Findley Ohio, a small town in the heart of America. Paperboy John Lucas makes his early morning round. But Lucas is not an ordinary employee of the Findlay Courier- he was recently voted Americas Number One Paperboy- the best and most reliable in the country. He gets 10 cents per newspaper delivered- but paper boys like Lucas may soon disappear from our streets.

With the recession in the U.S. in full swing- there are now only 1200 daily titles- a shocking drop from the 7500 in print during better times. The competition with electronic newspapers is making it increasingly difficult for new titles to establish themselves, as the young spearhead a trend for catching the news online.

0:49 VOX Pop

“Well, when you have an email account most of the news is right there when you sign into your email, so its pretty hard to ignore. I mean, it pretty much beats the newspaper when you have to pay for it, and then its right there, and you’re at home…”

1:01

“ I used to subscribe to the Boston Globe, but then it just got a little expensive, and if everything is online, then why bother?”

1:07

 “ Newspaper and online. But more online actually.”

The figures are dramatic- and the migration of readers to the high-speed Internet cannot be stopped, says Tom Rosenstiel. He is head of the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism, the US's leading institute in the field of newspaper research.

OT 1.23 - 1.53 Tom Rosenstiel, Pew Center

“The economic foundation of newspapers has collapsed, and that has happened for two reasons; first, newspapers have lost half of all of their classified advertising revenue to internet websites that are not subsidising journalism, and the second thing that’s happened is that roughly half the audience has moved from newspapers in print, to newspapers online.”

For decades, newspapers were gold dust for investors- annual returns of over 20 percent were the norm. The New York Times in Manhattan, shows how a strong self-image can lead to survival. But most major publishers have failed to adjust to the developments of the last five years.

The effects are not only felt in the bank accounts of the owners: for 24 years Gary Metzker was an editor at the Los Angeles Times- last month he got a call from his boss to say he was no longer needed. He may still have his Pullitzer prize, but no job to depend upon. And he knows the reason:

OT 2.50 - 3.17 Gary Metzker, Ex-LA Times Journalist

“There are too many young people now, who have dived head first into the world of the internet. They’re either blogging, they have their facebook page, they have their myspace page, they’re going onto youtube, they’re sharing videos, they’re sharing blogs, they’re sharing diaries. You know, the young students nowadays are really, really into the internet.”

The potential savings of an Internet edition compared to a printed newspaper are enormous: No press, no ink, no paper, no staff- and a simple click in place of a rapid transport service.  But this is also the root of the problem. Internet readers are - at least today - in no way prepared to pay for an online newspaper. And a newspaper that earns no money cannot pay journalists.

This will have an inevitable effect on the quality of journalism offered, says Nick Davies, one of Europe’s leading media critics.

OT 3:53 Nick Davies, Journalist,The Guardian

 “ Once the owners of news organisations say the primary object of this organisation is to make money, inevitably you damage the quality of the news that is being produced. And that is what has secretly, silently been going on in our news rooms across the developed world for the last 30 or 40 years.”

This is politico.com, whose offices are based in Washington. The journalists working here - and there are at least 60 of them - write primarily for networks and offer completely niche journalism. Politics in and around Washington is their only focus.

OT  4.18 - 4.41 Beth Frerking, Managing Editor „politico.com"

“ And certainly places like The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, I think those places are still going to be around, because I think they can specialise in certain areas within a broader publication. But I think people that don’t give you anything new, that don’t give you anything that you don’t already know from the television news the night before, I think those are the ones that are going to have problems.”

The business model at Politico is that if they have a good story, major media houses will want to link to that story. This generates web traffic for their site as well as advertising costs.

And yet: no real money is being made through the internet yet- the free newsletter which is released four to five times a week, is still financed through sponsors on the site.

OT  5.04 -  5.24 Beth Frerking, Managing Editor „politico.com"

“Because we’re, you know, a speciality publication, we’ve done very well with certain kinds of advertising in our print product, of advocacy advertising, you know, that kind of advertising. Online, we’re like everybody else, we’re still trying to find the exact magic solution to that.”

Back in Findlay Ohio- there are very different concerns. The town’s main river has burst its banks for the 6th time in a year. For the Findlay Courier,

with its circulation of 35 000, this is the hot topic. Whilst the owner admits that internet news is a consideration, this competition hasn’t proved life-threatening for papers in rural areas

OT  5.51 - 6.09 Ed L. Heminger,  Owner of the "Findlay Courier"

“That is correct - I would make the observation that smaller papers are less impacted, by both the recession and perhaps the internet, so the metropolitan ones are the ones that are really on the ropes, and we’ve got our own challenges but they’re not as severe.”

One such challenge has already hit the Findlay Courier. Papers increasingly have to use the same sources rather than sending their own reporters to all events. The chief editor of the newspaper was an employee of the news agency Associated Press for 25 years before he moved to the Findlay Courier.

 OT 6.29 - 6.54 Peter Mattiace, Chefredakteur "Findlay Courier"

“ I see a bright future for the wire service, the agencies as you put it, but there is still a bright future for local news. People still want to know what is happening in their area. So yes, they’ll always want to know what is happening in Washington and overseas, but we give them something, as you’ve heard from elsewhere, that no one else can give them, and that’s coverage of Hancock County and Finley, our area, of everything that happens.”

John Lucas, no longer works for The Findlay Courier. Autumn arrives and he heads off for college. Set to study International Relations. Whether the paper he leaves will be used as a valuable source of information or fish-wrapping, nobody knows. But one thing is for certain: four years at the paper has given him enough money to finance the first year of his studies.