This started long before the decline of the open internet and AI.

I suspect it is. I think the real problem was sites like craigslist (and online advertising in general) removing much of the (classified, job listing, etc) advertising that made publishing a newspaper profitable.

I remember in a very early 1990s (maybe '91 or '90) the Utne Reader had an article talking about how journalism outlets were merging at a rapid rate, resulting in layoffs and consolidation. The author feared that by 2000 there would only be 4-5 news conglomerates left. The internet was pretty much for engineering Universities and Tech companies (and all command line at that) so certainly before the 'open internet' as most people think of it.

Nick Davies wrote "Flat Earth News" about this very problem in 2008:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Davies#Bibliography

It was discussed extensively at the time and in the years since

I am so confused by the implied timeline of the top comment here. And if the open internet happened after 2008 it’s … news to me.

Many people in the news industry were complaining about this situation. It's very well known.

It is very true. Back in early 2000s , I was in a startup that built publication management tools for newspapers. I recall making about 700 phone calls and speaking to the editorial staff to get them to sign up. And this is where I learnt that only a handful of obscure companies owned nearly all of local newspapers.

Cost effective but soulless. Local news was killed by private equity and consolidation.

For context, I have worked in news/media since 2003.

Yes, newspaper circulation had been declining since the late 1980s/early 1990s. The real economic damage came as classifieds, recruitment, real estate and advertising moved online. Craigslist and other online marketplaces ate the business model long before social media and AI entered the picture.

So "open internet" doesn't refer to a specific historical moment, but in this context I'd place its emergence in the early to mid-1990s.

My shallow, poorly worded, comment was aimed at time of the "open internet".

Newspapers took large revenue from advertising that had little to do with journalism. That subsidized foreign bureaus, statehouse reporters, investigative work and specialized beats. When those dollars moved elsewhere, the economics of reporting collapsed. The 2008 recession accelerated that.

That 60% figure is specifically newspaper newsroom employment, not journalism employment.