Newspapers across the country are ceasing publication or being downsized under pressure to keep profits and circulation up. Jobs, local news coverage, and investigative journalism hang in the balance.

May 07, 2009: David Simon, Creator of Acclaimed HBO Series “The Wire”: As Profit Motive Guts Newspapers, Communities Lose Out
Testifying before a Senate hearing on the “Future of Journalism,” former Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon, best known as the creator of the award-winning HBO series The Wire, addresses the decline of the newspaper industry in the age of rabid media consolidation and the rise of the internet. Simon calls for a non-profit model in the newspaper industry, saying “raw unencumbered capitalism is never the answer when a public trust or public mission is at issue.”

April 07, 2009: A Roundtable of Local Florida Journalists on the Future of Newspapers, the Role of Community Media and Cubans in Florida
As we broadcast from Tampa, Florida, we host a roundtable discussion about the state in Florida with Marty Petty, the executive vice president and publisher of the St. Petersburg Times, Florida’s largest newspaper; Patrick Manteiga, publisher and editor of La Gaceta Newspaper, one of the oldest minority-owned newspapers in the United States; and Rob Lorei, news director of community radio station WMNF.

March 27, 2009: Robert McChesney on 'The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers'
The New York Times and Washington Post have become the latest newspapers to announce plans to downsize their staffs. As papers across the country continue to fold or downsize, policy officials and experts are contemplating a series of proposals to help newspapers stay afloat. On Capitol Hill, Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland has introduced the Newspaper Revitalization Act. Media activists Robert McChesney and John Nichols are proposing a multi-part journalism economic stimulus package.

March 06, 2009: Rocky Mountain News Ceases Publication as Other Newspapers Face Threat of Similar Fate
A week ago today, the last issue of the Rocky Mountain News hit newsstands across Denver. The paper’s owner, E.W. Scripps Company, closed the Pulitzer Prize-winning paper to the shock of the paper’s staff and readers. Other papers could soon face the same demise.

February 27, 2009: Rocky Mountain News Ends Publication in Latest Casualty of Ailing Newspaper Industry
The Denver-based Rocky Mountain News is publishing its last paper today. On Thursday, parent company E.W. Scripps announced the newspaper’s closure after saying it’s failed to find a buyer. The closure comes just two months before the Rocky Mountain News would have marked its 150th anniversary.

July 29, 2008: Newspapers Suffer Spate of Layoffs, Decline in Circulation, Ad Revenue, Stock Price: A Roundtable Discussion on the State of the Industry
We take an in-depth look at the state of the newspaper industry. In recent months, more than 6,000 print journalists have lost their jobs, newspaper circulation is down, and so is advertising revenue, page counts and stock prices. We host a roundtable discussion with Bernard Lunzer, president of the Newspaper Guild; former New York Times correspondent, Chris Hedges, now at the Nation Institute; and Linda Jue, director of New Voices in Independent Journalism.