Future of newspapers:

There's a discussion not to be missed on Jay Rosen's PressThink, Twelve newspapers in a state of nature, about what will happen to the 12 papers that McClathy plans to sell after they acquire Knight Ridder newspapers.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could be acquired by local investors who would run them as community resources? Can the Save the Merc campaign find a buyer in San Jose? Lots of discussion on the PressThink story, with links to columns and bloggers, and comments from readers.

This is a wonderful conversation about how newspapers might be able to evolve, and is attracting even more interesting comments, such as this from Lex Alexander.

There's also a flurry of discussion about the future of the Washington Post, where the online operation is attracting lots of attention. In this Washington City Paper story, most linkers are noting that some WP bloggers are paid, and not others. But there's more here, including comments from Editor Len Downie, hinting at major changes in how newspapering is looked at anywhere:

All this media diversification has left some staffers wondering where the emphasis falls—on the print product? The Web? Radio? One Post employee put this very question last week to Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. in a staff meeting. The paper’s top gun responded that the Post needed to become “platform-agnostic.”

City Paper's reaction: "When your 63-year-old editor starts sounding like Esther Dyson, you know your newsroom is changing. "