And print advertising, according to figures compiled by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), was off by 9.2%.

The industry posted total ad revenues of $23.9bn (£15.2bn), a decline of $1.9bn (£1.2bn) from the previous year.

Though the NAA does not have current numbers on circulation revenue - nor on other activities, such as contract printing, events and social media assistance to businesses - Poynter's Rick Edmonds estimates that those add roughly $10bn (£6.7bn).

This would mean that US newspapers are a $34bn (£21.6bn) industry. By contrast, Google alone recorded revenues of $37.9bn (£24.1bn) for 2011.

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