Transformations of Production and Consumption Forces of News: Economic Implications for the Slovenian Newspaper Sector

This article addresses a dialectical relationship between the production and realisation of news content, linking demands for increased newspaper productivity with forces of consumption. The economic performance of newspapers is evaluated by exploring the correlation between alterations in their revenues/market expansion on one side, and changes in productivity and employment on the other. The research serves as an illustrative analysis within the context of a smaller EU country – Slovenia. The methodology employed could potentially be applied for cross-country or EU-wide comparative analyses. The examination of economic newspaper performance is juxtaposed with the entire media sector (the competitive sector) and the advertising sector (the realm of business partners). The results underscore that economically sustainable news production is achieved through decreasing employment and intensifying the exploitation of newspaper workers, an aspect that is increasing annually in Slovenia, and surpassing the decline in revenues and profit.