After all, inflating their circulation numbers is fraudulent on at least two counts. First, the inflated circulation numbers are grounds for charging higher advertising rates, so those who advertised in those papers were defrauded. Second, the higher circulation rates also served to inflate stock share prices, which is defrauding investors just as surely as what other corporations did when they inflated their profit statements. The 1st Amendment doesn't protect the Press from fraud charges.

It wouldn't surprise me in the next 10 years or so to see most papers being reduced to local coverage. By the time a newspaper is printed, national and international stories (and even sports) have been covered by other sources such as TV, radio, and especially the Internet. Sure, some of the big "national" papers like the NYT, Washington Post, and WSJ will continue to feature other than local coverage. It just seems likely that the traditional newspaper may be going the way of the buggywhip.