The comparrison pf todays newspapers to 19th century railroads, is perhaps the best analogy I have seen. Unfortunately most publishers I have known are too myopic to see the light this would create if they used this as their model.

This short essay takes the long view on why newspapers are foundering in a sea of digital red ink, using a 20th century railroad metaphor that posits if owners then realized they were in the transportation business (rather than the rail business), those companies would have moved into trucking and other kinds of transport. Conversely, if publishers realized they were in the information business, rather than the print one, they'd have had a better chance at survival.

The fall of the Tribune company brought a host of stories on the state of the newspaper industry -- some hopeless, some ambivalent. This was one of the better, less melodramatic pieces I've read on the topic.

The reporter did a good job of telling the reader what's wrong with newspapers, but all reporters and editors need to find out what they can do right, to get their readership back.