The NY Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) has decided to double down on a failing strategy: Charge more for print. As circulation declines, the ailing newspaper company has decided to extract as much revenue as possible from its tangible product, despite the fact that the market is shrinking.

Starting Monday, the company's flagship newspaper will cost $2 an increase of a third from the previous newsstand price of $1.50.

The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) is set to report Q1 earnings on Tuesday, April 21. Don't expect a profit. In fact, I wouldn't expect much of anything. After all, we are talking about a company that makes its money off newsprint. Sad as it might be to say, newspapers are fast becoming dinosaurs in the age of digital information.

According to this source, analysts think that the New York Times will lose about $0.04 per share. That's really bad, considering that the same source says that the company was profitable in the year-ago frame, generating $0.09 per share. It isn't surprising though, is it? Not only has the recession destroyed advertising growth in all forms of media, but newspapers simply aren't looked to anymore as the first source of news. The Internet has disrupted that reputation for good.

The newspaper industry is in deep trouble. How so? It costs a lot to write, print, and deliver a newspaper, and with more people getting their news for free online and a plunge in advertising, costs are higher than revenues. The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) bought my local newspaper, The Boston Globe, in 1993 for $1.1 billion and is now threatening to shut it down unless its unions agree to $20 million in cost cuts. I don't think this is a viable plan -- instead The Boston Globe should stop producing its paper version and charge for access to its online content.

The Boston Globe is suffering from drops in circulation and advertising, and it has 13 unions propping up its costs. How bad is the pain? Its average weekday circulation fell 10% to 323,983 for the six months ending September 2008. Advertising revenues across the industry declined 16% in 2008. And the Boston Newspaper Guild -- whose members include 700 editorial, advertising, and business employees -- is being asked to take pay cuts and put an end to company pension contributions and lifetime job guarantees.

The daily biscuits. With the June deadline for Steve Job's reappearance as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO coming on fast, speculation in the media has begun to build that Jobs will choose to retire. That would be a horrifically bad thing for Apple shareholders, who have done very well of late. Sentiment on Apple is holding strong, so at least some people don't think Steve is bowing out.

After being down 25% for the year in early March, the NASDAQ is back to even for 2009. It is an extraordinary rally which shows that tech can still dig the market out of a funk. The fact that shares in companies like Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up for the year helps.

For the day:

Dow 7,908.55 +158.74 (2.05%)
S&P 500 832.72 +18.84 (2.31%)
Nasdaq 1,587.00 +58.05 (3.80%)

The industry standard in journalism, The New York Times, is revisiting the issue of charging for online content.

New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Chairman Authur Sulzberger, Jr., told a Stony Brook (N.Y.) University audience Thursday that the company is considering "incremental" charges for website users, while keeping most of its site free, Bloomberg News reported.

There has been talk that The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) may have to file for Chapter 11. The company quieted that talk by mortgaging part of its headquarters, cutting its dividend, and putting some of its New England properties up for sale.

Also, the Journal Register has gone bankrupt. It lost its NYSE listing months ago.

Which company in the newspaper industry is next?

Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) paid what most people thought was the limit of the rational price when he bought Dow Jones over a year ago for $5 billion. His company has already been forced to write-down a part of that in its earnings report for 2008. But, Dow Jones might be only worth $500 million or $1 billion if it were still public today.

A quick look at the Saturday Wall Street Journal shows a paper in four sections, each very thin. When all the ads for Dow Jones products are subtracted, there are about three paid pages of advertising left. That has to create a really large loss.

There has been a great deal of concern that The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) will have trouble paying its long-term debt this year. On top of that, its advertising is falling, even at its Internet unit. Shareholders at the company doesn't have much good news to look forward to.

But, an article in The New York Times says things may not be so bad for its parent company. It is an odd place for the piece to run. It makes it look like the company is trying to convince itself and its shareholders that it will be OK.