The great thing about getting the many email newsletters everyday about what’s happening in the world of digital media is that it always seems to spark a thought that becomes a post for this website. And today, I read this AdAge article about newspapers consolidating as a means of survival in this new age of publishing.

It feels to me a lot like how the Big Three (or four) networks acquired numerous local television stations to be their distributors to the local markets. We have KABC, KCBS, and KNBC in Los Angeles. There’s WABC in New York, and so on. But are newspapers collecting the smaller fish in a particular market to establish a foothold and expand their audience?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months and years. Where do you go for local news? I know that most television stations have sites with it available, but when a small newspaper can no longer survive financially, can the likes of the LA Times or Washington Post provide a home that will preserve its unique identity, but also benefit from the parent entity’s reputation?