Newspapers based on the traditional model are dead. The Rocky’s dead, the Trib is bankrupt, and even the venerable NY Times had to take a loan out on its building to survive. It’s been a echo process that’s been going on for a decade. In 2000, I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times as a 22 year old. There were very few young, talented writers at that paper. Of those who did work there, all left to do other work since then. With low morale, talented writers leave, and the content suffers. Fewer people subscribe, which means the papers hire fewer staff, quality suffers, and the process snowballs.

I’m interested in finance, and last week an older colleague cut out a story about the Fannie Mae debacle. The Rocky Mountain News called Fannie Mae “Fanny Mae.”

While traditionalists may attribute these papers’ failure to my generation’s lack of interest in the written word, I think that’s sadly mistaken. Young people still read, they just don’t get their information the same way their parents did. Why would I read about Fannie Mae and the financial crisis from an incompetent journalist when there are dozens of professional hedge fund and investment managers providing live content online? Compare the Nugg Doctor, Denver Stiffs, and this site with the local Rocky Mountain News and the Post. Frankly, the “non-professionals” provide more engaging content than the pros. Plus, the content provided by non-pros is better tailored to the audience and the times. “Who, what, when, where, how” in a published form 18 hours after the fact adds no value to public discourse to anyone under the age of 60. We can get that information instantaneously. Read the first sentence of your post today, Jeremy. You went straight into a thoughtful commentary on the game. That’s why I come to this site. I don’t frickin’ need anyone to tell me the Nuggets beat the Warriors. I already know that. This blog discusses the “why.” 95 years ago, journalists developed a method to tell folks the “who, what, when, where. how,” because people had no other way of getting the information. Now they do, and even though they are pros, they aren’t even competitive with free content on the why. And that’s why they’re dead.

Also, regular beat writers nearly function as PR arms for professional teams, and rarely write open and honest criticism of the players. The non-pros just say what they think in their own voice, which is far more entertaining to read.

As for the future of the old model, I’m guessing that some form of wire service will remain intact to provide a minimum of breaking news, but that’s it. With craig’s list to provide advertising for free and no new subscribers to buy the paper (heck, my parents recently canceled their subscription to the Post, the content had gotten so bad), newspapers cannot generate a fraction of revenue to cover their costs. This economic downturn is only accelerating the process, because companies with bad business models no longer can get loans.

Newspapers are dead. Polish up your keyboard, Jeremy. Soon, you guys will be the only game in town.