The US print media is suffering at the hands of the biggest slump in advertising revenue in 10 years, resulting in lay-offs at several major publishing houses. In a series of reports in the last two days, newspaper executives said that, because of the economic slowdown, they did not expect advertising revenue to rebound this year.

The Wall Street Journal, the largest-circulation US newspaper, has been hit particularly hard. Its publisher, Dow Jones & Company, reported that advertising revenue at the newspaper fell 34 per cent in the first five months of the year. Chief executive Mr Peter Kann told analysts cuts in expenditure, including staff reductions, should help the company meet second-quarter profit forecasts.

The New York Times reported that estimated advertising revenue fell 10.6 per cent in the first five months of the year, to $838 million (€978 million) from $938 million. Its staff-levels will be cut by 8-9 per cent.

Knight Ridder, the secondlargest US publishing company, is to eliminate 1,700 jobs on top of 400 earlier job cuts.

At the Washington Post advertising revenue fell 8.4 per cent in the first five months but a spokesman said there were no plans to lay off staff.