TRAVERSE CITY -- The news about newspapers has been grim for months.
Large metro dailies in Denver, Seattle and Tucson, Ariz., no longer exist in print. Papers in Detroit, Flint, Bay City and Saginaw have reduced home delivery or the number of days they publish.
And in a matter of weeks this winter, the region lost three community newspapers in Elk Rapids, Bellaire and Boyne City.
Given all that, the question remains: What will become of the area's remaining media outlets? It will be posed to three local media leaders this week at a forum about the newspaper industry's future.
"This is a region and a community that feel strongly about the area, and the newspapers reflect that," said Greg Reisig, chairman of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council board, who helped organize and sponsor the event. "We certainly don't want to lose any of them."
Other forum sponsors include the Grand Traverse League of Women Voters and the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce.
On hand Wednesday will be Mike Casuscelli and Alan Campbell, publishers of the Record-Eagle and Leelanau Enterprise, respectively, and Robert Downes, chief editor and co-publisher of the weekly Northern Express.
They are expected to talk about the future of their publications, as well as answer questions from the audience.
The defunct local papers "were a community cheerleader, a community scold," said Gregg Smith, former publisher of a number of community newspapers, including the closed Antrim County News.
He will moderate Wednesday's forum.
If newspapers cease to exist, he added, organizations won't be able to get their messages to the public and the First Amendment could be compromised.
"There has to be an outside objective source covering news," Smith said. "Bloggers aren't going to do that."
The Internet has given traditional newspapers many opportunities to innovate, said Downes, whose Northern Express is offered for free.
Its Web site includes a link to view the paper's print edition online. Readers can jump through the pages, and advertisers get traffic to their sites if readers click on a virtual ad.
"That's a way newspapers could have their cake and eat it, too," Downes said. "You just can't get the ads that support journalism on a Web site."
Campbell, who publishes the Enterprise, said expanding the company's product line helped balance the operation in down times. In addition to the weekly newspaper, with a paid circulation of about 9,000, Campbell also launched a phone book and visitors' guide.
He believes the traditional newspaper model, if done well, doesn't need much tinkering.
"It's easy to blame that all on the Internet, but it's a busy world out there. People have a lot of choices," Campbell said. "If a newspaper stays at the heart of a community, I think its future's good."
If you go
A forum on the future of the newspaper industry will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Oleson Center at Northwestern Michigan College. It is open to the public.
Speakers will include Record-Eagle Publisher Mike Casuscelli, Leelanau Enterprise Publisher Alan Campbell and Robert Downes, chief editor and co-publisher of the Northern Express.
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