Last Updated:3:18 PM EST 4/22/09 Section: Viewpoint

In February it was announced that the Rocky Mountain News would be closing its doors two months shy of its 150-year anniversary. Soon after, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was forced to go completely online. Most recently, The Boston Globe was told by Times, Co. that if it could not cut costs by $20 million by May 1, it too would be in danger of shutting down.

When I began my college career only four years ago, I would have never imagined that the newspaper industry would be in such dire straits. Back then, it seemed that everyone read the newspaper and that it would be a potentially lucrative career to pursue.

Yes it would be a tough job market to crack and find success in, but the thought that it would literally become impossible never once crossed my mind.

But here we are. Thanks to the digital age and monster search engines like Google and Yahoo, newspapers are fading- and fading fast.

However, we can't just point fingers at Google, even if it is causing a lot of the problems. I place the blame on the newspaper industry for being so stubborn and unwilling to adapt to new technologies.

I also blame you and I for not having enough appreciation for the craft.

While it is true that newspapers and magazines are experiencing more readership than ever, (especially among young people) the amount of us actually paying for the content has decreased drastically.

As a whole, we have not put enough value on the work of journalists. We do not scoff at the thought of having to pay $.99 for the newest Black Eyed Peas track on i-tunes, yet the thought of potentially having to pay a miniscule fee to read an article out of the New York Times online is an incredibly unreasonable request.

It's time that we rearrange our priorities and come to the realization that if we do not act soon, the fourth estate that is the news media will cease to exist. This is something we simply cannot allow to happen.

And if you think it's not affecting us already, you're dead wrong.

To save money, the Democrat and Chronicle has become slimmer and slimmer. It is now the same exact width as the newspaper you are currently holding in your hands. If we don't do something about this, that paper will get smaller and smaller until it goes away forever.

Please, support the industry. Pick up a newspaper when you go to Wegman's. Get a subscription- even if only for the Sunday edition. And if asked to pay to view an article online someday, do it. You can afford to pay for it, what we can't afford is to lose it altogether.

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