To social theorists predicting the collapse of newspapers, we’ve become more than an endangered species, we’re prime evidence of the fading way the public consumes information.

Day by day, they argue, can no longer compete with minute by minute. The popularity of instant stories about crime, conflict, crackpots and celebrities prove it. No time to wait and read what the news means.

The result, these critics conclude, is a print industry going the way of the dodo bird.

But is that what’s truly happening? Have news consumers become so impatient they no longer need nor want a little thought or judgment in their news of the day? Are newspapers, with their traditional appeal of reflective content, condemned to perish by a time-pressed public?

Only to those misguided souls who accept this shallow sentiment about the state of the newspaper industry, and devalue the importance of local news and advertising content to readers’ lives.

Hard evidence tells a far different story, one that shows Americans still treasure reading newspapers. Consider these specifics:

There are about 1,400 daily and 8,000 non-daily newspapers and newspaper Web sites in America. Overall, they’re read by 100 million adults in the country, according to Scarborough Research. That’s more people than bought a lotto ticket in the past month.

By tradition, newspapers readers are fiercely loyal and spend, on average, about 20 minutes with the daily paper, and even more time with the Sunday paper and non-dailies. That’s because newspapers are often considered like a member of the family.

More than two-thirds of people in the 18-34 age groups read a newspaper during an average week, according to Scarborough. Even more visit newspaper Web sites. This finding debunks the myth that young people don’t read newspapers.

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