"Newspaper Death Watch"

"Newspaper Death Watch" is such an optimistic title for a blog, isn't it?

As I typed in the website URL, I figured the website name was pretty self-explanatory and I would find a website dedicated to reporting on the decline of newspapers. I was right.

The website is a blog run by Paul Gillin, a technology journalist, who describes himself as a "newspaper junkie" and claims that he loves newspapers. But, if a person didn't read Gillin's "About Me" section before reading his posts, I believe he/she would think differently.

Gillin posts about anything related to the present-day "newspaper struggle"; he reports on media companies' dismal profits and newspapers throughout the country that are meeting their downfall, for example.

At first, I got the impression that Gillin had a very pessimistic viewpoint on the newspaper industry. After all, it's not very heartening reading his "newspaper obituaries" that list various newspapers that are publishing their last issue, laying off employees, etc. But, after reading a few of his recent posts, I realized that Gillin isn't being entirely pessimistic – he's just being very realistic about the future of this specific medium of journalism.

This website was an eye-opener for me, to say the least. Although I knew that print journalism was struggling, I never realized it was this bad – or at least, as bad as Gillin reports.

It is nice to know that the newspaper industry is "fighting back", however. In one of Gillin's posts, he writes about the "Newspaper Project", a campaign meant to emphasize how big of a role newspapers play in people's everyday lives. While it's a good sign to know that that newspapers are taking the "offense", as Gillin puts it, I find it sad that they even have to do this in the first place.