Superman Takes The Leap

Like typewriters, princess phones, and beepers, the printed newspaper is facing certain extinction.

Over the past decade, with ad revenue shrinking and the juggernaut that is the Internet, newspapers struggle to maintain viability and relevance in our world.  The recent reduction of issues of the New Orleans' Times-Picayune made newsroom editors shiver around the world.

I'm a devoted newspaper reader (although it's really just about doing the crossword puzzle). I grew up with the Des Moines Register and had the good fortune to live in Florida and read the St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Times), both papers have won a handful of Pulitzer Prizes.  When I'm feeling flush, I buy the Sunday NY Times.  Have you picked up a Sunday Times lately?  It used to be a mammoth issue, but now seems almost demure in size.

I fear the death knell of the newspaper though, the final straw, rang this past week when DC Comics announced Clark Kent is leaving the Daily Planet to start his own news blog.  Our mild-mannered reporter has grown weary of covering the Kardashians and the Metropolis Cat Show.

Perhaps what I fear most is being unable to spend $5 on a crossword puzzle.