newspapers make their profit off of advertisement.
the more people subcribe,
the higher the price is for advertisement.
that's why they call you
and send you offers all the time,
because they know that they don't get paid for the people that just pick it up from the newspaper stand.
subscription=sure number of people receiving the newspaper, that obviously must read it, therefore they see the advertisement.
but yes,
newspaper should have more news instead of advertisments.
there are really good quality newspapers that have little or no advertisements.
newspapers like nytimes, latimes, and the wallstreet journal
make their money off of ads.