Mike at Techdirt rounds up recent whinging from buggy whip makers newspaper executives complaining about their dying business models. Bossy still has some milk, perhaps they can retire before the cash cow's teats finally dry up.
Meanwhile, an overview of four decades of history of a regional newspaper. Ok, it's satire, so file it under 'fake but accurate'.
As if to underscore both posts, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune scuppers Lileks' column and busts him back to the local news desk, which will be a better use of his talents. I mean, it's not like he's a certifiable genius of a writer or anything.
The bite to all of this is that creative destruction makes no guarantee that creation of new business models will precede apace with the destruction of the old, but breakage of old institutions and ways of earning a living is pretty much guaranteed. It would be nice if we could point to an obvious way for someone of Lilek's caliber to jump onto an alternative source of cash flow based on a survivable, new media model. But, so far, we can't. Each reporter and writer trying to change sides of the media divide is right out there in start up land with the VCs and entrepreneurs.
Update: Jeff Jarvis arrives at the same conclusion, more articulately, but then he's been on GZ for some time.
Update 2: Another great and detailed take, via Rich Skrenta.