I missed opening my front door this morning to check out the lead stories in our local paper.

The Victoria Times-Colonist announced last month that it would stop printing a Monday paper. They’re beefing up their online edition so you can still get the breaking news and the latest sports scores.

Editor in Chief Lucinda Chodin blamed the move on the current economic crisis, adding that several other US and Canadian newspapers have opted to stop publishing on Mondays as well.  Newspapers everywhere are under seige as a result of the recession, and the growth of the internet.  Some major dailies in the United States have gone under, or have suffered huge financial losses.

The Newspaper Association of America reports that more of us are getting our news online, and several Canadian publishers are reporting similar trends.  So the challenge for publishers is finding a way to make a profit from that online traffic.

Some say the growth in online and citizen journalist sites will eventually mean the end of newspapers, as we know them. Personally, I’m not so sure, and I certainly hope not.

As much as I enjoy Twitter, Google Reader and online news sites, I also enjoy sipping on my morning coffee, scanning through the morning paper, and seeing how quickly I can do the crossword.

Coffee and Newspaper photo credit: ASystems’