And so it begins

First small, and soon mid-sized, American cities begin to lose their daily newspapers. First up, New Britain and Bristol, Ct. It's a void that will not be filled, as the Hartford Courant notes:

What's harder to quantify is the loss to the communities that rely on the newspapers to report births, deaths, local government news, local sports and snippets of daily life. No one appears ready to fill the void. The Courant, the state's largest newspaper, sharply cut its local news reporting staff in July.

The stock for the Journal Register Company, which owns the two faltering Connecticut dailies, is currently trading for 1 cent.

Meanwhile, conservative press critics, who don't want to improve journalism, they want to eliminate it, snicker as they watch the demise of newspapers.