just continues to reinforce and confirm the consumer trend towards Internet-based information and resources...

This is obviously not good news.  The more printers and publishers that go out of business the worse the job market gets.  The trickle down from this is much greater than just the loss of one business...there is a huge loss of advertisers which will also lose business from lack of product exposure. 

I'm not surprised.  Actually, I don't believe that the Internet had as much to do with this as Cable TV.

Retailers are certainly growing their businesses on the Internet.  That's easy.  Even a bad photo of a shirt or pair of socks will sell it.  Home decor has to be profesionally staged and presented.  That's a tough sell on the Internet. 

I don't see how the magazines can compete with the 1/2 hour cable real estate shows.  Wide screens were a boon to home shows. 

Spencer, This is a "loss" for all of us because certain publications are part of our culture. And it is not a "zero sum" game. A loss for print media doesn't equate with a gain for the Internet.

Bill Roberts

Bill - good point. I only meant that it's a win for the internet in terms of time that people spend consuming media, and the accompanying advertising budgets that inevitably follow consumers' viewing habits. Personally, I still read several magazines and newspapers, but increasingly I consumer more media on the web instead of in print. I'm not unique in this regard.

But yes you're right that this is a loss for consumers in the sense that there is now one less media outlet with information about this important topic -- our homes. 

Our paper the Ann Arbor News laid off 400 plus employees last year, shrunk the paper by size and pages. I think it is a victory for the internet. One add about 1 in wide and depth ran me 120.00 each Sunday for years. The last 2 years I very, very, very run a ad. I do agree with Lenn, cable news had captured the news on TV.

I just hope my kids don't grow up never reading a newspaper. But, I fear they will.

Doesn't it also depend on the area.....there are many out of the way places that don't really use the Internet, and depend on the Local paper, as do areas that thrive on the "Snowbirds" each year....they read the papers, for their information. 

The statement "It's a win for the internet" doesn't sit well with me personally.  When American workers lose their job it is not a win for our America.  I may be taking this subject a bit serious but if we are not careful we are going to see many of our American businesses replaced by "The Internet".  If you think this is fine that's your opinion but consider that your job or business could be pretty much be eliminated for the most part by the internet.  

Here is a thought worth considering and one that might scare the heck out of you.  Let's say during the next 2 years more and more newspapers and printed publications go out of business.  Now lets say that Google who pretty much is dominating the search engine decides to eliminate ALL real estate marketing on their search engine website.  Now lets say that all real estate advertising done on Google is Google and their real estate division called "Google Homes".  Now let's say Google wants to sell you every lead they get at a 50% referral fee...take it or leave it.  Is this another win for the internet?

Sam - Obviously I agree that no one should take pleasure in another's misfortune. If the tone of my post implied otherwise, I apologize.

On your job creation point, yes it's definitely sad when people lose their jobs -- especially when it's due to a larger macro trend rather than due to anything that they had control over (e.g., auto workers). It is worth noting though that in the last quarter (3Q07), Google added 2130 new employees; Amazon added 1400; Yahoo added 1200; and EBAY added 900. Zillow has added about 100 new employees in the last year. There's a lot of job creation going on in our country, but not in print journalism for obvious reasons.

On your Google point -- I, like you, hope that 2 years from now Google doesn't dominate the real estate industry the way you describe! I think it's highly unlikely.