by Patrick Sills

Created on: February 08, 2009

For the past three years, I've been employed as a driver for my city's newspaper. Once the papers are produced, my job is to get them to the foot carriers, stores, and vending machines situated along my route. In addition, many other employees fill various positions, from inserters to reporters and salespeople, and just about anything else that falls in between.

As I began my shift the other day, I noticed a school bus parked outside. It's not uncommon for elementary schools to take field trips to our facility, and once I was inside, this was confirmed as I saw a group of about 25 kids with their teacher. The assistant plant manager was enthusiastically describing the production process to the children. As I punched the time clock, I couldn't help but wonder if he would bother to tell these kids that by the time they reached adulthood, newspapers will be obsolete.

I certainly have no doubt in my mind that this will indeed be the case. Since the fall of 2005, when I began working for the paper, circulation has declined some 30%. Our advertising, a key element to any newspaper's survival, has dropped sharply during this time as well. There have been layoffs. Job duties have been consolidated, while others have been eliminated. Disciplinary action for the most trivial departure from company policy has become far more commonplace. About three times each week, the suits come through and look over our shoulders while trying to come up with more ways to take money out of our pockets. The machinery and equipment vital to our business is hopelessly outdated and frequently breaks down. Like several other newspapers across the country, another local competitor has just declared bankruptcy.

I have one answer to why this is happening: the Internet. Anyone who has a computer can download every single page of a newspaper. This prevents the clutter of having seven different papers piled up in the house or on your porch and thrown into the garbage or recycling bins each week. In addition, many home pages of Internet service providers hold all of the news one could absorb. With perhaps the exception of elderly people set in their ways who never bothered to learn how to use computers, the ritual of reading the paper each morning with that cup of coffee is becoming a thing of the past. We instead situate ourselves before a screen and click on to whatever news source tickles our fancy. While I acknowledge that I'm figuratively holding a knife to my throat, the fact remains that savings

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