Local newspapers are dying because readers expect instant updates, but I think that's a lazy excuse for why we've lost the habit of paying for investigative journalism. When my hometown paper cut its staff from 40 reporters to 5, it started publishing press releases verbatim from the city council, and now nobody knows what's actually happening with the new transit line. If every community ends up with only national outlets and hyper-local blogs, are we willing to accept that nobody will be at council meetings or digging through public records?