They aren’t empty restaurants, deserted high streets or silent pubs. Reading the news is, for the most part, a solitary activity.

Even online, taking in the news isn’t particularly social, at least until you rush to share it on Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp. Indeed, given most people now get their news via the internet, you might think the industry would be one of those least impacted by social distancing and self-isolation.

But in reality, newspapers are more exposed to the economic shock the virus is causing than most other businesses. There are serious doubts about how many will actually survive the lockdown and its aftermath.