The decline and fall of newspapers, continued

By Thomas Lifson

The Miami Herald, owned by McClatchy, has announced the sale of its landmark Biscayne bayfront newspaper offices and printing plant to a Malaysia-based resort and gambling conglomerate, Genting Malaysia Berhad, which operates resorts and casinos worldwide, including 46 casinos in the UK. Genting will pay $246 million for the 14 acres of waterfront property, and replace it with a "mixed use" development.

The glory days of newspapers are long gone, and McClatchy, which foolishly borrowed money to buy Knight-Ridder and other major metropolitan dailies, such as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune just as the internet began to take its toll on ad revenue and circulation, must need to raise cash.

In their glory days, many American newspapers erected fabulous headquarter buildings, such as Chicago's Tribune Tower:

New York's Daily News Building, an art deco masterpiece designed by Raymond Hood. No visitor to New York should miss the wonderful lobby of this building.

and Chicago's Daily News building, another art deco treasure built by a long-gone daily.

Those days are gone forever. Don't hold your breath waiting for (God forbid) the Huffington Post Tower, or the American Thinker Building. We don't need printing presses, or even much office space. The 21st century is the age of the virtual organization.

I take no pleasure in the death throes of this industry, having grown up reading multiple daily papers with great pleasure. But technology and ideology have combined to drive this industry into asset liquidation.

Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons

Hat tip: David Paulin