Death of a Newspaper

When the small newspaper chain for which I currently work, goes kaput, I will not be surprised. I will be a little sorry, a little sad, a little upset if I'm left without a job, but I will not be surprised. In fact, I would be more surprised if the business survived than failed.

My lack of confidence in the future of this business is due, in part, to my pessimism about the future of the entire newspaper business. During the past 10 years, daily, weekly and monthly papers have been bought and sold like cheap whores. Many of these publications, like the Los Angeles Times, were once proud, respected institutions. However, formerly great or not, the Internet has taken a bite out of publishers' advertising dollars with a ruthlessness that has been too substantial for the industry to weather.

The papers that are not sold are shut down. That is what I expect will happen to our little chain. I can't predict how soon it will happen. But, due to pressures internal and external it is marked for failure. It's like the American economy in microcosm. No matter how much money Alan Greenspan flooded the system with, he couldn't keep the real estate implosion away forever -- actually he kept it away long enough to beat a hasty retreat so he didn't have to deal with it on his own watch.

Too bad we can't print money instead of news.