I can understand some of the issues with print media. It just flat costs a lot of money to print newspapers and to deliver them. And not very many folks want to pay the price.

Even digital news media is finding that they can't charge what they need to charge to profit. Yes, the printing and delivery part is removed; but paying all those journalists to write the news is still needed.

Classified ads used to be a BIG source of revenue for newspapers; much less so now thanks to things like Craig's List and other Web based and App based ads and selling/buying sites. Honestly; some of this is due to the newspaper publisher's greed and miscalculation. 4 or 5 years ago when I wanted to advertise a rental property, a tiny little ad among a zillion other ads of 3 lines for 7 days would cost around $200. In other words; newspapers priced the classifieds out of existence and pushed folks to find other means.

But I also think that the news media has lost such credibility and respect in general ("fake news" that their value has greatly diminished in the eyes of many. Local news is a bit different; but do you need crack journalism for that?

It used to be, as the article stated, that wealthy families owned newspapers. It was an issue of prestige and of being able to spread that family's values and political views. This has changed. Now holding companies own newspapers with the intent of them being a for-profit business. So they will change them in whatever way is needed to attain that profit. And for now that mostly means drastically cutting down on staff.

Not sure how it's all going to wash out. But you can bet we're going to see FAR less print media over the next decade. And journalism is not going to go anywhere but more down, more opinion/commentary oriented, and remain as politically polarizing if not outright declaring their political allegiances as overt mouthpieces or one party or the other. And sports is not going to be spared either as audience demographics continue to shift and demand change.