Goodbye, newspapers. You'll be missed.

Print is dying a slow, cruel death. I'm quite upset about it, but I understand why. Newspapers, magazines and even broadcast news (which is still doing relatively well), have seriously failed at advancing public debate.

There was a time, believe it or not, that newspapers informed public opinion, reported on local, national and international happenings and also were...dare I type it...Interesting. The writing was better, the editing was better and reporters were less likely to be disgruntled-types working for the man and more likely to innovative.

I've been thinking a lot about how I get my news and whether or not I've contributed to the problem and I'm sorry to admit that I have. And this is why, I don't have time to read the New York Times daily and it takes me a week to get through the Sunday Times. Instead, I scan the headlines of several newspapers every day (NYTimes, WaPo, Newsday and the Daily News). I get most of my national news from CNN.com, Politico and local news from neighborhood blogs.

While, I hate the idea of losing the elite newspapers like the Times, WaPo and other broadsheets, I think it's time they make changes to reflect American life and modern attitudes.

And aren't these papers and their management teams largely to blame for their own demise? We just survived (although the jury is still out on whether or not we'll recover) one of the least transparent and borderline corrupt presidential administrations in recent history and yet, I don't recall seeing many enterprising pieces in the Times or the other elite papers about the effects of the administration. Everyone loves writing about expert opinions and speculating, but there are so few stories in the news about what happens when policies are implemented. It's called spin for a reason. And the Bush administration out-witted the press by spinning nearly everything and the Obama adminstration will likely do the same. It's the nature of politics and has sadly become the nature of journalism.

When I decided to become a journalist at age 15, I thought I would be writing about topics like race, poverty, gender, education and public policy. I didn't realize I would be spending time writing stories that satisfied readers, rather than provoked them. And most of the reporters and editors I know want to do just this. They want to write thought-provoking pieces that inform, excite, anger and engage the masses, but instead we have been reduced to ambulance chasers. Newspapers do very little to inspire or enrage and a lot to feed the existing narratives.

I'm sad to see newspapers go and I'd like to see them survive, but I don't think that will happen without some serious reflection on why so many are failing.