Simply an old AF expression... I usually don’t bother with the acronym because anyone never in the military probably doesn’t understand the phonetic alphabet to begin with. Then I am given the opportunity to explain that “Tits Up” relates to a really bad way to land your airplane: with the wheels (tits) in the air...
As to the article, colleges have been closing journalism schools for quite a while. Although print media is dying to some extent, there are probably more magazines being published now than ever before. They're simply niche magazines. What is dying is the daily paper that dominated a city. Also, there is no equivalent to the photo magazines like Life or Look.
There are still plenty of options.