Yet another story on the collapsing newspaper business. This one gets higher marks than some because it acknowledges corporate debt as a substantial reason for the current mess. I've docked it slightly on "informative" because of its superficial discussion of troubles at the Times Co.'s Boston Globe.

This article is packed with oodles of horror stories of papers on the edge--including some going out of business altogether, such as the Rocky Mountain News.

Another article tracking the ongoing trouble facing newspapers and journalism in the U.S. Quotations from newspaper critics and from online-only media outlets are important: even they don't want newspapers to fail, as it would cut down on the flow of information we need. Could be more in depth, including more details on what is being done to save papers.

Effectively articulates a narrative that's been out there for a while. No new news or analysis to speak of.

While reading this well written an well sourced article, I started thinking what's the big deal. Maybe in New York, or Chicago it's a big dead, but this country isn't just big cities. People in small towns like I live in do not care. They have news coming out of their ears. Local news, national news on T.V., the internet has more news in ten minutes than a person could read in a lifetime. Want to know something. Google. I've gone out of my way to find someone who gives a damn if the New York Times closes, not one person said they cared. The local paper is sold out on Monday and Thursday. Why, because it is LOCAL.

It gives a good picture of what is coming and offers some reasons why and some look into the future. It offers opinions on whether the newspapers are wanted/needed/will be missed.

This may be considered just one more story about the demise of print journalism and it may seem old hat to some. But the rate newspapers are going down is terrifying. The result - less investigative journalism, fewer checks and balances on government and industry. The very democracy could be at stake. Online journalism can be excellent and immediate, but the credibility of newspaper content online driven journalism is, in my opinion, a necessity.