Tom Mohr writes:
The low rumble of shifting ground is palpable. Not only is the shift towards online; it is, in tandem, a shift away from print. Not dramatic yet, perhapsbut clear. And the impacts continue to ripple. As I write, the newspapers of the former Knight Ridder are soon to be parts of nine different companies. Tribune Co. faces a boardroom battle which challenges its very survival as an intact firm. Wall Street analysts have cooled on the industrys prospects. Academics in journalism schools despair the future of the craft in a post-newspaper world.
I believe newspapers social purposethe building of civil society in cities and towns across America through the daily output of good journalismis worth fighting for. Securing the future of the industrys social purpose requires securing its financial future.
