All the News That's Fit to ... Aggregate, Download, Blog: Are Newspapers Yesterday's News?

KNOWLEDGE @ WHARTON: The recent sale of Knight Ridder, the country's second-largest newspaper chain, to McClatchy follows one of the most difficult years the industry has had -- declining circulation, job losses and falling stock prices. Newspapers, it would seem, have two big strikes against them: They are in a mature industry and they are a textbook example (stockbrokers are another) of an intermediary between sources of information and customers -- a role that is being increasingly challenged by the Internet. To remain competitive in the coming years, say Wharton faculty and others, daily newspapers will have to strengthen their efforts to attract younger readers, make more imaginative use of the Internet, and develop stories, mostly local in nature, that better meet the needs of time-pressed subscribers.