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Some observations by media economics expert Robert Picard's observations about the challenges of media today, from an interview done by the University of Navarra Faculty of Communication : Media companies need to develop revenue from many more sources than they did in the past. Media companies are diluting the quality of their product by chasing reader clicks with light or frivolous digital content. "This is not bringing in money, and it's not bringing in audience." Versi�n en espa�ol Maybe 15 to 25 percent of the reading public will pay for serious news, Picard says. These are the people who really want news. Journalists think their work is really important, and for the journalists, it is. But for most people, they just want to get on with their lives . If something important happens, then they will go online and read it somewhere, but most of the time they won't pay for it. Newspapers have to stop thinking of themselves as a product for a general audience. T...

Newsstand owner Jesus Erro: Publishers are fudging their sales numbers. PAMPLONA, Spain - Those who study the business of media tend to look at it from the perspective of journalists and publishers. But the owner of a newsstand in the heart of this provincial capital has a different point of view. Jesus Erro, 56, has owned and operated Caprichos Books and Stationery for the past 24 years. He has seen the good times and the bad. For the first decade or so, sales of magazines and newspapers -- about three fourths of his business -- were strong. But beginning in 2008, with the combination of the financial crisis and the Internet's impact on sales of print products, the business has gone down steadily. Versi�n en espa�ol "For small shops in this industry, it's very difficult to survive. A few years ago, when there was a favorable economic climate, everything was straightforward, more or less. You never expected to make a lot of money but you did expect to make a decent income...