I'm following with more than a little interest this media trend that sees newspapers struggling to maintain readership and, as a result, advertising revenue. This is no small crisis, as many of the smaller papers are shriveling out of existence and even the big name dailies are cutting staff and issuing thinner products.

As a newspaper publisher, of course I'm worried about the survival of my medium. But believe me when I tell you, I am less upset that newspapers might disappear than I am about the reasons why this could happen-and what it will mean to our society if it happens.

If we had elevated the provision of news from newspapers to something even more effective, I would be the first to shut down the presses and find another way to make a living. But I'm afraid that this move from the printed page is being driven not by the pursuit of excellence, but one of convenience and economy.

We've seen this wave of change in other sectors. One by one, we've seen the demise of the corner drug store, the mom and pop grocery store, the one-person neighborhood doctor's office-the list is endless. These have been replaced in most cases by cookie cutter businesses or consolidations borne not out of the desire for greater personal service-that was already there-but out of the need to reduce costs and maximize profit. What the consumer got in return was the comfort found in standardization, often in place of quality. Hey, McDonald's is fine, but they just can't touch the cheeseburgers you could get at the diner that once was a mainstay on Main Street, USA.

The story is even worse when it comes to communications and information dissemination. Recent studies show that most people still get their news from television, but with the Internet coming on fast. Newspapers reluctantly have come to accept this fact and have responded by offering Web sites of their own. The intent was to help newspapers compete with the instant delivery of breaking news available on television and the Internet. But a big negative result was that reporters have been forced to file incomplete, even sometimes inaccurate, stories, just to "get something on the Web."

Meanwhile, we are raising an entire generation on instant communications-emails, blogging, text messaging-that foregoes any rules or grammar or structure in favor of immediate connection. How bad is it? Ask any HR director who has had to sift through stacks of application letters to find those few who present themselves as literate.

This "perfect storm" is responsible for submerging many newspapers across the country. Why by a paper if you can get your news elsewhere? Why dirty your fingers with newsprint when you can work on a full blown case of carpal tunnel-with a side order of arthritis-caused by years of sitting at a computer or pecking away on a cell phone?

So I am not mourning so much the possible demise of newspapers as much as I am sounding the alarm for what is replacing them. In our almost irrational desire for instant gratification at all costs (don't even get me started on caller ID, which allows us to ignore those we deem unworthy of our time) we are becoming a less sensitive, less literate, and less human society.

Harvey Kart