Keeping watch on the canaries in the coal mine ...

A few recent notes on the steady decline of newspapers:

San Diego newspaper staffers are so desperate to take buyouts that they slept in the lobby of their building last night so they could be first in line to apply today.

Rumors are swirling that the Tampa Tribune may soon publish a one-section newspaper. Fewer pages for news means fewer ads being sold.

The Sacramento Bee and and other McClatchy newspapers quietly announced last week that they are offering even more buyouts to employees just two months after McClatchy ordered a 10% reduction in the workforce at all of the chain's newspapers.

So far the Herald has not announced any more cuts but a source reports that newsroom staffers are walking on eggshells and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Broward New Times blogger Bob Norman reports that the "Sun-Sentinel, WSFL-TV, and the Orlando Sentinel have taken their collective Internet content -- otherwise known as their future -- out of the hands of journalists and given it to marketing chief Jeff Levine."

Traditionally newspapers have maintained a wall between the news and business departments. It appears that's no longer the case at the Sun-Sentinel. Distressing.