There is a real crisis in journalism.

Some of it is self-inflicted and some of it is technologically driven.

Like the high street chains that have teetered on the edge through otherwise good times, the recession has brought the developing problems of newspapers and commercial radio stations into sharp focus. There is going to be fall out.

Change is the only constant in the economy and there is little point in wishing away new media, I seriously wonder if the web can ever really fulfil the role that national or local newspapers have played in our culture also, you can’t wrap your chips in an RSS feed.

I have to plead guilty to being part of this, to some extent at least. I tend to read the Sunday papers on a tiny notebook PC these days. It has a great virtue – I can skim through the main stories in all the papers including the ones I loath, without having to go out, without giving them any money and without creating an unholy mess that lies around for weeks. Also, the entire country can now enjoy that which was previously the preserve of London – getting the Sunday papers on a Saturday evening. I read all of the bits I normally read when I bought the things and a few more across the wider range of papers. I can read the news from pretty much wherever I like – The Sydney Morning Herald, The Straits Times, The San Francisco Chronicle. What more could I want?

Well, for one thing I miss out on the random find – the interesting article on page 36, or the columnist that I don’t usually bother with, but who this week has a piece on a subject that catches my eye. Most of all the web might give me the longer features that the Sunday’s were so good at, but it is not really the idea medium for reading much more than a couple of thousand words. Spending a day with the papers is relaxing. Spending a day with a laptop is hard work – and as for taking it into the bath …

Of course I’m talking mainly about the ‘broadsheet/quality’ papers here. I find the web is ideal for keeping up with the tabloids – which I’ve never really bought beyond my professional interest. And this is the problem. What is news and what people want to read is pretty tragic these days. This is where newspaper managements have brought their downfall on themselves. Newspapers, particularly local papers, have been so poorly resourced that some of them have virtually given up on the notion of pursuing stories and simply settle for the easy yet practical life that comes from printing the press release in its spun entirety.

The result of abandoning the notion of journalism leads to newspapers without news. Playing for the lowest common denominator in the market – dumbing down, if you prefer, is where local media have been at for some time. Perusing the red-top audience seems to be the priority, but it is that segment of the audience that would seem to be abandoning reading of any sort. It is a self-defeating strategy that can only lead to further decline.

I’m not sure of the answer, but I do know that the press, for all the criticism is a vital part of the democratic process and its all very well to stand on one side carping. You have to give it a go.

Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree, but I don’t see why intelligent argument cannot be put across in a form that anyone who wants to can understand. That’s the challenge of writing for a local paper. Writing about the things I have some understanding of or simply enjoy - food, travel, politics, entertainment and so on is an added treat.