The American newspaper has been around for about three hundred years. In 1721, the printer James Franklin, Benjamin’s older brother, started the New England Courant, and that was what we might recognize today as a real newspaper. He filled his paper with stories of adventure, articles on art, on famous people, and on all sorts of political subjects.
Three centuries after the appearance of Franklin’s Courant, few believe that newspapers in their present printed from will remain alive for long. Newspaper companies are losing advertisers(广告商)，readers, market value, and in some cases, their sense of purpose at a speed that would not have been imaginable just several years ago. The chief editor(主编) of the Times said recently,“At places where they gather, editors ask one another,‘How are you?’, as if they have just come out of the hospital or a lost law case.”An article about the newspaper appeared on the website of the Guandian, under the headline “NOT DEAD YET.”
Perhaps not, but the rise of the Internet, which has made the daily newspaper look slow and out of step with the world, has brought about a real sense of death. Some American newspapers have lost 42% of their market value in the past three years. The New York Times Company has seen its stock(股票) drop by 54% since the end of 2004, with much of the loss coming in the past year. A manager at Deutsche Bank suggested that stock-holders sell off their Times stock. The Washington Post Company has prevented the trouble only by changing part of its business to education; its testing and test-preparation service now brings in at least half the company’s income.

美国报纸已有近三百年的历史。1721年，印刷师詹姆斯.富兰克林.本杰明的哥哥开创了新英格兰报。我们如今仍把它看作是真正的报纸，它涵盖了历险故事、艺术文章、名人录，以及各种政治性文章。
富兰克林报问世后的三百多年，几乎没有人相信，报纸会以其现有的印刷形式，延用如此之久远。报纸业正失去他们的广告商、读者和市场价值。有些时候，他们的目标速度，几年前还可能是不可想象的。泰晤士报的主编，近期说过：他们聚在一起的时候，编辑们常会彼此问道，‘你感觉好吗？’，好像他们刚刚康复出院，或刚刚摆脱牵涉的案子。一篇题为“还未消亡”的关于报纸的文章，发表于前卫网站上。
也许不会，但是，互联网的兴起，使日报显得缓慢滞后，跟不上时代的步伐，却也带来了报纸的末日之感。在过去的三年里，有些美国报纸失去了42%的市场价值。纽约时报的股票从2204年底，已经下跌了54%，在过去一年里，损失惨重。德意志银行的一位经理建议股票持有者卖掉时报股票。华盛顿邮政局，通过把部分经营项目转向教育，而避免了这种麻烦，它现在的测试及测试准备服务，至少为公司带来了一般的收入。