Newspapers aren't dead. They're just kind of right-sizing. Here at Lancaster Farming, with our 55,000-and-growing subscription base, we think we're right-sizing upwards, but a lot of daily papers are shrinking. With the Internet pulling ad dollars and attention away from print, dailies have cut budgets, staffs and capital expenditures in hunkdered-down survival mode.
  But they're still doing the best job out there at gathering and delivering the kind of local news that the country absolutely needs. People still look to print for local police reports, job openings, city council battles, obits, grocery ads, gallery openings, teen-of-the-week features - just about any kind of local coverage you can think of. Look on the Internet for that kind of coverage and you'll find a black hole. 
  Or you might find something on the Net, say, about a hot zoning issue, but you won't know whose axe the "reporter" is grinding, and you can be almost certain that the story hasn't been vetted by an editor who's seen it all a dozen times or so.
  And when the Net does get a story right, chances are it was picked up from a newspaper.
  But don't take my word for it. Michael Liedtke, an Associate Press writer reporting from San Francisco, published a story this morning abouut a study last year by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The study monitored 53 media outlets - newspapers, television and radio stations and Web-only operations. The study said what we in the newsroom have pretty much known all along. If you'd like to read about the study, go here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011100546.html?wpisrc=nl_tech


     Want a hot cup of something hot for these frigid days and nights? Not sure what you want? Check out the hot stuff in the Home on the Range recipe feature in Section B of our current edition. I'm going to try the caramel apple cider because it's got cream in it and whipped cream on top. Yes, I have made a New Year's Resolution, but I never really specified which year.


     Like...dudes...what in the world were you thinking?  
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/surfers-catch-biggest-wave-ever/1ab0g6f1u