Please explain to me how this makes sense?

I know I've had a lot to say about the media in recent times, and especially newspapers, but now more than ever, it needs to be talked about. In many respects, I think the industry and especially newspapers, are shooting themselves in the foot. For entities with so much clout, smarts and influence, I really scratch my head over some of the policies they operate under.

I'll try to put what I want to say as simply as I can, because unless you get what I'm on about, you may think I'm the nutty one.

When's the last time you heard of motels letting people stay willy nilly with them for nothing? When's the last time you heard of landlords letting people willy nilly stay in their rental properties for nothing? When's the last time you heard of a shopping centre letting people willy nilly open shops in their centre for nothing? It's crazy to think they would isn't it? The spirit of each of these businesses is to provide property (or space) for people to stay with them, live in or operate a business from. In each case, the people involved would benefit in some way from having access to such property (space). Few people would ever expect to be given motel accommodation, home rental or shop rental for nothing.

In the same way that these examples are all about property or space that has been made available at considerable cost by the land or property owners, space in a newspaper is very similar. It just doesn't come out of thin air. To produce any newspaper, it can cost anything between a few thousand and many thousands of dollars to produce each issue. This means that every square centimetre of space in the newspaper has a value.

This in turn means that every square centimetre of space a publisher gives away or doesn't "sell" has to be compensated for by selling enough of the remaining square centimetres to cover all the costs and make a profit. Are you still with me?

Given all that, why oh why, do newspapers and the media generally give so much of their vital property (space) away for nothing when it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, given the modern times we're in.

The media, and especially newspapers, are crying over sinking or lost advertising revenues, while at the same time, constantly giving businesses virtually unlimited free advertising for anything and everything. It's crazy and you'd think the industry would be smart enough to see it! Sadly, they appear not to be, and those who continue to do this are ruining it for everyone. People at large by their actions, no longer appear to want to pay for newspapers, this only leaves publishers with the option of selling advertising space if they are to survive. Everyone understands what advertising is, don't they? It's when you put something out there with the hope or intent of making money in some way from in. An ad can appear in many forms and just because someone is trying to make it appear like news or for the common interest, that doesn't mean it's not an ad. If it reads or sounds like an ad, it's an ad and should be paid for.

When the media, and especially newspapers, finally get this right, they might stop whinging about lost readers and revenues and start making money again. It just makes good sense.