Stuck in a trap

Chicago's Sun-Times is killing the free newspaper Red Streak, which it launched hurriedly in an attempt to counter the Tribune's Redeye. In Iowa, Lee Enterprises is shutting down Your Mom, a very cool project that was built in conjunction with Northwestern University (but it's keeping the website). Lost Remote takes notice of this and concludes "young people do not want print."

I don't think that's it at all. I think the problem is that a big company has a very hard time focusing on a small project and an even harder time running a "side business" that generates tiny profits. These efforts might in fact be the wave of the future, but they won't be the wave for the parent company.

A startup -- two guys in a garage, or one backed by a zillionaire -- might be delighted just to be in the black at this stage. But newspapers are addicted to the 20 percent solution. Anything that doesn't deliver fat operating margins from the get-go might send the wrong message to Wall Street.