[Sam Cree]

Could be that people are less inclined to read than they once were. I wonder if literacy is declining or whether we are just happier with electronic media these days. Maybe a combination of the two things. I'm fairly sure that standards have been lowered at schools, but I also imagine that the studen population has increased.

[wgflyer]

"I wonder if literacy is declining or whether we are just happier with electronic media these days."

Pertinent observation. I was thinking that, among other things, dumbed down propaganda fed youth grow up either unable to read well enough, or uninterested in anything other than MTV and computer games. What are they going to do with a newspaper? The other thing that comes to mind is that more present and most future democrat voters buy spanish newspapers.

[whd23]

I wonder if literacy is declining...

It may be increasing due to people not reading the paper. Have you read a "news" paper lately? The writing is terrible. Why read poorly-composed and poorly-edited articles slapped together under a short deadline when you can pick up a good book that was crafted by the author over a longer period?