I used to get a dozen specialty publications which I directed to work where they (mostly unread) filled a corner of my office until I'd shovel them into a dumpster we'd roll around for just such trash.
With transitions to the web, I'm fairly certain that more articles are getting read (in sum total) than ever before, and this should (and to some extent has) translate into more targeted advertising than has ever been possible.
I hope someone has calculated the number of trees not being cut down due to this change, and while it has obviousy been disruptive to some people I can't help but think it is for the better in the long run.
Meanwhile, purely online media is still looking for the magic formula, combining authoritativeness (my spell checker is satisfied that that is indeed a word), reader interaction/feedback, ease of use and other factors that may not be well understood at all at this point (short/memorable URLs, etc. come to mind).
To my way of thinking, there should have been revolutionary changes to AOL/TW print publications at the time of that merger. The two parts of the company should have been rendered indistinguishable by now.
If they don't change, they may soon be indistinguishable in their absence.
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