Today, all three evening news broadcasters featured the demise of the Rocky Mountain News. The Rocky Mountain News is one of America’s oldest newspaper - established before Colorado was even admitted as a state - and also one of the nation’s most distinguished papers having won four Pulitzer prices in the past several years. But the Rocky Mountain News has come to an end. The paper faced a shrinking subscription base and declining ad revenue, and simply could not secure additional funding. The paper’s fall is indicative of the newspaper industry during a time when news has become an easy to access free commodity.

The San Francisco Chronicle may soon follow in Rocky’s footsteps. The paper is in desperate need of either a renegotiation with unions over salaries or new capital. If the Chronicle falls, San Francisco will no longer have a local daily paper [Denver still has The Denver Post.] The Chicago Tribune Company, which besides owning its namesake also owns The Los Angeles Times among others; is also facing financial difficulties and sought state assistance from Illinois. The Boston Globe, New England’s most prominent paper, was bought for $1.3 billion by The New York Times Company in the 1990s; the Globe is now worth only $14 million. And, of course, America’s “paper of record” is also no thin ice. The Times recently had to seek $250 million in new capital from Mexican monopolist-tycoon Carlos Slim at 14% interest [the national interest rate is 3%].

The trouble of newspapers today is that they are facing a double-side threat: advertisers are moving toward more of a focus on online advertising, especially local advertisers who are moving away from their local papers and toward such sites as Craigslist. Secondly, because people can find news for free online [some of that even includes the newspapers content], fewer people see the need to subscribe. And all of this is happening during a time of economic crisis where raising capital is more difficult and ad dollars are declining. Are newspaper doomed to fail?

Many are. There will be more stores like the Rocky Mountain News. But newspapers are not about to become extinct, they will just have a much smaller base of paper-copy readers, but papers like the Times attract tens of millions of online readers a month. Newspaper will just become digital.

What poses the biggest threat to newspaper in the long run is not the blogs, but wire organizations. The AP and Reuters have been increasing the presence as not just a source for papers, but as a primary source for readers. Reuters even has established a website. These institutions maintain impressive news gathering networks, and as newspapers cut back on correspondents to save money readers may very ditch the paper and go directly to the wire service.

Not all papers are suffering though. The Wall Street Journal’s subscription base is growing, offering proof that in a tough market papers that really stand out for their exceptional reporting can still maintain a following. The Journal also offers a profit-making model for its competitors. Unlike the Times, the Journal charges for its online content. It has nearly 1 million online subscribers. Some have suggested that the digital newspaper will resemble the iTunes store, charging readers for each story they view.

Meet the iPaper.