If anyone really doubts that newspapers owners created the situation they’re in now, you should read: The Chain Gang.

Shorter Chain Gang: Instead of being happy with an industry where even the laziest newspaper with a local monopoly could make 5 percent profit a year, newspaper chains drove out local competition (possibly with illegal tactics) and borrowed heavily to buy up even more local papers.

But, now 20 or 30 years later, the model doesn’t work anymore and the pile of cards is tumbling down.

It isn’t journalism that’s broken, its the economic model of local monopolies owned by chains saddled with debt and unrealistic profit margins driven by public ownership.