Gary Stein, of ClickZ, has a column worth reading on how to save the U.S Newspaper industry. Full story here. 

To synopsize: his three points are:

- Use news to drive traffic, not make money.

This is a nice idea, but in the real world it has proven resoundingly to be a false assumption. In an online world with an increasing number of ways to reach massive audiences, the value of traffic is likely to never outpace the cost of gathering the news. He is right when he goes on to argue that print news organizations need to be much better about being able to channel their content into the networks more people depend on, but relying entirely on online advertising revenue to offset the costs is increasingly difficult.

- Massively Increase the value and cost of the print edition.

Counterintuitive, so I am prone by nature to be intrigued with this idea. However, I think Stein underestimates the backlash publications who serve an older demographic would receive from a massive increase in the cost of their print product. For better or worse, raising the price of anything on the fixed income crowd can be dangerous. Remember, many of these readers are the same people who go out to dinner at 4:30 so they can save 25% off the price of the day's special.

- Put everything into a wiki and let others tell the story.

Now this is a good idea. Engaging the readership by allowing them to participate in the news gathering process has been successful in other arenas, Stein is exactly right when he points out that Wikis are the perfect for this effort.

Overall, I agree with Stein's general premise which is: "If newspapers are going to survive, they need to become more active players in the changing media economy"