kitesurfing.jpg: Paste this image in your site, Myspace, Facebook, Ebay copy this code...

<a href="http://www.weeklybits.com/why-are-newspapers-screwed-3f-because-they-don-27t-deliver-news_article_8_10821.html"><img src="http://static.10gen.com/www.alleyinsider.com/~~/f?id=486024a8796c7aa800381e4d&maxX=197&maxY=220" border="0" alt="kitesurfing.jpg en Tech WeBlogs WEEKLYBITS.COM"></a>

But papers are also screwed because they're in a self-perpetuating mediocrity cycle: Revenues decline, so they cut resources, which makes their product lousier, which makes their revenue decline. Repeat.

Unpleasant example: The San Jose Mercury News, a paper that's been hit just as hard -- if not harder -- by ad declines as any paper in the U.S., and has seen its staff shrink accordingly. Which is why we assume we just read this story in the paper: A trend story about how much Valley digerati (like the the Google guys) like kitesurfing.

So what's wrong with that? Nothing -- just that it's not... news -- either to Valley residents, or anyone with an Internet connection. For example:

• Valleywag wrote about in January 2007

• Bloomberg wrote about it in April 2007

• Fortune wrote about it in August 2007
  

• And the LA Times wrote about it last week.

Insult to injury: The Merc's kite-surfing article? It's just a reprint of the LAT's version.

Maybe there really used to be a business model that supported old news about your hometown, delivered by people who don't live there. But it sure won't work in the Google News era.