Regional publisher Newsquest has told staff working on its papers in London that it would accept requests for voluntary redundancy. American translation: Gannett's operations in the U.K. are looking for more employees to take buyouts -- although the company isn't saying how many it wants -- with the possibility that layoffs may be in the works. Requests for the buyouts must be filed by Monday.

The U.S. has always had a much stronger belief than other industrialized countries in the idea that if news is worth reporting then somehow money will stick to it. The starting point is always that the market will provide, and furthermore that the first amendment is best protected if it does. The idea of an American BBC is as shocking as it is unlikely.

On Feb. 27, 2009, Colorado's oldest newspaper printed its final edition and itself became part of the story of the destruction of the Great Recession and the demise of the newspaper industry. Two years later, I surveyed the 194 full and part-time members of the staff who were there on its last day to learn how their lives had changed. Perhaps the most depressing finding: 98 out of 146 respondents, or 67%, said they were earning less today than they made at the Rocky.