This comment is nothing new.  If you glance at other sites which post the comments of the sites users, look at the comments under the story of the Rocky Mountain News folding.  You may find comments that the death of traditional MSM (print on paper daily newspapers)means that there will soon be no investigative reporting.  I’m taking a really cheap shot by posting my comment on Pro Publica, a site which does nothing save investigative reporting.
Those who engage in premature mourning for the death of investigative reporting don’t know of this site, Pro Publica, & similar sites on the www or ignore Pro Publica & similar sites.  These mourners don’t know of or ignore the existance of citizen journalsts who regularly blog on the www or have their work, aka investigative reporting stories, posted by sites on the www.  Some of these sites report on a region which had or still have a daily newspaper.
Quite often a citizen journalist does what a reporter on traditional MSM does (ie checks sources for reliability, double checks & searchs for other facts relevant to the story.  The citizen journalist isn’t assigned by his employer to do a particular story, may cover stories which a publisher or editior doesn’t consider to be news &/or isn’t “fit” to print, doesn’t stess a view selected by publishers &/or editors, often doesn’t get paid for the story.  There are blogs which monitor or edit stories before the blog posts them & blogs which post all stories sans monitoring or editing; you could call these blogs free for all sites as in free for all bar room brawls.
My obscure point is that local news is being covered by citizen journalists now in some locations, more locations will get news coverage by citizen journalists as time passes [& traditional papers get worse &/or fold] the blogs & stories submitted to a blog which limits itself to news of a specific geographical location or news on a particular topic will continue to appear on the www.  There will be more & more of these blogs & sites as time passes.
My 2d obscure point is that there are investigate reporting sites on the web now, such as Pro Publica.  There will be more investigative reporting sites on the web as time passes.
These sites & blogs may also be biased &/or incomplete as traditional MSM is now.  But you may find a blog or site which caters to your zeitgeist, views & biases or prejudices.
The news business is changing because of the web.  Yes, I think that the news business is changing for the better.  We will have more news blogs & sites.  Some will complain that they can’t keep up with the news with so many sources of news.
Some sites will comb the web for news & post news that they think is fit to print as Google News, Huffington Post etc do now.  These sites are now called aggregators(sp) of news.  Sooner or later you’ll be able to find a site that offends you, regardless of your zeitgeist.  It is also remotely possible, but not probable, that you’ll find a site which is exactly what you want to see as news & there’s a pot of gold [or lots of good, free pot] under every rainbow.
If you spot spelling error, errors in syntax or grammar-don’t bother me.  I couldn’t find a way to use spell check when I use Pro Publica.  If you disagree with me, so what. I’ve been led to believe that I know everything which is worth knowing.  Disagree—if you dare.  I may not respond to your views, if they lack merritt(sp?) or I don’t to respond or I die or some other non-reason, whim or caprice.
No, I’m not a citizen journalist.  Nothing happens in Allentown, Pa [I’m a denizen of Allentown] that’s worth noting.  Rust belt towns are like that.  There are plenty of c-j’s, bloggers & other entities which cover what interests me far better than I could ever do it.  I’m grateful that the experts cover these subjects.  My erruptions, while essential & most relevant to refined persons, are not essential for the common good.  I’m more than grateful that others attend to the wants, needs & concerns of the common.  Face it the common are so common.
If I have not offended you, there are many things that aren’t worthy of my notice; you must be one of those things.

The sad truth about the newspaper industry is that now run by ad salesmen and accountants who do not understand their product and what makes it valuable to readers. These “new” publishers are focused on creating debt and reducing costs and thus fill their pages with commodity” news and bland features that no one is interested in. Readers left in droves. When newspapers turn again to filling their content with local news and lower cost ads, readers and advertisers will return. Impossible you say? Nope. A return to local news and lower ad costs will once again make newspapers (and their web sites)the second most profitable industry in the U.S. (banking has always been the most profitable). But look what happened to both when the greedy sharks got hold of both industries.