I think newspapers by themselves are fine. Its the corporate newspapers that are hurting because of greed (much like the auto industry, the only difference is newspaper companies aren't able to receive bailout money).
Newspapers today are making every attempt and will always look to find new ways to get information to you while getting some spotlight on advertisements.
Here is an article from John Sturm CEO of the Newspaper Association of America. Hopefully it will give a little insight as to how many people read the newspaper everyday. I put this pdf up on an old site that I pretty much turned into a sandbox site. It may take a few extra seconds to load since its the size of a newspaper page 9"x21".
http://digitalkindred.com/pdf/Sturm_Open-Letter-Ad.pdf
Google co-founder Sergey Brin was cornered with a hot-topic question at the tail end of a press conference at the Google I/O Developer’s Conference. A “mainstream media” reporter from Australia wanted to know his thoughts on the fate of newspapers, especially since many of those outlets are blaming aggregators like Google News for their demise.
Also see: AP cracks down on aggregators. Watch out, Google.
Brin’s comments weren’t so much focused on the relationships between Google and the news outlets but he did take a moment to reflect on Google’s early days of introducing search and tried to relate it to the patience that newspapers will need as they reinvent themselves.
Traditional media, he said, still offers a lot of value but the disruption to the business model means that they’ll have to reinvent themselves by experimenting with new models to showcase, distribute and monetize their content. The important thing to remember is that it won’t happen overnight.
Newspapers, he said, still deliver valuable content to the world. If newspapers take the time during the transition, to figure out what the next model might be, they can have a “strong sustainable form of revenue” for the future.
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