Gordon Borrell wrote a thoughtful opinion piece, which he has allowed us to post on The Digital Edge, in response to Walter E. Hussman's Wall Street Journal op-ed that ran in May.

In Hussman's May piece, he wrote, "One has to wonder how many of the newspaper industry's current problems are self-inflicted. Take free news." Hussman also argued the free availability of news online has contributed to some print newspaper circulation declines. Shortly after Hussman's op-ed appeared, the Digital Media Federation e-forum hosted a lengthy debate about the value of unique content and whether the free availability of newspaper-produced content online contributes some declines in print circulation. (Federation members can see the entire conversation; non-members can learn more in this Digital Edge blog post.)

In response to Hussman's op-ed, Borrell pointed out some of the positive innovations and strategies at work now in the newspaper industry. Included: Newspapers Next through the American Press Institute and the trend toward turning the newspaper's print advertising into valuable digital media content. Borrell has statistics to back him up, too: "By 2004," he wrote, "the newspaper industry commanded a 44 percent share of all locally spent Internet advertising -- the largest single share of any industry segment.... By 2006, newspapers operated the largest-grossing Web sites in 95 percent of all U.S. markets."

In conclusion, Borrell wrote he's not sure "whether the newspaper industry can make the transition from a purly analog world of ink, paper and printing presses. But I do know that even though their erosion in circulation may be partly their own doing, it's a necessary consequence of changing to survive in an increasingly fragmented -- and 'free' -- world of content."

Read Borrell's entire op-ed here.

Borrell is CEO of Borrell Associates Inc., a research and consulting company. He is a former newspaper reporter and editor, and former president of NAA's Digital Media Federation.