You might be wrong, Jon Severson

If you haven't read this piece from Colorado Biz yet, I advise you to do so, because the following is a sampling of my response to its heralding of the imminent demise of the Rocky Mountain News.

One less voice for a community is rarely a good thing.

More voices with more diversified opinions and content is a good thing, as best as we can tell from Severson's article. Technological advances in communications have served to better the human experience; there is no doubt about this. But sooner or later, the sources of content for these new media will either be forced to evolve or dry up.

As a young professional myself, I enjoy the explosion of niche products found via Internet, podcast, YouTube, etc. If you have a niche interest, you can find that specific media.

At the same time, how many young professionals like myself care as deeply about the physical, geographical and HUMAN community around them as they do their social networking groups? I imagine the ratio is staggering. But eventually people grow up, realize that being part of the immediate world around you is vital to making sure you live in an area with good schools for your children, high quality of living, etc. Who has stepped up to fill the niche of local community news?

It would be nice to think that citizen journalists could take a full-time, active role in direct democracy to serve that local need... but invariably people have other interests, other demands on their time and energy. Maybe each teacher, plumber, accountant, doctor, police officer, IT specialist and other working American should find the time to play an active part in civic life — but that is a utopian ideal not yet achieved. Until then, your local newspaper is there, working to be a part of the community, and delivering relevant content, providing an attractive medium for local businesses to advertise.

Newspapers — and newsgathering/content-producing organizations of all kinds — need to evolve with the times. But the core goals of the local news organization, be it paper, news radio, magazine, blog or TV news, are as vital to modern society as most others. If the workable business model of the future is out there, surely these organizations will be supplanted or adapted... but if anyone can show me that business model, I'm happy to hear it, learn it, sell it, teach it and champion it in all ways.