It's been said before, and before the printed American newspaper meets it maker, God help us, it will be said again: a city's sense of itself is somehow magically linked to its flagship newspaper. And so in Harper's magazine's "Twilight of the American Newspaper" making the rounds, the author says as much: "When a newspaper dies in America, it is not simply that a commercial enterprise has failed; a sense of place has failed. If the San Francisco Chronicle is near death—and why else would the editors celebrate its 144th anniversary? and why else would the editors devote a week to feature articles on fog?—it is because San Francisco’s sense of itself as a city is perishing." Discuss. [Harper's]
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