Newspapers and magazines were profitable for centuries. Like many other industries, they've struggled to adapt to the new norms the Internet brought about.
Many newspapers, but by no means all. British national newspapers have, as a class, lost money for decades - plenty of people have been willing to subsidise the losses in return for the influence of owning one - so the economics were bad (and now getting worse).
Owning a monopoly city newspaper in the US, with a captive advertising market, was a lovely business until recently though.
Owning a monopoly city newspaper in the US, with a captive advertising market, was a lovely business until recently though.