BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

When the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy on Monday, the 161-year-old media conglomerate that owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, and a number of other dailies across the nation marked yet another significant milestone in the seismic shift that is changing media as we know it.

Information Age technologies, dwindling advertising revenues, and the evolution in how Americans get their news are creating a perfect storm that may very well spell the end of newsprint. In the wake of the Tribune Company' s decision, even ivory towers like the New York Times are taking measures to improve liquidity and avoid a similar fate.

But while newsprint may be singing its swan song, newspapers can still protect the important role they play in the media equation if they realize that the time has come to move to a different stage. Simply put, their cheese has moved, and they will have to move right along with it if they hope to remain relevant.

In October, the Christian Science Monitor - one of the nation' s oldest and proudest journalistic institutions - announced that it would be abandoning daily print editions in favor of an online-only approach. The CSM was a trailblazer when it became one of the first major papers to post content online in 1995 - and it seems that the paper is ahead of the curve yet again.

What the Tribune Company and the other newspapers that may share its fate must understand is that bankruptcy - while traumatic - can often be a springboard to future success if it is seen as an opportunity to restructure not only the financials, but the very foundations of a company' s business operations.

In this author' s humble opinion, the Tribune Company now faces a simple choice: Make moves now that will enhance its papers' ability to compete in the new media environment and increase visibility among their target audiences, or continue attempting to do more than less in the dying realm of newsprint - and likely end up right back where the company started on Monday morning.