American newspapers may not be dying, but most of them cannot survive many more years of double digit advertising, circulation and job losses. One of their more natural options is to simply merge into chain papers with a few local pages.

They would never be called "chain papers" because their owners do not like the word "chain." They prefer to be called groups.

The New York Times reported that American newspaper advertising revenue was down eight percent in 2007 and was down12 percent in the first few months of 2008.