Sullivan: The Future of Local Newspapers Just Got Bleaker. Here’s Why We Can’t Let Them Die.

It’s been a particularly rough couple of months for those who care about local journalism—which should be every American citizen.

Warren Buffett sold his 31 newspapers in January, a powerful vote of no confidence in their financial future. A rapacious hedge fund got its claws deeper into the Chicago Tribune chain in December, which includes the New York Daily News and the Baltimore Sun. Gannett and GateHouse, the two biggest newspaper chains, continued merging—a development almost certain to mean more staff cutbacks in already shrunken newsrooms.