Wow - I knew that newspapers were losing readers steadily, but I didn't realize just how bad it is - their readership is actually dying off.

Newspaper readership is down. Fewer young people are picking them up, and the average age of a newspaper reader is now 55, according to a Carnegie Corporation study. Many papers have been losing circulation at alarming rates across all age groups.

Newspaper profits and the stock prices of the companies that own them were also down during the first half of 2005. The biggest newspapers are cutting staffs, closing foreign bureaus and taking other steps to meet their owners' profit goals.

An average age of 55? Wow. That's got to alarm the finance guys.