Gannett, which owns USA Today in the US and the UK company Newsquest, said that second-quarter income was $223.5 (£159.5m), or 88 cents (63p) a share, compared with $265.8m (£189.7m), or $1 (71p) a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Knight Ridder, which owns 32 newspapers including the San Jose Mercury News, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Miami Herald, reported a profit of 71 cents (51p) a share -- excluding a one-time charge for job cuts -- compared with $1.02 (73p) a year earlier. Analysts' concensus estimates were 72 cents (51p) a share.
The two companies are the latest publishing companies to report that they have been hit by a downturn in the advertising market. Dow Jones and EW Scripps last week both reported weaker earnings. Knight Ridder and the New York Times have been forced to slashed their workforce.
However, Knight Ridder's chief executive Tony Ridder was optimistic and predicted that July's advertising revenue would not decline as steeply as in the past few months. He also said he remained confident that the company would meet its full-year earnings forecast of $3.28 (£2.34) a share.
Newsquest publishes more than 300 newspapers and magazines, including the Bolton Evening News, Oxford Mail and the Evening Argus in Brighton.