From Two Newspapers to One, and Talk of Zero

In yesterday's Kunstlercast James Kunstler speaks briefly about the prospects for online. They'd be very rosy except for one thing - in order for Online to have a future, you have to be able to guarantee electricity into the future. In line with Peak Oil, Peak Food, Peak Finance, we're also seeing Peak Electricity. Despite the recision, electricity use in the US is increasing. It's a difficult one to call, but imagine a scenario where power supply becomes intermittant some time after your newspaper printing presses have gathered dust and all staffers are peeling potatoes somewhere...

clipped from www.nytimes.com The history of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer stretches back more than two decades before Washington became a state, but after 146 years of publishing, the paper is expected to print its last issue next week, perhaps surviving only in a much smaller online version. And it is not alone. The Rocky Mountain News shut down two weeks ago, and The Tucson Citizen is expected to fold next week. At least Denver, Seattle and Tucson still have daily papers. But now, some economists and newspaper executives say it is only a matter of time — and probably not much time at that — before some major American city is left with no prominent local newspaper at all. “In 2009 and 2010, all the two-newspaper markets will become one-newspaper markets, and you will start to see one-newspaper markets become no-newspaper markets,” said Mike Simonton, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, who analyzes the industry.