I read with great interest how the industry is grappling with the newspaper vs. online issues as the Air Force is currently considering doing away with newspapers the Airmen produce at each base. All we know is that our manning is getting cut...and some think that going to online only saves manpower. I know that is not the case...it's the same amount of time, just a different format. Thanks for all your insights. It will be helpful for our upcoming meeting about this.

For newspapers to remain vital, they need to find and focus on more local news that affects the reader.

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune post-Katrina seems to have found this formula works. (Full disclosure: I'm a New Orleans resident and subscribe to the paper, though I do not work for it.) Nowhere else can I get the news about my city than in my local paper. There's a reason that with only half the population in the city, most of that population is eating up the paper; that reason is important local news.

When the lead story is a big national or international story by an AP or NYT writer I usually ignore it since I'll be able to find it, well, everywhere else. Why would I pay .50 cents when I can get that same news online? For free.

The article says, "The (Philadelphia Inquirer) Inky can't generate the revenues needed to do the sort of ultralocal, street-by-street coverage that will be demanded of small-town newspapers, and its readership would reject something with the worldly cachet of the New York Times."

Street-by-street may not be necessary or even possible for a metro daily, but more local news by local reporters is.

The long and short of it is that I'm a younger newspaper reader -- a college kid -- who likes the paper because it's relevant to me. When I want news from outside my area or want to check out an advertised online feature, that's when I turn to the Web.

The oldest newspaper in spanish (El mercurio de Valparaíso, Chile)lives in similar conditions. Now, the managers starts a strong process to reduce staff in the newsroom, even among designers. THE OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN SPANISH (1827)live critics moments and the journalist are in movement. So, the dinkification is in Chile too.

I've given up following all kinds of news in substitue of social news sites like digg.com and newsvine. I feel so much more comfortable with my laptop at the breakfast table rather than with a newspaper. Even my RSS feeds seem to be looking less and less important every day.