Landmark Communications, a media company based in Norfolk, Va., is considering the sale of all its assets, including the local Greensboro newspaper the News and Record.

Landmark’s decision to go on the market reflects a powerful trend in America’s media industry – the consolidation of independent, locally owned media companies into mammoth transnational corporations like Viacom and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

The monopolizing of the media industry has led to decreased local control, an increased emphasis on quarterly profits, and reduced budgets. The News and Record has already begun to experience the cost cutting bedeviling the industry, including layoffs last June, the first in the newspaper’s history, and a reduced coverage of certain sections.

“The community concern (with a potential sale) is whether it will become an even more watered-down paper,” said Richie Zweigenhaft, Dana professor of psychology and mass media expert. “It is (already) a shadow of its former self (and) I would be surprised if it wound up being a better newspaper (after a sale).”

The prospect of an extra-regional interest buying the News and Record worries many members of the Greensboro community. Landmark, through the newspaper, has donated around $300,000 annually to Greensboro area non-profits in recent years. A larger corporation might end such funding.

“Landmark is not one of the giants of newspaper ownership,” Zweigenhaft said. “It is mostly a regional company. If the paper is purchased by a corporation outside the region, it would become just a source of income for them (with few local concerns).”

The sale comes at a particularly hard time for American newspapers as many young people turn to the Internet instead of print media, causing a decline in readership and profits. According to Richard M. Barron, a staff writer for the News and Record, newspaper profits that used to hover around 40 percent have recently dropped as low as 20 percent.

The News and Record has emphasized the connection between Landmark’s decision and the troubled state of print journalism. Barron has written articles for the paper covering the potential sale and a related piece entitled “How long can newspapers last?”

“Dropping revenues have stimulated a lot of changing hands,” said Barron in a phone interview. “A lot of companies don’t like the dropping profits but that is the trend right now. Any business is happy with 20 percent profit but the companies worry that it will keep on dropping, to 15 percent, (then to) 10 percent, and eventually to zero.”

The News and Record is attempting to expand onto the Internet in an effort to retain readers. The paper has hired two full-time editors and one full-time reporter solely for online coverage.

“The News and Record, like all newspapers, has to adapt to change,” said Tracie Fellers, visiting writing instructor and former editorialist for the News and Record. “One of the strengths that the News and Record demonstrated is its work in being part of the blogosphere. (Moving onto the Internet) is among the ways that newspapers will have to adapt and change in order to remain relevant to their communities.”

Most Guilford students are unfamiliar with the News and Record except through their extensive and in-depth online coverage of the Bryan incident. Before the Internet, the paper was the best way for students to find movie times, but now most students turn to their laptop.

“For the most part Guilford students are internationally, not locally minded,” said Ben Lancaster (’07), former Guilfordian editor, life-long Greensboro resident, and News and Record subscriber. “You can’t really expect out-of-town college students to read the local paper. The only thing that is going to happen is that the News and Record will be bought and no one on campus will notice.