Newspapers, RIP

Seth Godin has a thoughtful article up about the imminent demise of the daily paper.  He makes the point that there’s not much in a newspaper that isn’t done elsewhere, and better.

What’s left is local news, investigative journalism and intelligent coverage of national news. Perhaps 2% of the cost of a typical paper. I worry about the quality of a democracy when the the state government or the local government can do what it wants without intelligent coverage. I worry about the abuse of power when the only thing a corrupt official needs to worry about is the TV news. I worry about the quality of legislation when there isn’t a passionate, unbiased reporter there to explain it to us.