This week, Detroit's two daily newspapers will begin a change in their business models that could either revolutionize the industry or shutter The Detroit News and Free Press for good.

The Internet, high printing costs and lower advertising dollars due to a poor economy has forced the News and Freep to try something new to keep their doors open.

The papers will deliver three days a week and offer full versions of their papers online for subscribers. There will also be a smaller version of the paper sold in stores on off delivery days. If the plan works, newspapers across the country will be falling over themselves to try it out.

Hopefully, it works. If not, more jobs will be lost, local businesses will have trouble buying effective advertising and there will be no one keeping an eye on what's going on out there.

The Freep broke the scandals surrounding Kwame Kilpatrick. If not for that newspaper's solid reporting, Kilpatrick might still be on the job and soaking up all the city's money for SUVs and parties.

We need the watchdog aspect of newspapers. Bloggers serve a purpose but they don't have the same resources as newspapers to dig deep into several stories at once. A big daily newspapers will have dozens of stories brewing at one time. Bloggers do good work but most can only tackle one scandal at a time.

The TV news is limited by time so we need newspapers to give us in-depth stories that delve deep into the subject matter.

Newspapers also offer the community news not offered on most Internet sites. Where can you find council meeting times, school board information, high school sports scores, comics and police blotter news in one place?

This country needs newspapers, whether they are delivered on the doorstep or on the World Wide Web. It's nice to have an actual paper to hold over the breakfast table on on the bus, but the most important thing is to have the information getting to the people.

I have been a reader of both papers for years and will miss home delivery but I will support their online endeavours because the newspaper industry is too important to fail.

I will also continue to support The Macomb Daily and The Oakland Press, which will continue seven-day delivery.

If there ever comes a day when the newspaper industry goes away, we will be in big trouble. Bloggers, magazines and TV news will tackle some of the big stories but there will be a lack of local news coverage and corrupted public officials will have an easier time scamming their constituency.

Newspapers are an institution in this country and they perform an important public service.

It will be a sad day if they go away.

Until next time, enjoy Michigan and read the paper. You'll like it.

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