It's not only East Coast papers like the New York Times that are coming to grips with the fact that they might be ink-stained dinosaurs. The Los Angeles Times, still one of the best newspapers in the country, is undergoing some major financial problems and a lot of soul-searching about its future. According to the Wall Street Journal, the newspaper's bigwigs have decided that the only possible way to boost circulation and bring in more advertisers is to pander to their readers: "After five years of sagging circulation and advertising, new managers at the Times are pushing for more coverage of Hollywood and celebrities. They want shorter stories and more regional reporting in the intensely competitive bedroom communities around Los Angeles..."

Hmmm... celebrities, gossip, soft news, short punchy items. Sounds like the LA Times is being Gawker-ized. Or, at least, Defamer-ized.

Speaking of Gawker, the New York Observer recently had an interesting feature on Nick Denton, the so-called Gawker King. ThePoliticker called Gawker "the combination steroid and tonic that both inflates and slaps down societies in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, as well as the borderless society of Web-porn fans." (memo to the LA Times: you forgot the porn)

Oh, and there's a great quote from Denton that sums up the basic problem facing all newspapers as they attempt to hang on to readers:

"You can’t pretend to yourself that people actually have highfalutin taste... Nobody ever searches for ‘Inequality in America.’"