Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has suffered a seven per cent slide in its third quarter earnings as advertisers continue to shy away from newspapers.

Earnings from the media giant’s News and Information business slumped 21 per cent during the three months to March 31, though the result was skewed by currency fluctuations, including the lower Australian dollar.

News Corp’s mastheads include The Australian, The Advertiser and Herald Sun, as well as The Sun and The Times in the UK and the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US.

Advertising revenue from News Corp’s Australian titles was down four per cent during the quarter, excluding the impact of currency movements, despite an increase in digital advertising sales.

But chief executive Robert Thomson is adamant advertisers will eventually see the value of the company’s mastheads and their associated digital platforms.

“If you look at where large companies are spending at least some of their money, there are too many meaningless (advertisement) placements on frivolous sites,” he said.

“In the end we’re very confident about our mastheads … about the power of print and that in the end advertisers will return to quality.”

The weakness in the news division was partly offset by stronger earnings from the company’s book publishing business, which owns HarperCollins and Harlequin, thanks to strong sales from Chris Kyle’s memoir American Sniper, which sold more than $2.7 million copies during the quarter.

Meanwhile, News Corp said its pay TV subsidiary Foxtel, which it owns in a partnership with Telstra, suffered a 27 per cent slide in US-reported earnings due to higher programming and marketing costs linked to the rollout of its Presto streaming venture, and the lower Australian dollar.

News Corp recorded earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of $US163 million ($A207.97 million) during the three months to March 31, down from $US175 million ($A223.29 million) for the same period a year ago.

Total revenue fell one per cent to $US2.06 billion ($A2.63 billion).

News Corp’s Australian competitor Fairfax Media reported its revenues are up just under one per cent so far in calendar 2015.

Metropolitan newspaper publishing revenues were down seven per cent and its regional and community newspapers were also eight per cent lower but the Domain property advertising business revenue jumped 54 per cent.

“While this is pleasing, it is important to note that we continue to incur costs to take advantage of garowth opportunities,” the company said in a statement.

The figures cover the calendar year to April 26 for Fairfax, whose titles include The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

– AAP