News Corp. Split Adds to Pressure on Papers

With the announcement that News Corporation will be split in two, employees at the company’s many print papers are facing a new reality: they are now in the newspaper business.

For years, the success of News Corporation’s lucrative cable and entertainment assets formed a buffer between its print properties and the downturn in the newspaper industry. Now, many journalists at those newspapers worry about what will happen as they become part of a much smaller company, grouped with HarperCollins and News Corporation’s education assets. Even before the split was announced last week, News Corporation was acting to streamline the newspapers and make them more profitable. Its Australian papers, which according to the company’s latest earnings report have had declining advertising revenue, could cut nearly 10 percent their staffs.