Advertising revenues at the New York Times have fallen off a cliff. Even allowing for the short accounting month, revenues at the Sulzbergers' core news properties were down 13.8% in December compared with twelve months earlier. (For the year as a whole, the decline was "only" 6.1%.) So, what does this mean? First, the erosion of the Times' print business is accelerating. Second, the growth of the news properties' online advertising, which was up 20% in December, isn't nearly rapid enough to compensate. And, third, if other newspapers show these dismal results, take that as a sign that the recession has hit advertising spending.