Black and White and Red Ink All Over: Newspapers in Peril

Leonard Downie, Jr., former executive editor of The Washington Post, now a professor at Arizona State University; Allison Silver, founder of The Washington Independent and contributing editor for The Huffington Post Investigative Research Fund; and Paul Starr, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton, and founding coeditor of The American Prospect.

Even before the present recession, the print news media were declining in the United States. Newspapers and news magazines have become thinner and less numerous, overseas reporting bureaus have closed down, and funds for investigative journalism have declined. How are these trends affecting our nation and our democracy?