Newspapers are dying out, everything is going to the internet now. Technology is the future, adjust or be left behind. I'd rather be able to get all different types of news anytime I want. Were in a new era, and more, and more things are becoming available on the internet. We are virtually becoming paperless.

I do agree that everything in going digital, but most of the news we get about faltering newspapers are from the major publications, which represent about 1,000 out of the 14,000 daily's that exist in the United States. Small community publications are not operating at a loss, and have actually seen increases in their profit margins. The owners of the major newspapers are, however, losing their as-es. We might not see these major newspapers trolling the earth anymore, but local-community publications are firmly entrenched in American society. We'll find a way to survive...

I love technology the only problem I have with technology is that it can crash and lose everything at least with hard copy you have proof and evidence. I don't like the whole idea of becoming paperless I believe our sources should come from every angle.

Actually, if you backup appropriately (especially important documents), loss of digital data is much less likely than paper data. With paper data, one generally has only one copy and, if burned, stolen, or otherwise destroyed, it is gone. With appropriate digital backup, one has several copies in various locations making permanent loss very unlikely. For example, medical data SHOULD be backed up daily to an off site source and monthly to a secure and safe off site location. In event of a worst case, one should never lose more than one month of data. In the old paper world, if the hospital had a fire, most data could be lost for ever.

What large newspapers wield over the Internet, at least for the time being, is a sense of credibility that smaller news websites can't hope to achieve yet. Years of longevity and readership serve to keep generations of loyal readers coming back time and time again. There is also enormous circulation of free dailies that are read and read again by people in metropolitan areas, like the Metro newspaper.

Of course, newspapers are still dying, though not as fast as one would expect. Newspapers and news broadcasters use the Internet mostly as a supplement to their main product. The Internet is the natural successor to newspapers, but there is still a generation of people not in tune with the Internet or computers in general.

Not surprisingly though, even the television/radio industry is taking a hit from the Internet. I earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Ryerson University just recently, but I could have gone for the newly created online journalism degree instead. Many of my colleagues who went for the online journalism stream are in the depths of their careers already.

Even worse off is magazine journalism, which is being crippled by economic circumstances. Here in Canada where I am, a lot of pretty reputable, long-lived magazines have gone under. Some magazines like TIME will undoubtedly weather the storm, due to being a fixture in so many lives, but many other niche magazines can't take the beating.

Interesting story, and another commentary on how the Internet continues to change things.

I read this opinion: although the Internet provides a platform for anyone to produce "news," the process followed by those in print journalism is actually more reliable. The story I read <http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2009/02/17/newspapers/index.html> cited that "What is really threatened by the decline of newspapers and the related rise of online media is reporting -- on-the-ground reporting by trained journalists who know the subject, have developed sources on all sides, strive for objectivity, and are working with editors who check their facts, steer them in the right direction and are a further check against the unwarrented assumptions, sloppy thinking and reporting , and conscious or unconscious bias."

I think it's a valid point -- I'm not a seasoned journalist, so I have to wonder how much of Internet news is gathered from print sources (where information is gathered from primary sources) and how much is gathered from Internet sources (which may in turn have been pulled from other Internet sources). So, what do y'all think? Is a story's integrity compromised due to the lack of actual reporting? If so, how can that be improved?

Some good points. As a subscriber to three newspapers, I'm a bit of a dinasour but there is a bigger problem with the internet and newspapers as well as cable news: they tend not to do original news reporting but rely on re-writing what they read in the paper or what is reported by others.

Cable news constantly refers to what the NY Times, Wall Street J. or Wash Post reported or pick up reports from regonal news papers have to say. No-one but print journalists or the major networks seem sot go to the original source any more. What we have is lazy news.

I think the fundamental quality behind good reporting hasn't really changed, and that is the element of human involvement. Despite the changes in medium, reporting is still people getting info from other people. At some point in time, someone had to talk to somebody to get whatever information is reported, whether or not the info is reproduced elsewhere.

Newspapers failed to take advantage of the Internet early on, and now it will cost them big. Shutting down presses and going on-line won't fix their big problem: making a profit. The Internet is an unproved business model when it comes to the news business. Advertisers won't pay as much for an Internet ad because they don't know the real affect of a "hit" or "click". If newspapers keep closing down, there will be a huge void in the news. Paid reporters who uncover news, not regurgitating the facts, won't be as likely to risk life and limb covering a war zone pro bono. The Washington Post has a great analysis following the shuttering of the Rocky Mountain News: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/28/ST2009022802422.html

No doubt that newspapers are sinking everyday. Major (and also small) newspapers around the world understand, that the Internet news is the future.
Most of them joined this trend long time ago and nowadays they have very big and popular news websites on the web. It helps them to promote their newspapers and make very good income.