Like the sunset...everyone knew it was coming.

Except it's not sad. It's actually good. The web is a better place for news, and it saves trees.

Too bad the web doesn't offer enough revenue to, you know, pay for a proper newsroom.

Justin is partly right. We seem though still to be missing a couple of important things: (a) a comfortable interface for reading; and (b) a viable business model that supports professional newsgathering and reporting.

A "viable business model that supports professional newsgathering and reporting"? This seems more like a problem than something that should be preserved. It has always been problematic that newspapers were an immiscible mix of a "business model" with an inherent conflict of interest and the 4th estate function performing an invaluable public service. Death of the PI print is a necessary step toward getting rid of the unhelpful "business model."

I think we can all agree that the PI did some fantastic investigative journalism and I hope that either the PI reforms itself and learns to live without advertising dollars or that its reporters land somewhere like http://www.propublica.org.

The PI did some great investigative reporting over the years. It brought to light alot of shady dealings in Seattle & Olympia. The Oregonian has never had the same willingness to dig and call-out shenanigans.

I notice the Oregonian is getting smaller and smaller. They don't even break out the Metro and Business sections any more.

I know I'm on the wrong side of history here but I fully intend supporting newspapers to the end. I get the Oregonian and the FT every day and have to stop myself subscribing to the NYT. Add in the Hollywood Star, the WW, and even the occasional Portland Tribune, and you can see that many a tree ends up at my house.

It's not an old fogey thing as I read many other papers online and own every electronic gizmo known to man. Having the full edition of a paper leads to you reading sections and news that you skip online. Plus, until they make $5 laptops, I'm not taking any of my computers into the s***ter.

Death of the PI print is a necessary step toward getting rid of the unhelpful "business model."

I guess if that's right the same would be true not only for other newspapers, but also for TV and radio broadcasting and other private-sector media, right? What's left? Government-supported news sources?

My best PI memory is when I was at the "Battle of Seattle" on Nov 30,1999. The front page showed a picture of a woman holding a flag on which a dolphin was pictured, with the caption "I am not a trade barrier" standing against a wall of Seattle cops. I wanted a copy and planned to buy one at the train station on the way back to Portland. When the paper appeared to be sold out, I asked a cop at the train station if he knew where I could get a copy. He gave me his.

I think this is sad, not because I consider myself an old fogey, though I may be an old fogey. but because of the comfort the dead tree editions have been for me throughout my life as a reader.