Newspaper death watch, pt. MCXXVII

See-Dubya notes Debra Sauders' caution against conservative glee over the death of newspapers. I've written about this many times before:

• 4/9: The death of newspapers
• 4/16: 'Extremely gloomy'? That's me!
• 5/16: Still 'extremely gloomy'
• 5/28: The decline of newspapers, cont'd

I spent 22 years in the newspaper business, and walked away. While I would dearly love to work for a newspaper again, the industry is in a death spiral now. It's like a game of musical chairs where every time the music stops, there's another round of buyouts and layoffs.

The Washington Times paid out millions to hire a consulting firm (always a bad sign), brought in a new editor, spent another huge chunk of change on redesigning its Web site, and guess what? They're no better off, and many readers complain that the paper's gotten worse.