Does a web full of coverage still leave a few holes?

The Seattle PI won't be printed on paper anymore.
Papers in Denver and Albuquerque, N.M. are among the others that have closed in the last year. The Tuscon, Ariz., Citizen, which reported on the gunfight at the OK Corral, could close any day.
These are scary times for those of us who love the news. No matter how old or storied an institution may be, it can still fall victim to the same economic climate that just shuttered the six-month-old coffee stand down the street.
The coffee stand closure doesn't bother me. There's always someone willing to don an apron or pilot an espresso machine so commuters can get their venti cup of morning jitters. Not many people in the average city are willing to buy a printing press to fill a void left when a newspaper packs up its ink barrels.
Are all these cuts going to leave a few holes? Will the ever-shrinking list of public meeting attendees drop off by one or two more? Is there a chance some reporters may never find work in journalism again? They are questions most journalism students never thought to ask when I left J-school six years ago.
But while the PI is closing, it's online-only premise may be close to the right idea for how a news gathering arm can continue.
For us readers living outside of the emerald city, the web is the only way to catch up on the day's headlines in and around Washington's west side. The PI will now have the same access for a ferry employee on Vashon Island as the gondola cabbie in Venice.
Who knows if it will work? For some, there's less of an incentive to read something if it doesn't get dropped on your doorstep every a.m. Others are addicted to the keyboard.
All I know is my habit of scanning the PI and Seattle Times online each morning before work isn't going to change anytime soon. It's a habit that likely won't be afforded to some readers as more of the nation's papers shut their doors this year.