This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today

Here it is: In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. And it's getting worse, according to a new report by Pew.

In 2011, the ratio was just 10-to-1. Since 2003, print ads have fallen from $45 billion to $19 billion. Online ads have only grown from $1.2 to $3.3 billion. Stop and think about that gap. The total ten-year increase in digital advertising isn't even enough to overcome the average single-year decline in print ads since 2003. The majority of print's ad decline since 2003 has come from retail ads (the most common slice of most newspapers' revenue pie) and national ads. Newsroom employment fell below 40,000 full-time workers for the first time since 1978 -- and 30 percent below its peak in 2000.