Mark Twain's Obituary

When a premature announcement of his demise was published, author Mark Twain remarked, "rumors of my death are premature."
The same could be said today about the death of print. The New Yorker said the last daily newspaper will smack the last sidewalk in May of 2043. They may be correct and if they are, it will be that flagship of the Newhouse chain, the Staten Island Advance. Since the "major" New York dailies ignore the "forgotten borough," (the News and the Post only report when body parts -- not an entire body -- are found at Fresh Kills and the venerable Grey Lady never mentions Richmond County unless it has the chance to make fun of Wagner College) the Advance has become, by default, the best newspaper in America, if you define that as a newspaper you HAVE to read.
But dailies are not the only print medium. Weeklies are strong, at least some of them, even in this recession. And they will continue to be strong if they don't forget the simple truth that made them strong in the first place: they provide context.
If weeklies forget this and imitate their daily brethren with ultra-short stories; if they start to care more about the glitz than the words, they will go the way of the weeklies. But, if they provide their readers with the information they need to be informed voters and citizens, they will survive.
People still read stories of length and substance. Look at Time and Newsweek. And if they will read and digest those stories, they will do the same with stories that impact their lives on a local level.
Readers of weeklies should rise up against the implied insult that they are too shallow to take time to learn about their community.