Wish I had seen in The Phoenix (via / before I wrote my screed this morning.
Reilly touches on some of the same stuff I do: the Christian Science Monitor and the Detroit papers as signs of the times. The future of papers being good reporting on the Web. Collaboration.
He also gets into deep cuts and niche coverage.
One thing he doesn't touch on didn't occur to be until I remembered what The Phoenix is: a free paper that is frequently fat. As in, a huge newshole.
You know how it supports that big newshole? Advertising. Specifically, adult personals: there's a large section each issue.
A lot of newspapers aren't going to be willing to accept this kind of advertising – and used to take personal ads (not the adult sort), but it went more family-friendly – but it could be a good bailout for some establishments.