The plight of newspapers has been well documented: the bad news (declining print circulation; higher newsprint and ink costs; declining local and national advertising revenue; job cuts) has only been partially offset by the good news (burgeoning online businesses). [Zillow is fortunate enough to have partnered with a consortium of hundreds of newspapers in order to bring together one of their areas of expertise (local advertising sales) and our area of expertise (creating a real estate website).]

Here’s a first, reported by Media Daily News: “In what may be a first for American newspapers, a new Web site is being launched to continue the reporting of an expired print newspaper--The Kentucky Post, closed by E.W. Scripps at the same time as its sister publication, The Cincinnati Post. In another twist, the new Web site--KYPost.com--will be hosted by WCPO-TV, a Scripps television property in Cincinnati, drawing heavily on the station's video news for online content. The ad-supported site will focus on breaking local news, traffic advisories, sports scores and schedules, and weather in northern Kentucky communities, including user-generated content.”

There have been other local online-only news sites (e.g., Minnpost.com) but I’m not aware of any other newspapers that have closed print and kept alive their website. I think some magazine titles have closed the print version and kept the website alive (Teen People perhaps?) but it’s interesting to see this happen with a newspaper.