Brian Gongol
What's the future of the Des Moines Register?
The product itself will have to change just to survive. Newspapers don't have to die, but they do have to change. And for all of the fear raging through the industry right now, it's too easy to forget that newspapers went through a similar tumult a century ago. News coverage changes over time, especially as technology changes. The arrival of the telegraph turned news reporting on its head, and cell phones (especially those with cameras) have done the same. Even the mighty BBC has to adapt, and some American newspaper firms are actively trying to do something to adapt before they run aground. But the forces in action are huge: San Francisco may soon have no daily newspaper, and Seattle's Post-Intelligencer may move to a digital-only format. A digital-only migration certainly would've been better than what happened when the Rocky Mountain News was unceremoniously closed forever a few days ago. In fact, the staff felt so strongly that they've started their own website anyway.
Vanilla Ice apologizes
(Video) And Michael Jackson is going on tour. Apparently the gods haven't amused themselves enough lately.
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