Can we exist without the New York Times?

what are you referring to?

It's on life support. Should the plug be pulled?
There are way too many news sources for the NYT to be relevant as it once was.

What if we don't have the NYT Real Estate section to rely on? Where will we get our stories?
You can see why Bill Keller of the NYT equated the keep-the-Times-alive movement to the cause of starving African refugees, saying, "Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause."

I got tired of watching their editorial placement of their causes on page one. Its like reading a propaganda rag. I canned our subscription 4 years ago.

because of the internet, newspapers will soon be obsolete.

Newspapers are soooo 20th century - except the WS Journal, which I couldn't live without.

not to worry. The NY Times is not going anywhere. Rupert Murdoch will buy it.

It would be a very sad day for New York.

I think the question is how will the people writing the articles be compensated on the internet?
Saying, "the internet(s) will replace it!!" is kind of lame, imho

they have to start charging people for online subscriptions. it's a drag but they gotta do it.

Another possibility is that they drastically increase audience size for their free online news, such that they have the economy of scale (and more souls to sell to advertisers) to continue to support real news gathering and reporting.

How? As other papers fold nationwide (i.e., both the Chicago Trib and the Chicago Sun-Times are in bankruptcy now, but still publishing for now), not all of their readers will be satisfied with USA Today, crappy cable news, and facebook bulletins. nytimes.com gets their educated, high-income eyeballs to toss to the admen.

I hope the Times can hold out until then, and I believe they can/will.

They decided to be a pompous, sanctimonious truth-itself but in reality a puffy rag. Legend in their own mind.
Remember the telegraph? The typewriter? Floppy disk? And so on.

The thing I can never get out of my mind is the TV commercial about the sunday times. 6-8 people would give snippets about their favorite sections. Then a guy sitting on the couch reading looks up and says, "They not only report the important stories, they interpret them for me" That's just awesome stuff. No wonder its closing down.

"they interpret them for me". that's the worst. is that even true? that is so bad.

He meant the opinion columnists. That's what they're for.

NWT: You in the 99 percentile, understand this. The annoying part is that it is generally accepted throughout the paper, not just the back page. Doesn't matter anyway, they continue to sign their own DNR papers everyday.