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.