Shadows Of Their Former Selves

Anyone who tells you the economy of eastern Connecticut has made a robust recovery is being either inaccurate or just plain untruthful.    The lingering effects of the federal budget sequester have cut into the buying power of hundreds of civilian workers connected with the Sub Base in Groton.    Now comes word of the layoff of 500 workers at Electric Boat, another reminder of how heavily the area chronically counts on too few industries.     In the advertising business, I can speak to the issues facing print media.    The Day and The Bulletin, like most daily newspapers, continue to lose circulation as readership ages and people rely more on internet sources and regional TV stations.    The weekly local editions of The Reminder are not filling the void either, as offices in Windham and Danielson close their doors.   These publications try to stem the financial bloodletting by downsizing staff, consolidating facilities and shifting emphasis to their online presence.   All of those actions fail to restore their former dominance, but it does buy them time.    While our monthly direct mailed shopper papers and neighborhood mailers hold more steadily than many forms of print media, we are by no means taking up all the slack from some less consistent competitors.   The fact of the matter is that most of these papers have cut back overhead to the point where they can stick around longer without totally going away.   They are all shadows of their former selves.     "Surviving" doesn't equal "thriving", and there can be a thin line between survival and throwing in the towel.   We know direct mail remains viable.   Can daily newspapers or weekly papers that don't get into the home say the same thing?