There seem to be a few different threads in this: fear over the decline of newspapers; general threats to print from online; cultural issues as public discourse moves online; a possible decline in reading overall and a decline in print reading specifically; and a general fear of change as the "rabble" of the Internet and cable TV overwhelm the carefully edited discussions in print. But at the center of the issues of newspaper decline is a change in the perception of advertisers. One interesting point made recetly (as InfoWeek goes Web only and ends its print efforts entirely) is that advertisers get better measurements for their online ads than they do for their print ads - and much faster as well. With the increasing use of Google's approach to radio ads - and Tivo's similar efforts for TV ads - there is little doubt that "electronic media" will satisfy advertisers more than print media. How newspapers respond to this fundamental business challenge will really determine if they have the interest and incentive to run book reviews. Perhaps newspapers need to work with other data providers to meet the needs of advertisers: what if you used an AJC Card when you purchased groceries rather than a Safeway card? And if the AJC crunched and resold these metrics back to advertisers highlighting the linkage between advertising (such as circulars) and sales? What if the AJC print edition had an chip in it that allowed the paper to track how long each page had been open (and presumably read) and that this was used to offer advertisers a "stickiness" measure for ads comparable to the Web? Sounds scary? Big Brother-ish? If you give up your privacy for 10% off at the grocery store (and drug store, and gas station, and with your credit card) then why react to these uses of your personal information? If not this, then what?

Reader, I married him... Oops, wrong response. I'm kidding! When I saw your display name, I couldn't resist. Thank you for such a thoughtful comment. During my time at AOL, I certainly saw the immediacy of response to ads -- and one of the things I've said frequently is that it wasn't necessarily in the Books section that we saw responses... it was usually when a book was tied to something else (e.g., promoting a news event or an interview) that ad traffic soared. Another thing for newspaper ad folks to think about... (I'm sure they already do, to some extent).