After decades of reading the San Jose Mercury News, I allowed my subscription to lapse this year. A few weeks after it expired, a got a phone call from the Mercury News, "reminding" me that I hadn't renewed.
I said that I didn't intend to renew, and the caller politely asked me why.
I said, "The paper is thinner now than it's ever been, but the price keeps going up. And I really don't read it much anymore. I get most of my news online."
I expected the usual sales pitch... perhaps an offer of a lower price, or some persuasive argument about the unique value of local papers.
Instead, the caller said sadly, "Oh OK. Have a nice evening."
Perhaps he was just having a bad day. Perhaps he would normally go into full "sales" mode, and fight for every last subscriber. But I can't help thinking that, even for the people who still work for newspapers, the handwriting is on the wall.
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