Doc Searls continues to prod newspapers - this time via some good stuff from Dan Gillmor. The only thing stopping papers from taking their advice - especially this (below) - is inertia:

First is to open the archives, with permalinks on every story in the database. Newspapers hold more of their communities' histories and all other media put together, yet they hoard it behind a paywall that produces pathetic revenues and keeps people in the communities from using it as they would all the time as part of their current lives. The revenues would go up with targeted search and keyword-specific ads on those pages, I'm absolutely convinced. But an equally important result would be to strengthen local ties.

The question is, will the inertia end before or after many of these papers die - and, if they do die, will their archives survive, or will they perish in the asset sale?

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