by Colin Dennis

Created on: March 18, 2009

"People don't actually read newspapers," Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian philosopher, said. "They get into them every morning like a hot bath." For as long as I can remember I have been a huge fan of newspapers and the ones that have been like a hot bath to me are the New York Times (especially the Sunday edition with its magazine), the Sunday London Times and the Guardian. From time to time, as well, I like to read Le Monde, the French daily.

Alas, for several years now, the advance of technology has overcome that outdated and failing business model. The newspaper industry has been caught up in a maelstrom of newsroom buyouts and closures in the wake of the onslaught from the Internet, coupled with a crippling recession, and all newspapers will now have to adapt or die.

The Denver Rocky Mountain News and The Seattle Times have already closed, and after 140 years of telling the stories of Southern Arizona, The Tucson Citizen, owned by the Gannet Company, Inc. and founded in 1870, will fold on March 21, 2009 after failing to find buyers. In New Jersey, The Star-Ledger of Newark is laying off 151 workers, including its entire opinion page staff, after they opted for buyouts.

Nowhere is the dramatic downturn more apparent than in Connecticut. Workers at the Journal Register Co. learned in December that their employer was closing its 16 newspapers in New Haven. The Journal Register Co. later filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on February 21. The Tribune Co. also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was forced to put up for sale, Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs and the Wrigley Field where the team plays. The bankruptcy filing has also affected another of the Tribune Company's assets, WTIC-TV, channel 61, the Fox-affiliated television station based in Hartford. Earlier, Connecticut's largest newspaper, The Hartford Courant, also owned by the Tribune Company, was forced to reduce the number of its pages, and then cut its staff by 25 percent.

The venerable New York Times has not been immune to the downturn. The New York Times Co. was forced to sell most of its home office in New York for $225 million to soften the blow of the sharp drop in its revenues. As well, it is trying to sell its 17.8 percent stake in the group, which owns Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox. The Times also owns the Boston Globe as well as 16 other daily publications.

Although the Times are attracting more readers online as they invest more resources online into their

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