The owner of 26 Massachusetts and Rhode Island papers is thinking about selling the whole lot and simply publishing on the Web, where he says ad revenues are higher. It's about time somebody in the newspaper business acknowledged that putting gobs of ink on dead trees and tossing the finished product onto people's driveways is not the best way to do things anymore.
The Web is a nearly perfect news distribution medium--virtually zero distribution costs and the potential for nearly unlimited content. All that is needed is thoughtful editing, which is still dreadfully short on the Web. As I've been saying since 1993, it could be the Golden Age for newspapers, if they fire everybody, get some people that have a clue, and toss their printing presses away.