The Print Observer is tired of reading that anything printed on paper is doomed. No doubt the trend is not good. No doubt the habits of readers and advertisers have changed. And there is no doubt that newspapers and magazines have to start changing a lot faster and smarter.

But every time a print publication goes out of business it does not mean that the end is near. The Journal Register Co. announced last week that it was closing up to 13 papers in Central Connecticut and blamed it primarily on the overall demise of print- which is a little bit like saying that American Express is having trouble these days because people don’t like credit cards anymore.

The rubbish about closing because of the state of print is an excuse to hide the real issue.

This article  from the International Herald Tribune does as good a job as any I have seen pointing out that the real demise of these papers – and potentially a lot more to come – stems from poor management and the acquisition of an enormous debt load in an effort to acquire more publications and inflate the company’s stock price.

The Print Observer’s position: these publications would be doing fine if not for lousy corporate management. We are not suggesting they would be thriving but they would not be facing a January 12 shut down.