Misplaced Lament

    Many of the thousands of daily newspapers that were published in America years ago are gone, and a review of journalist Carl Bernstein's new book, "Chasing History," laments what the NY Times headline calls the "Golden Age" of newspapers.
   While it's true that many newspapers that formerly appeared in the afternoon are gone, it's not quite true that daily journals have disappeared entirely. Television and the advent of email have indeed played a part in causing a change in journalism, but many newspapers now appear in the morning, and carry longer, more in-depth stories than their afternoon counterparts.
   In addition, the morning dailies carry more local news stories. Television network news programs focus more on national and world news. And even the local TV stations carry state and regional news reports. Local news remains the province of smaller daily newspapers, which also carry advertising by local service providers, who cannot afford the expense of buying space in major regional dailies, much less television broadcasters.
   So is the newspaper industry dying?
   No. It has certainly changed, as television provides instant coverage of events as they happen. For in-depth coverage, print has the time and the space to report not only the first four of the journalistic Five Ws -- Who, What, Where and When -- but also to investigate the more important -- the Why something happened, and what can be done to prevent it happening again.