Avid newspaper reader/junkie and commentator Pete Miesel, now of Boulder, sends along a good piece from the Denver Post. The subject is what ails newspapers, which are, in the Monty Python lexicon, "Not dead yet!" but would nonetheless do well to heed this advice while gasping for breath.

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_5812949

FYI, Miesel also sent the link to Star exec editor Dennis Ryerson. After all, the Star could afford to take some tips the Post's Mike Kreck, as in:

"Stop acting like a singing dog, trying to blindly mimic other technologies - blogs, videos, slide shows, entertainment posing as news - hoping one will be the magic lifeline.

"Stop trimming features like special-interest columns, weather, TV and stock listings, editorial cartoons and comics. Giving readers less doesn't attract more of them.

"Stop chasing "youth" readers with allegedly hip features written by people well beyond their youth. Under-20s don't read the paper, never will.

"Hire, don't fire, reporters. More and better coverage doesn't come from fewer newsgatherers."

Miesel also reports that the Post and other papers in Colorado make for lively reading. He wishes the same for his hometown paper.