Newspaper Closes After 174 Years

In the future, news organizations are going to have to offer more than just news, they will have to aggregate information about local social and personal interests in the place where people spend the most time: the Internet.

So say the executives of a new company created by Advance Publications Inc. called Ann Arbor.com, LLC. The company plans to launch a news Web site and print publication sometime in July after The Ann Arbor News closes.

Having spent almost 40 years publishing or working in newspaper advertising departments, people are constantly asking what I see for the future. A quick look at our local daily and you have many reasons to wonder.

My answer: more of what we're seeing in Ann Arbor. That simple.