I worked (briefly) at a local Oregon newspaper. It was a complete dumpster fire.
Subscriptions (ie, revenue) are down, which means fewer advertisers want to run ads (ie, other revenue). Downward cycle. The problem is that ancient publishers and ad directors are still running the industry like it's 1974 and they still think they'll break the next Watergate. In reality, the big news already broke on Twitter yesterday and by the time they publish it's old hat.
The newspaper here was textbook mismanagement. Basically, Bill Callahan with some Charlie Weiss and Ron Prince thrown in for good measure.