With each month, newspapers look less like a business and more like a lost cause. The crisis is acute in the US, where some newspaper groups are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and there are questions over the long-term future even of venerable titles such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The problems of The New York Times Company, which has too much debt, has prompted interest from outsiders who sense vulnerability in the Ochs-Sulzberger controlling family. Even with creaky finances, the possibility of owning its flagship paper excites media gadflies such as David Geffen, the Hollywood billionaire.