So how did the wrongheaded attitude about the present and future fate of newspapers develop?

The answer lies in the financial history of the newspaper business. For years, it was a growth industry. Increased revenue from advertising and circulation was dependably predictable. Newspaper values skyrocketed, and newspaper companies soon became the darlings of Wall Street.

This, in turn, led to a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions, happily funded by investment bankers bedazzled by the industry’s history of strong cash flow and handsome profits. Consolidation flourished. Led by Gannett, group ownership became common. So did lots of bank debt.

Not a problem. Until the Internet – and especially free online classified advertising services such as Craigslist – began siphoning gobs of revenue from traditional newspapers sources. Then the Great Recession struck, making matters worse by causing a precipitous drop in advertising revenue for all ad-based businesses. Repaying debt obligations became an unexpected struggle.

Newspaper companies reacted quickly by reducing people and paper, the industry’s two main cost items. That included trimming an expensive and yet necessary department to their survival: the newsroom. Doom and gloom stories about cutbacks and the death of newspapers spread fast and far.

Yet most newspapers adjusted to the extraordinary economic downturn. They began to reinvent themselves for the more challenging digital age, expanding their online skills and presence, and searching for new ways to raise revenue in print and on the Web.