SFN Blog

Inflation is when the prices of goods and services rise over time. In the U.S., inflation was recently 2.7% over the 12 months ending July 2025. That means something that cost $100 last year...

Debt can pile up quickly. Credit cards, medical bills, car loans, and personal loans can all add stress to your finances. Juggling multiple payments each month often leads to missed due dates, higher interest...

Subprime lending means giving loans to people with low credit scores—typically under 620. In the U.S., these borrowers hold about 22% of all credit-card debt, which grew from around $99 billion in May 2021...

As of late August 2025, the average U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rate is about 6.58%, the lowest in nearly ten months—but still higher than a year ago (around 6.46%). Meanwhile, in California during the...

Interest rates are still high across the U.S., and that affects Texans in their daily lives, from mortgages to car payments to credit cards. To set the stage: the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate...

Student debt is substantial and continues to grow. Total outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. was approximately $1.6 trillion as of the end of 2024. Roughly 43 million people hold federal student loans....

In 2025, the U.S. housing scene is shifting. The national median sale price of a home rose to about $443,000, up 1.1% year-over-year in July. Meanwhile, a Harvard report shows that home prices surged...

Across the United States, many individuals struggle to pay their mortgages. As of mid-2025, total U.S. household debt had reached approximately $18.4 trillion, with housing-related debt, primarily mortgages, increasing by $131 billion in just...

Student loan debt in the U.S. now tops $1.814 trillion, and the average borrower owes $39,075 in federal loans. That’s a huge load. Right now, more than 42 million Americans are carrying federal loan...

Refinancing can lower your monthly payment, shorten your loan term, or let you tap equity. It is a real process with paperwork, fees, and trade-offs. This guide walks you through every step in plain...

Online lending is now a core part of U.S. consumer and small-business finance. Personal-loan balances reached about $252 billion in early 2025, near record highs, according to TransUnion. For context, the average 24-month personal...

In the United States, the average FICO credit score reached 715 in 2024, indicating that most Americans have a good credit standing. However, recent economic shifts, such as the resumption of federal student loan...

Choosing the right mortgage matters because the interest rate you pick can change your monthly payment by hundreds of dollars. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has been around the mid-6% range lately (Freddie...

When people borrow money for personal needs, like medical bills, home repairs, or debt consolidation, they often take out a personal loan. These loans are typically unsecured, meaning they don’t require collateral like a...

Mortgage rates in the United States have gone through big changes over the past few years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, rates dropped to record lows. But since 2022, they’ve been climbing again. This shift...

Thanks to the widespread use of smartphones, mobile news consumption has rapidly grown and changed the way people receive and interact with news. With the majority of the readers accessing news through their mobile...

AI is now a common feature in many industries, and journalism is no exception as technology advances. In many ways, AI is revolutionizing the way news is delivered, starting from the operational level and...

In the world of fast moving digital news, having a strong community can be a huge advantage for publishers. As readers demand more targeted content and interactivity, audience engagement has become a critical way...

That is why news publishers have to continue their development and stay a part of the constantly developing digital advertising ecosystem. Since advertising payments are still among the primary sources to generate revenue in...

In the current environment characterized by rapidly evolving media business models, advertising and subscription revenue sources are not adequate for many news organizations to break even. In recent years, newsrooms have experienced a decline...

As the market environment intensifies and more and more media organisations shift their operations online, cost control has emerged as one of the critical factors that determine the financial sustainability of newsrooms. As many...

Independent journalism is a relatively new phenomenon in the field of journalism and it has to deal with a multitude of problems which are closely connected with the decline of the more conventional sources...

It will be seen that economic crises affect a number of sectors and the global newspaper industry is not immune to it. Through the years, it has been seen that conventional print media has...

Over the past few years, blockchain technology has been embraced widely because of its potentialities of bringing change across the globe especially in the finance, supply chain and healthcare sectors. There is one industry...

As digital content has become ubiquitous and free, the problem of how to support quality journalism has become not a question of why, but how. As advertising revenues decline and other sources of revenues...

It is quite accurate to say that the digital age has had its effects on the news publishing industry and these effects are in the form of opportunities as well as challenges. The most...

The consumption of news has long changed in the new conditions of digitalization, and people tend to read the news using the Internet. As this shift remains the new order of things, media companies...

Over the years, new media platforms have encountered numerous challenges, especially in the area of Operationalisation, with specific reference to the monetization of content. These platforms as we enter 2025 are still experimenting and...

From France comes the mildly surprising news that Le Huffington Post has become the country’s premier online-only news source. Figures released this morning by Médiamétrique/Netratings show that the site received 1.916 million unique visitors...

The Newsblaster project was developed by the Columbia NLP (natural language processing) Group and has been running since September 2001. Under the direction of Professor Kathleen McKeown, the site processes news stories through the...

Why should journalists care about the scientific method? I suggested in my post last week that journalism students should take a lab science class to learn about the scientific method. Here’s why I think...

When it comes to launching a newspaper app, the first priority is to define your target group and understand their desires, says Romanus Otte, General Manager of Welt Online in Germany, which produces the...

With declining print circulation and advertising revenues, newspapers have been eyeing tablet devices – especially the iPad – as an important new revenue stream for the future. The San Jose Mercury News reported today...

The free newspaper industry seems to be doing better this year as only three dailies have closed in the first 8 months of 2010, Newspaper Innovation revealed yesterday. In the last four years, 2009...

The Malaysian government has suspended the publication of Suara Keadilan, the main opposition newspaper, for “publishing false news that could incite public unrest,” The Associated Press reported. The weekly newspaper, directed by opposition leader...

Time Magazine has not put up a paywall, nor has it started asking visitors to register in order to view content. It is, however, not allowing users to see all of its content. Time.com...

The Italian Senate yesterday approved a controversial €25 billion austerity programme, which includes cuts to newspapers’ funding budgets, The Financial Times reported. The economic maneuver was sent to the lower house and is expected...

Since 2008, more than 166 newspapers in the United States have closed down or stopped publishing a print edition, according to Paper Cuts, SFN’s Million Dollar Strategies for Newspaper Companies reported. More than 39...

Following in the footsteps of The New York Times, French news sites like L’Express and Le Figaro will be providing paid-for online content, Le Monde reported today. News magazine L’Express intends to propose a...

Global advertising expenditure will grow to nearly $550 billion in 2011, from about $375 billion in 2003, according to ZenithOptimedia. TV and newspapers are the two media with the biggest shares throughout that time...