Local, local, local not the answer for the newspaper business

According to the LA Times, "If Zell's point is that the real money is in local news, the recent experience of the Daily News, the Orange County Register and the regional dailies ringing the Bay Area -- all more locally oriented than The Times -- has been a discouraging counter example. Their inability to keep ad revenue from falling at double-digit percentages year over year has led to staff reductions that further hobble local news coverage."
- I think, outside of OCR, the Times is confusing Medianews financial troubles with the premise that local news gives a paper a unique opportunity as opposed to others outside its area. No offense to pro sports writers, but look at how ESPN and Foxsports covers teams. They have some staff writers, who only do analysis. The facts of games are written up by wire reporters. But you can't do that for local stories. Outside of some bloggers, newspapers have (albeit shrinking) resources to cover local stories. The only question is if we are going to be allowed to leverage that opportunity for the future. (h/t LAO)